For many college graduates, getting a foot in the door to a career field is a tough process.
Where Trinity University is concerned, employers, graduate schools, and professional schools look for a chance to bring Trinity Tigers on board. That’s why Trinity University is announcing a 98% positive outcomes rate for its most recent graduating class. Within six months of graduation, 98% of the graduates of the Class of 2023 were employed, interning, engaged in a service opportunity, or enrolled in graduate school.
“One of the experiences we have with employers is that once they have a Trinity Tiger in the door, they want more, whether it's as an intern or a full-time hire,” says Katie Ramirez, director for Trinity’s Center for Experiential Learning and Career Success (CELCS). “Honestly, we have more jobs than Tigers to fill them, which is awesome.”
CELCS, one of the primary forces driving Trinity graduates’ success, is more than a career center. It’s an all-encompassing resource where Tigers go to find volunteer, internship, and work-study opportunities, along with undergraduate research openings. Students get help with career exploration, interview preparation, graduate school applications, salary negotiation, and more.
For the past four years, CELCS (and Trinity students) have been on an absolute roll. Each of the past four graduating classes (’20, ’21, ’22, and ’23) has posted, respectively, 97%, 98%, 97%, and 98% positive outcomes rates.
The center represents a crucial moment of vindication for Trinity’s continuing strategic-planning process, which has initiated both the creation of CELCS and the expansion of its resources.
“Trinity is increasingly becoming known as one the best universities in Texas for launching students into their chosen careers right after graduation,” says Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D., Trinity president. “We continue to pride ourselves on the education we offer that makes our exceptional outcomes rates possible, the relationships that we’ve formed with employers across the country, and our commitment to staying connected with Tigers beyond their time on campus.”
CELCS was further bolstered in Spring 2024 by a special alumni commitment in the form of a generous gift. This donation, made by the Whitacre Thorne family, ensures that CELCS can continue to provide opportunities for career exploration and other career development initiatives.
As a result of the gift, CELCS marked a reopening and renaming of its physical space as the “Whitacre Thorne Suite,” as students, faculty, staff, and distinguished guests from the Whitacre Thorne family gathered to celebrate CELCS’s tradition of excellence in preparing and empowering Tigers for success.
Trinity University President Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D. (left) and CELCS Director Katie Ramirez.
For Ramirez, that emphasis on enriching the journey—not just the destination—through hands-on opportunities throughout the undergraduate experience is a Trinity hallmark. Building this type of resource is not easy, she says.
“At CELCS, our team is making multiple phone calls, doing email outreach, and we’re connecting students directly with recruiters once we know what a student's looking for,” Ramirez explains.
Trinity students pursuing successful outcomes have benefited from a liberal arts environment that produces well-rounded, curious problem solvers who are ready to lead and serve, not just to work. This is driven by an approach to the liberal arts that extends beyond just exploring different disciplines: It’s about creating bridges and pathways between these disciplines that lead to new perspectives and answers to big questions.
While many students at liberal arts institutions thrive in a small-school environment, Trinity merges this intimate, personalized atmosphere with the big-time resources and support one might expect from a larger school.
Alongside CELCS, Trinity undergraduates are flourishing and growing daily thanks to a robust series of resources in academic support, where academic coaching and tutoring and student-centered accessibility services push Tigers to unlock new approaches to learning and skills for tackling challenges.
At Trinity, our Tigers benefit from a personalized Academic Advising system, where our acclaimed—and accessible—faculty foster creativity, discovery, and curiosity, for all students. Trinity students also find countless hands-on opportunities through the Center for International Engagement, which expands students’ global citizenship and strengthens their intellectual, cultural, and professional skills through study abroad, international internships, and other multicultural opportunities.
“Experiential learning is a part of career development,” Ramirez adds. “And so those community service activities, those research activities, study abroad, they all play a role in a student having a successful launch out of Trinity.”
“Launch” is a crucial word for Ramirez and her team, because it’s the best way to remind students that graduation is a beginning, not an end. And it’s also a way to remind the Trinity community that part of every successful outcomes rate are the Tigers who are continuing their growth and discovery through opportunities that aren’t just jobs.
“A large majority of Tigers have launched straight into an industry or into their career path, but sometimes they launch straight into extremely competitive grad school programs, Ph.D. programs, med schools, all of those kinds of opportunities,” Ramirez says. “We also have students that pursue a non-medical gap year for things like AmeriCorps or service where it is a job, but it's a one-to-two-year opportunity. We see a wide range, and we’re ready to support students in whichever direction they want to go.”
When Tigers are ready to launch, CELCS is helping to put graduates in a position to reach success on whatever terms they’re aiming for. And you can help! Reach out to celcs@trinity.edu to learn how to get involved, from representing your company at the University’s career fairs to sharing open internships or jobs with Trinity students.
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