Brandeis Overhaul: New Tools for Career Ready Graduates

Brandeis University is changing how it prepares students for jobs after graduation. The Waltham, Massachusetts school is adding specific work skills to its academic records. It is also lowering tuition costs for more families. These changes aim to help students move from classroom learning to professional careers more quickly.

The university launched the Brandeis Plan to Reinvent the Liberal Arts last year. This initiative focuses on career readiness alongside traditional academics. Students will now receive a secondary transcript that lists micro-credentials. These credentials include skills in computer programming and project management. They can be learned in short periods of time.

Brandeis also opened a Center for Careers and Applied Liberal Arts. This center connects academic study with job preparation. The university is offering free tuition to students from families making $75,000 or less. Families earning between $75,000 and $200,000 will receive half scholarships. The school also launched a tool called Faye in May. This interactive calculator gives students a personalized estimate of their net price based on their financial data.

Arthur Levine, the president of Brandeis, said the liberal arts work best when they connect to the real world. He described the goal as keeping one foot in the library and one foot in the street. The university wants to give students the skills and confidence to lead in a changing world. This approach marks a shift from the school's founding in 1948. At that time, Brandeis was created to offer a nonsectarian, research-oriented education.

Current students are using these new opportunities to build their careers. Matthew Pfeffer, a senior double-majoring in economics and art history, has completed three summer internships in New York City. He interned at UJA-Federation of New York and a local law firm. Pfeffer plans to work in client services or a Jewish nonprofit for two years before attending law school. He credits the university's support for his career preparation.

Lauren Balfour, a junior biology major, is using the new resources to explore her identity and career. She is the vice president of the Masorti group on campus and works as a Sunday school teacher. Balfour received a stipend through the Mandel Undergraduate Teaching Fellowship Program. She also interned at the Institute for Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Mississippi. Her coursework helped her understand the history of Jewish life in the South.

Allison Fuller, a junior double-majoring in business and film, is preparing for a career in the entertainment industry. She has worked in digital marketing for Roc Nation and as a management intern for Zero Gravity Media. Fuller is also developing an app called Bento that helps students track nutrition in dining halls. She participated in a networking event where students visited Bloomingdale’s and Horizon Media in New York City during winter break. These experiences are part of the university's new focus on practical application.