If you’re a parent who’s skeptical that a liberal arts school can prepare your child for a successful business career, admissions at Denison University said you can call and they’ll explain it to you. 

Denison doesn’t offer a degree in business. Yet most students at Denison major in something leading to business or the medical field. Its “pre-business” advising involves career coaches who specialize in getting you the experiences you need–and the certifications you want–to have a killer résumé for Deloitte when you graduate. Pre-law and pre-engineering advising is also strong.

Pre-business students often major in data analytics, communications, or economics, pre-med students in biology or chemistry. The magic happens in the connections. An astounding 93% of Denison graduates say they found their mentor at Denison; nationally, only about 22% can make that claim. 

The Big Six

The 2019 Strada-Gallup Survey, “Mentoring College Students to Success,” enumerated the “Big Six” factors that make a college experience really worthwhile, and the first three focus on relationships and support:

• feeling the professors cared about them as people
• having at least one professor that made them excited about learning
• finding a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams

The remaining three factors focus on experiential learning:

• having a job or internship that allowed them to apply what they learned in class
• working on a project that spanned more than one semester
• being extremely active in extracurricular activities or organizations

Denison prides itself on connection and relationships, those first three bullet points, and lots of resources go into experiential learning.

What makes Denison special?

On December 9, Olivia Ireland, associate director of admissions, spoke to about 150 IECA members on a College Conversations webinar. Ireland, Denison class of 2017, recently earned her own MBA–with a bachelor’s degree in religion. 

Ireland said three things make Denison special:

1. Relationships are central to the Denison experience.
2. Opportunities and resources are vast.
3. Denison provides students with competitive advantages post-graduation.

One of the Colleges That Change Lives

Set atop the Hill in Granville, Ohio, Denison is a fully residential liberal arts institution dedicated to undergraduate teaching. With no graduate students, professors handle all the teaching, from lectures to seminars to labs. No teaching assistants here, and the student-faculty ratio is 9 to 1. The 42 schools in CTCL all have a firm focus on undergraduate teaching. 

Who’s a good fit?

Students who ask a lot of questions, who are excited to speak up in class will fit right in at Denison. With small classes and a close-knit campus community, Denison provides plenty of time to make your mark, to be seen and heard. Most classes are held in seminar style.

Students live on campus all four years, so learning occurs not only in the classroom but throughout the campus as well, 24 hours a day. Ireland said they want students engaged inside and outside of the classroom. In fact, a third of the student body participates in varsity athletics, and another third in performing arts.

Robust experiential advising makes sure that internships are fruitful. At The Edge in downtown Columbus, students build their professional skills through workshops that help them succeed in the workplace. At the Knowlton Center, students have access to 16 coaches and advisers that specialize in Financial Services, Consulting, Business; Healthcare and Clinical Research; Marketing, Sales, and Communication; Nonprofit, Education, and Government; Tech, Data, and Science; and Visual, Written, and Performing Arts.

A large and active alumni network contributes to Denison success.

What’s new or interesting?

• The Eisner Center for the Performing Arts provides an interactive space for the arts as well as state-of-the-art facilities for musical and dance concerts and theater.
• Already a destination for those who have law on their radar, Denison is adding a concentration in legal studies.
• Pre-orientation activities bring together small cohorts for a fun adventure off campus. (Denison’s really fond of the “pre-” idea.)
• Denison sets aside $600K to make all internships, even the unpaid ones in NYC, accessible to students.
• If you are considering applying Early Decision but concerned about the financial piece, you can get an early read for need-based and merit financial aid.
• Philosophy, Politics, and Economics is a challenging, interdisciplinary major that’s a logical segue to law school. 
• After you’ve applied, in January you’ll get a prompt to answer the Why Denison? essay. While the content does matter, just answering the prompt demonstrates that you are interested enough in Denison to potentially enroll, and that will work in your favor

By the numbers

931 acres of beautiful campus

9:1 student-faculty ratio
0 classes or labs taught by teacher assistants

600 opportunities for leadership
25 minutes to Columbus airport
40 minutes to downtown Columbus

$600,000 to fund internship support
16 career coaches at the Knowlton Center

12% Regular Decision admit rate
22% ED admit rate (90% of ED class are committed Division III athletes)
50-55% of freshman class comes in through binding Early Decision

Why choose Denison?

Denison meets 100% of demonstrated need; loans may be part of the financial aid package. They are need-aware in the application process. In reading applications, Denison does not consider your choice of major; in fact, they have found that around 60% will change their major. Ireland said, “We admit students to the university and they are able to select any major once they arrive (no additional applications/requirements).”

As Ireland said, Denison is for students who are intrigued by questions and who want to speak up in class. If you fit that description and you’re looking for close connections, Denison could be the right fit for you.