Baruch College Recognized as a 2018 Social Mobility Innovator by CollegeNET
April 17, 2018
Baruch College was named a 2018 Social Mobility Innovator by CollegeNET for advancing “economic opportunity and helping to restore the promise of the American Dream” to low-income students.
CollegeNET launched the innovator recognition last year as part of its efforts to recognize higher education institutions in the U.S. that lead the way in providing economic opportunities for financially disadvantaged students. At that time, Baruch College was recognized as a Social Mobility Innovator in 2017, and has also ranked #1 on CollegeNET’s annual Social Mobility Index for three consecutive years.
Accolades for “Start-to-Finish” Program
In announcing the recognition, CollegeNET pointed to Baruch’s “start-to-finish program that makes college affordable” and that supports low-income students “every step of the way — from matriculation to career placement. These services are critical because many Baruch students face significant challenges to college completion.”
In CollegeNET’s press release, Baruch’s President Mitchel B. Wallerstein, PhD, noted that “Baruch has had career services and mentorship opportunities in place for decades, and they really do help propel students into their first jobs and beyond.”
President Wallerstein continued, “Our support services include soft-skills training, including programs designed to help improve both written and spoken English, since many of the College’s students do not speak English as their native language. We also provide career advising and résumé writing, networking etiquette and opportunities, and financial support so students can take valuable and often unpaid internships. Sometimes students even need suits to wear to the job interview, and the College maintains racks of donated garments exclusively for this purpose.”
“Propelling Students Into Their First Jobs — and Beyond”
To illustrate Baruch’s success in advancing social mobility, CollegeNET’s announcement featured interviews with four Baruch undergraduates and alumni who shared their personal stories of achieving academic and professional achievement because of Baruch’s encouraging environment, career services, and opportunities ranging from mentorships to networking.
Mamta Melwani, a senior at Baruch in the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, is currently an intern for the New York State Legislature in Albany. She told CollegeNET “I’m where I am because of the strong relationships I’ve built with my professors.”
Gregory Usvitsky, a freshman majoring in political science and philosophy in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences who hopes to become a lawyer, said to CollegeNET that “professors are open, understanding, embracing, and comforting at Baruch,” and they encourage students “to have a voice.”
Mitchell Garcia graduated in 2016 from the Zicklin School of Business and currently is a Global Trade Finance and Receivable Product Analyst at HSBC. Garcia expressed to CollegeNET that attending Baruch “put me on par with someone who went to a top Ivy League school.”
Shantel Deleon, a 2017 graduate of the Zicklin School of Business who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in accounting at Baruch, said to CollegeNET that the “feedback and opportunities” available at the College helped her land a full-time job that starts this summer at Ernst & Young.
Recognized Leader in Social Mobility
For several years, Baruch College has been consistently acknowledged for its success in promoting social and economic mobility for its diverse student body.
Baruch ranked #1 in 2017 out of more than 1,300 colleges nationwide in CollegeNET’s annual Social Mobility Index. Researchers from Stanford, Brown, and Harvard universities used big data from the Equality of Opportunity Project to determine that Baruch was an engine of social mobility for its students.
Last year, The Chronicle of Higher Education placed Baruch #1 among four-year public institutions nationwide in its ranking of “Colleges With the Highest Student-Mobility Rates” released in 2017. The New York Times also recognized Baruch’s success in promoting social mobility in a series of articles that draw from the Equality of Opportunity Project datasets.
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