With senior year finally here, the Class of 1996 faces a hectic term filled with job interviews and graduate school entrance exams.
Potential employers are already screening some applicants and some standardized tests, like the Law School Admissions Test, have already been administered, according to Acting Director of Career Services Kathryn Hutchinson.
Landing a job
About 500 seniors use resources available at Career Services to help them find a job, she said.
A survey of the Class of 1995 found that 11.2 percent of students who got a job cited Career Services as the source of their accepted job. About 18 percent found employment through unsolicited inquiries.
Another 40 percent of students were hired by the 219 organizations that participated in on-campus recruiting or resume referral last year, the survey states.
Because so few students find jobs directly through Career Services, "we teach students how to use a variety of strategies to access employers," Hutchinson said.
A great many different kinds of firms recruit on campus.
"Consulting and finance are heavily represented," Hutchinson said. "The on-campus recruiting program [also] includes education employers and non-profit organizations. We also get education, publishing, the computer industry, consumer products, accounting and marketing."
Many employers who do not recruit directly at Dartmouth wait for seniors to contact them directly, Hutchinson said.
On-campus recruiters use three different methods to select potential employees, she said.
In an employer-selected, pre-screened process, employers examine resumes and decide whom to interview. The deadline for cover letters and resumes for the pre-screened process is Nov. 27.
Another method requires seniors to indicate positions they are interested in. Career Services then matches students with particular firms for interviews. The deadline for this process is Dec. 7.
A third method uses a combination of these two processes, and its deadline is Nov. 3.
"The deadline for the combination method is earlier, because we need to send the resumes to [employers] so they can select students for pre-screened slots," Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said job recruiting can be very time consuming.
"The more prepared the student is and the better their time management skills, the more manageable the whole process," Hutchinson said.
Seniors with a narrower focus will find the process quicker.
"If you explore a variety [of career options], it takes more time," she said.
According to Hutchinson, Career Services offers many other services for seniors searching for jobs.
For example, the office teaches students to market themselves effectively by considering the scheduling and hiring needs of potential employers.
By registering with Career Services, students can qualify for off-campus job fairs and resume referral, a service that provides recruiting information via BlitzMail, the College's electronic mailing system.
Testing
According to Hutchinson, about 75 percent of seniors will attend graduate or professional school at some point in their life. Twenty-five percent go to graduate or professional school right after graduation.
The LSAT, a half-day standardized test consisting of five 35-minute multiple choice sections and one 30-minute writing sample, was held last Saturday. The next test date for the LSAT is Dec. 2. The deadline for registration is Oct. 27.
According to Katherine Harder, a graduate student in charge of administering the exams, 120 students registered for the LSAT this Saturday.
The Graduate Record Examination, which can be taken as a three-and-a-half hour general test or a two-hour-and-50 minute subject test, will be administered Oct. 14. and Dec. 9. The registration deadline for the December GRE is Nov. 3.
The Graduate Management Admission Test, the test required for entrance to business school, will be offered Oct. 21 and Jan. 20. The registration deadline for the January test is Dec. 15.
The GMAT consists of nine timed writing and multiple choice sections.
The Medical College Admissions Test will be offered in April.
