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USF Grads Land in Top-tier Doctoral Programs
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USF's small classes and personalized attention help land more graduates in prestigious doctoral programs. |
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The University of San Francisco's personal approach to education is being credited for helping a growing number of College of Arts and Sciences students win posts at prestigious doctoral programs at universities around the world.
For some graduates, USF's small class size, one-on-one attention from professors, and the opportunity to take on responsibilities often reserved for graduate students at other schools has paid big dividends. With slightly less than 3,000 undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences, the teacher-to-student ratio is a fraction of the size found at larger California schools, including the University of California Berkeley, with enrollment nearing 18,000 undergraduates in its College of Letters and Sciences.
Recent USF graduates have been accepted to such top-flight graduate schools as UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
A nurturing student environment is just part of what sets USF apart, according to Thomas Bottger, assistant professor of physics. "Here, some undergraduates do research and work closely with professors, whereas at a bigger university it's very cutthroat so professors usually don't have much time for undergraduates," he said.
Mary Beth Hughes '03 couldn't agree more. Her USF instructors knew her personally and had a hands-on approach when it came to her studies. And with a maximum of 50-80 students in the largest science classes at USF - a far cry from the hundreds in entry-level courses at some universities - she was also able to do laboratory research and co-author several papers with professors. That's impressive experience to add to a graduate school application, said Hughes, who double majored in physics and math.
"The quality of the courses and professors really prepared me for the work I'm doing here," said Hughes, who now studies DNA sequencing as a doctoral candidate at Harvard. She plans to graduate in June.
"Unlike at larger institutions, it is easy to have personal relationships with most of the other (USF) students and the faculty," said Ben Westbrook '07, also a physics and math double major. Now a doctoral candidate in UC Berkeley's physics department, Westbrook said USF taught him how to manage difficult problems that, when first viewed, may seem incomprehensible or impossible.
"I learned that after proper effort and questioning, one can bring clarity to even the most difficult of tasks, which is an attitude that is absolutely essential to being a successful physicist," Westbrook said.
Science graduates aren't alone in finding homes in some of the top universities in and out of the United States. Kathleen Mountjoy '03 is now pursuing a doctorate in European literature, with an emphasis on the Spanish golden age, at Oxford University in England. "I worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company as their 'script consultant' during their 2004-05 Spanish golden age season of four plays," said Mountjoy, who was a double major in English and Spanish.
Mountjoy was drawn to USF because of its small class sizes, individual attention from faculty, and the university's mission to educate the whole person. In particular, Associate Professor of Spanish Ana Urrutia-Jordana spent hours helping her prepare to apply to Oxford where Mountjoy had spent a year as an exchange student while at USF.
As on the science side, arts and humanities undergraduates also have the chance to work closely with their professors on research. "Many of our students are recruited to become research assistants and readers to help with both faculty research and teaching," said Eileen Fung, English department co-chair. Students can also opt to enroll in the department's "exit course," for graduating seniors, a course that requires them to complete a critical or creative thesis as preparation for comparable graduate schoolwork, Fung said.
Some faculty go beyond the call of duty, acting as surrogate mentors and counselors to students, as in the case of history major Kari Zimmerman. For Zimmerman '95 the close relationship with her instructors altered her future. Without their encouragement, Zimmerman said, she likely would never have chosen to pursue a doctorate. Now studying Latin American history at Stanford, she has completed her coursework and is focused on her thesis, "Women of Independent Means: Female Entrepreneurs and Property Owners in Rio de Janeiro, 1870-1910." She expects to graduate in 2009.
Chief among the skills she took away from USF was how to think critically, how to organize large and disparate amounts of research, and how to write well. "My professors at USF trained me to be a historian, rather than just dispensing grades for mandatory assignments," Zimmerman said.
The success of USF graduates in such well-recognized doctoral programs bodes well for the future, according to Michael Bloch, associate dean for social sciences for the College of Arts and Sciences. It's good news for current and prospective students, since the trend toward greater involvement of students in faculty research and publishing is growing, he said.
"Increasingly, students are co-presenters (with faculty) at regional, national, and international conferences, and sometimes co-authors (with faculty) of scholarly publications," Bloch said. 
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