Recently, I experienced by first official “Family Weekend” here at Scripps.  While I was excited to see my family, I didn’t think much about the various scheduled different events Scripps had planned. All I knew was that I would be forced to accompany my family to these events and fulfill the role as their own personal tour guide.  What I would have never predicted, though, was how much I would learn about  my Scripps education and the beauty of the liberal arts.

It all started with our president, Lori Bettison-Varga, who gave a speech Saturday morning in Garrison Theater. Prior to entering Garrison, I was expected to hear a typical speech about what is going on within the Scripps community, the news, and any major recent accomplishments.  I wasn’t wrong. I received information from Bettison-Varga that I had anticipated hearing. It was the question and answer session, though, that caught my attention.

So far from my experience at Scripps, I have come to admire the transparency between the administration and the students. When the U.S. News and World Report ranking for Scripps College dropped from the 23rd best liberal arts college to the 29th, Bettison-Varga wrote an email that addressed the overwhelming concern of what this would mean for our school. With that being said, I still began to feel uncomfortable and rather squeamish when parents started asking questions. I felt as if secrets were about to be unleashed that would cause me to be upset with Scripps.

For lack of better words, Bettison-Varga was getting “grilled” with questions that revolved around endowment, increasing tuition, the housing crunch, and what originally worried me the most: the career related questions.

While my parents completely supported my decision in choosing Scirpps, they have always been worried about my ability to find a job after graduation coming from a small liberal arts school that, unfortunately, seems to be rarely known.  They believe that if I had gone to a bigger, more well known university, it would alleviate some of the after graduation stress.

I can’t say I necessarily disagree with them. Scripps only has around 7,500 alumnae, and with this low number comes a lack of resources needed to make easy connections. But it wasn’t until this weekend that I completely shifted my mindset about the value and benefits of graduating from a small women’s college can have when applying for competitive internships and/or jobs.

In the audience, one parent asked Bettison-Varga how many seniors have secured jobs at graduation. While I don’t remember this statistic, I do remember having a flash forward to me at graduation with a diploma in hand, but zero job offers. This seems terrifying, but what Bettison-Varga ensured the crowd was that every Scripps woman has the skills to effectively find and have a job, I began to think realistically.  Our liberal arts education has unconsciously made us great writers, have amazing public speaking skills, and be passionate about anything we are committed to. What is not to love about that?

Similarly, I didn’t  know that I would be so moved and blown away by the CP&R hosted panel that was held this past weekend. Not only were the panelist so incredibly articulate when speaking on behalf of their career goals, but I was inspired by each and every one of their stories. Once again, though, I found myself feeling uncomfortable when parents began shooting questions at both the panelists and Vicki Klopsch, the Director of CP&R.

One parent asked the panelists if they had found that when interviewing for internships, did the specific name of their school, Scripps College, have any impact on them being hired? The panelists didn’t lie. None of them answered the question by saying that the reputation of Scripps is what helped them land the internship, but the more interesting answer is that indirectly it did.

From everyone who goes to Scripps and works here, we all know it is a unique, one of a kind place that is impossible to replicate anywhere. It’s a women’s college. How many women’s colleges can you think of in the country? Only a handful. Now if that doesn’t make a statement, I don’t know what else does.

As silly as it may sound, I had never thought of the benefits of attending a women’s college from the perspective of a future employer. I had internally recognized how attending a women’s college would benefit me, but I am now beginning to fully understand how beneficial and valuable my skills, that I am learning at Scripps, will be in the outside world.

I also began to internalize more reasons behind why the size of my school will NOT deter me from finding, applying, and being accepted to any internship/job I plan on applying to in the future. It will force me to work harder and be driven in ways that I may not necessarily have been before if I believed that I could rely on the reputation of my school. I am thankful for that and for the panelists that ensured me that nothing was stopping them from doing what they want in life.

While it is true that I might not be able to rely on the name of my college to get me a job (cough, “Insert Ivy League School Name Here” ), what I am positive that I will be able to rely on is the skills, leadership, and everything else I have learned here at Scripps. Everything will be transferable. Take that, large universities.