Earlier this month, the Office of the Dean of the College unveiled Focal Point, a new concentration-mapping tool. As usual, we're glad to see the University continue to improve its Internet resources. We like the idea of a tool that allows students to explore different majors. However, we think the current version of Focal Point could be developed even further to be a more practical resource for students deciding between majors.
Right now, the tool offers very broad information, such as a brief description of each department and a list of industries that alums have joined. This information may help students with a very vague idea of what they'd like to study, but most students may be looking for more detailed information about potential career paths.
The "Life After Brown" tool in particular has a lot of room for improvement. Currently, the tool is set up to list many of the industries as accessible to graduates of almost all majors. For example, 69 of the 78 majors listed on Focal Point show up when one selects the "Business/Consulting" category. While it's helpful to know that students can enter a business profession with almost any major, more specific information would be useful. For example, students in either Commerce, Organizations and Entrepreneurship or Gender and Sexuality Studies have pursued careers in business. But chances are that the proportion of Gender Studies students that enter business is smaller than the proportion of COE students, and it would make sense for an advisory tool like "Life After Brown" to reflect this important difference.
Another helpful addition would be to include firsthand accounts of people who have gone into a particular industry, similar to the type of survey the English department did in 2007, but across all concentrations. In that survey, the department asked some of its recent graduates about their jobs and how they got them. It then aggregated the responses and provided the helpful document for concentrators. A school-wide initiative like this would give students more specific insight into how skills from a certain concentration translate to the workplace.
We like that Focal Point provides links to concentration requirements for each department. However, these pages should be updated to provide even more guidance to students. For instance, most concentration pages do not currently provide a guide explaining the best time to take certain courses to make sure all prerequisites are satisfied in time to complete the major. This information is critical to guide students in making realistic choices about their concentration. It would also help students construct a rough schedule of future courses, which is necessary to declare most concentrations.
Lastly, we'd like to see Focal Point incorporate information about theses in each department. When deciding a major, it's helpful for students to see what the format and expectations are for an honors thesis in that department. Focal Point would provide a good central location to post examples of theses from previous years so students know exactly what to expect when declaring a concentration. Some departments already have old theses posted on their websites, but many do not. Consolidating this information in one place would make it easier for students to access theses and would also ensure that all departments make them available to prospective concentrators.
We think Focal Point will make it much easier for students to explore potential concentrations. We hope the Dean of the College uses this opportunity to make the tool even stronger.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials (at) browndailyherald.com.
