Admission & Aid
Outcomes
What’s so great about being small?
As you learn more about Whittier College, you learn that we are small and that we are proud of the superb educational experience our students have.
And as you learn more about other colleges and universities, you will discover that many of them focus on the characteristics of their new freshmen -- average high school G.P.A., SAT and ACT scores, number of men vs. number of women -- all kinds of data about the entering class.
But isn't the real point of a college education not who you are when you enter, but who you are when you graduate?
Researchers have known for years that there are specific experiences at college that can make an educational experience richer, more valuable, more fulfilling and more successful. But for some reason we never got around to asking college graduates about the frequency of those experiences at their own colleges and universities. Oh, we know that every college or university offers these things - it’s just that we had a nagging sense that you were more likely to more frequently have these experiences at certain kinds of colleges. And we were right. But that's jumping ahead in the story.
What are these experiences?
In the classroom...discussions, giving class presentations, taking essay exams rather than multiple choice tests, doing independent research
In campus community...interacting with a student - oriented faculty, for whom their primary commitment is to teaching, advising and mentoring rather than publishing or doing personal research.
In the residence halls...participation in a strong community of peers who share educational values and are truly engaged with undergraduate study
On the playing fields, in the theaters and recital halls, in student government and publications offices - developing teamwork and leadership skills as well
And where are you most likely to find these experiences?
We wanted to know the answer to thatquestion as well. So, in concert with other colleges in the Annapolis Group (a consortium of the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges) we commissioned a research project to find the answer.
And that answer might surprise you. We asked (through our research partner) alumni from more than 550 different colleges and universities in the US to tell us about their undergraduate experience - and they ways in which they felt that experience prepared them for their lives and careers. Their responses were sorted by the kind of college or university they attended - an Annapolis Group liberal arts college, a "flagship" public university, a private university, a "US News Top 50 Public University," or a regional public university.
What did alumni tell us?
Their responses were very revealing - and supportive of what we already knew to be a superior undergraduate program atAnnapolis Group colleges.
The study found that the undergraduate experience students encounter at small, residential liberal arts colleges (like Whittier) is more effective in producing meaningful and lasting benefits than the education experienced at large, public universities and other institutions of higher education. These experiences include:
- close interaction with peers and faculty,
- active participation in learning,
- and participation in extracurricular activities.
The survey indicates that a residential, liberal arts education not only leads to a number of immediate positive outcomes, but that these outcomes are present in and important to liberal arts college alumni long after their college experience has ended.
And that is what is so great about being small.
