SUU provides
opportunities

Even though SUU is relatively small, it is an excellent school that provides opportunities for students to excel and achieve.
This is evident in both the job placement rates and the success rates of SUU students’ acceptance to graduate schools, including the top schools in the nation.
Susan Linder, director of Career Services, said within six months of graduating, 93 percent of SUU students found secure employment, and 83 percent of those students are working in the field they studied in school.
The division of political science boasts a high acceptance rate of more than 90 percent of SUU students being admitted to fully accredited law schools, said Rodney Decker, College of Humanities and Social Sciences dean.
Twenty percent of SUU students who graduated in 2000 are now in graduate schools, Linder said.
With the high acceptance rates come success stories of alumni conquering graduate school.
Currently Denten Robinson, a political science graduate, is attending Columbia Law School.
Xanna Rae Hardman, a communication and political science graduate, was accepted to Harvard, and was awarded scholarships to BYU Law School and Chicago Law School. She is now attending BYU.
Franchescha Van Buren, a political science graduate from Cedar City who finished her undergraduate studies in December, was just accepted to Yale, Cornell, and every graduate school to which she applied.
SUU has several benefits over larger schools. The biggest advantage is simply that students get much more personal attention from professors.
Decker said Van Buren talked to him about attending a larger school to help her get into law school but decided to stay at SUU.
He said attending SUU was probably an advantage for Van Buren because law schools look for a variety of students with an LSAT score from different backgrounds and schools.
We believe that more personal attention from professors equals a better education.
Not only personal attention but the quality of professors who care about students are great assets to SUU.Van Buren said SUU helped her in achieving her goals because she

 

was motivated by professors who went out of their way to support her.
“It’s nice to have people care about you and tell you that you can reach a certain goal,” she said.
Stephen Roberds, assistant professor of political science, said he believes his department is successful helping students get into and through graduate school because the professors teach classes the same way a graduate class is taught.
We thank the professors who constantly strive to teach students and help them improve in ways unknown to the students.
Another benefit SUU offers is that a small school provides more opportunities for students to get involved and improve their resumes. SUUSA, the Service Learning Center and other groups on campus are willing and excited when more students want to get involved.
We congratulate Van Buren and others who have excelled at SUU and urge others to follow suit in this environment that fosters success.
The opinion expressed above is the collective perspective of the University Journal editorial board. The editorial board meets every Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Room 172 of the Sharwan Smith Center. Visitors are welcome.