New Seminar May Give College Students an 'Edge'

A new Emory College seminar set to pilot next semester addresses a gap in the curriculum, as it will help liberal arts majors follow a more career conscious path during their undergraduate education.

The seminar is part of the Emory Edge initiative, which connects students with academic and career mentoring and other resources. Listed as “Emory College Seminar (ECS) 120: The Liberal Arts Edge,” the pass/fail course teaches freshmen and sophomores how to leverage a liberal arts education in the professional world. In essence, it ameliorates tensions between Emory’s liberal arts and pre-professional cultures.

The new course bears resemblance to the Goizueta Business School’s one-credit “Professional Development” class (BUS 380), which helps BBA students prepare for success beyond Emory. Both courses require students to work on resumes and cover letters, do mock interviews, network with alumni and create LinkedIn profiles. Whether you’re majoring in art history or biology, these skills translate directly into the job-seeking process.

Students in the seminar will roadmap their futures, network, explore interests and goals at Emory that connect to potential career paths and learn liberal arts skills as well as how they can be applied to life in the workforce, strategizing for the college-to-career jump, according to Director of Emory’s Quality Enhancement Plan and seminar instructor Tracy L. Scott. These aspects will equip liberal arts majors with tools to outline career paths that pre-professional tracks do not exist to serve. Adding this seminar would be a big step in addressing student complaints of a lack of career coaching in the College, and might alleviate some pressure on underclassmen to attend the Goizueta Business School solely for secure post-graduation employment.

We commend the College for innovating and piloting the seminar program. It seems more useful than Pre-Major Advising Connections at Emory Program (PACE), and we hope the seminar moves beyond the pilot stage and becomes available to a wider array of Emory students.

The Editorial Board is composed of Zach Ball, Jacob Busch, Ryan Fan, Andrew Kliewer, Madeline Lutwyche, Boris Niyonzima, Omar Obregon-Cuebas, Shreya Pabbaraju, Isaiah Sirois, Madison Stephens and Kimia Tabatabaei.