Preprofessional Advising
Students who wish to pursue graduate work in architecture should contact Rebecca Murtaugh, the John and Anne Fischer Professor of Fine Arts, at 315-859-4250 or rmurtaug@hamilton.edu.
The best preparation for business or government service is well-developed skills in reading, speaking and writing; a wide choice of courses, including economics and/or mathematics; and a concentration in the area which the student finds most interesting. Students who intend to enter a graduate school of management or business administration are strongly advised to take mathematics at least through calculus. In addition, many employers look for well-rounded students who also have demonstrated leadership, community service and involvement in extracurricular activities during their time at Hamilton.
Most masters in business administration (MBA) programs consist of a set of required core courses (typically, accounting, economics, finance, marketing, and statistics) and electives. Often electives include a cluster of courses in one specialized area (e.g., finance). Many graduate business courses, including some of the core courses, require good analytical and quantitative skills. In preparing to make yourself an attractive applicant to a top MBA program, you should develop your abilities to think quantitatively as well as write effectively. In addition, it is very unusual for the most competitive MBA programs to admit applicants without at least two or three years of work experience.
Interested students should consult the detailed recommendations for further course work and preparation for an MBA program at the pre-business website. Students should also meet with their dedicated career advisor for additional help. Career Center appointments can be scheduled through Handshake.
Engineering is about applying math and science to solve real world problems. Liberally educated engineers combine the math and science emphasis of the engineering degree with the foundational elements of a liberal arts education so that engineers can communicate their ideas more compellingly to a variety of audiences and think more flexibly about problems. Students interested in engineering typically take up to five math classes; two physics courses; one course each in chemistry, computer science, and economics; plus one or two courses specific to each type of engineering. In addition, students need to complete a major and take eight non-technical courses.
Hamilton has several options for students interested in engineering. Many students choose to pursue a cooperative program that leads to a B.A. from Hamilton and B.S. from the engineering school in five years. Hamilton has formal 3-2 programs (three years at Hamilton and two years at the engineering school) with Columbia University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Washington University in St. Louis.
Hamilton students also have access to a combined plan at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. This program is on a 2-1-1-1 schedule. The student completes two years at Hamilton and then spends his or her junior year at Dartmouth, before returning to Hamilton to complete the senior year and to earn the B.A. from Hamilton. The student then returns to Dartmouth to finish the second year of engineering studies and receive a degree in engineering.
It is also common for students to graduate from Hamilton and then pursue bachelor’s or master’s programs in engineering. These students take the same pre-engineering courses at Hamilton, but spread them over four years. Depending on their preparation, they typically receive a master’s degree in two years. This path gives students the option of pursuing programs tailored to their interests, such as joint programs in business and engineering.
Admission to programs in the traditional divisions of aerospace, chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering – as well as many others such as biomedical, computer, environmental, financial, or industrial engineering – is competitive, usually requiring positive recommendations and a minimum GPA of 3.0 or a B average, both overall and in select pre-engineering courses. Various 4-x plans lead to different degree options. For details, consult with the engineering advisor, Professor of Physics Gordon Jones (315-859-4697, gjones@hamilton.edu), or Professor Michelle LeMasurier (315-859-4418, mlemasur@hamilton.edu).
Graduate programs for all health professions — including medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, nursing, and physician assistant programs — have many prerequisite course requirements. As these are unique to each profession, students should refer to the course requirements page for their desired profession on the Health Professions Advising website.
It will take careful planning starting from the first semester to fulfill requirements for one’s professional goal and one’s major — in addition to meeting other educational goals such as potential study abroad. The academic planning pages for each health profession provide guidance on factors to consider when planning coursework including the strength of one’s academic preparation, study abroad considerations, the timeline for applying to one’s intended health profession, and more.
Also on the academic planning pages are tips and tools for creating a tentative four-year plan, including a Four-Year Plan Google template. Students are strongly encouraged to complete one or more to bring to the meeting with their faculty advisor during orientation.
In addition, all those considering health professions should plan to attend the health professions advising workshop for first-year students offered during orientation by the Director of Health Professions Advising, Courtney Hance (315-859-4338, chance@hamilton.edu).
Many Hamilton students enter law school immediately upon graduation or within a few years thereafter. While law schools do not prescribe any particular courses or program of study as part of a formal prelaw curriculum, they seek graduates who demonstrate analytical reasoning powers, skill in oral and written forms of expression, and the ability to comprehend and organize large amounts of factual data. Students interested in entering law school are advised and assisted by the Prelaw Committee composed of faculty members and the associate director of the Career Center. For more information on prelaw advising see the prelaw website.
The minor in education studies is recommended for students who are interested in school administration, public policy and education, school counseling, design and development of curriculum, educational assessment, K-12 private school teaching, graduate studies leading to New York State initial teaching certification, requirements for provisional teaching certification in states outside of New York, and other related fields. For more information, contact the Career Center (315-859-4346, ccadmin@hamilton.edu).
