Center for Purposeful Work

The Center for Purposeful Work provides both current and graduated students advising in pursuing graduate academic and professions degrees, including areas such as law, business, medicine, education, fine arts, social work, and engineering. There's no major, GPA, or graduation year cut offs; all students benefit from our advising resources.

Through the Purposeful Work Internship Program, students explore interests, deepen skills, and build networks during the summer. Through the program, students benefit from application feedback, goal setting, and reflection activities designed to help maximize their experiences, strengthen their resumes, and build connections. Bates students have access to over 70 core employers across the globe and nearly $1 million in funding for summer research and internships each year.

Purposeful Work Unplugged is a series of dynamic Q&A conversations with notable alumni and friends, faculty and staff about their career trajectories and the traits that support meaningful work. The series gives students a chance to hear speakers tell stories of their path, decisions and pivot points, successes and failures, lessons learned, and how purposeful work is manifest in their own careers and lives.

Past sessions include: Insta, Oprah, & Organizational Change:
PW Unplugged with 3 English Majors; Podcasting on Sports and Culture, The Knicks and Nature; Public Health and the CDC: Pathways & Purpose; Venture Capital, Volunteering, and Bates Bobcats: Connecting the Dots with Garth Timoll ’99; and more.

At Bates, enabling students to lead lives of meaningful work is at the heart of our liberal arts mission. In fact, 99% of 2019 graduates who responded to the college survey on post-graduate outcomes reported being settled. 76% were employed, 11% had matriculated to a graduate or professional school, 10% were placed in a fellowship or internship, and 2% were traveling or volunteering. In addition, our acceptance rate to medical school is 40% higher than the national average, and we are a top producer of Fulbright scholars.

Practitioner-Taught Courses offer opportunities for students to explore more practical and applied areas of study than are available within the core liberal arts curriculum. During Bates’ May Short Term, Practitioners-in-Residence teach applied knowledge and skills in their field of expertise. Students explore worlds of work, add to their practical skill set, and expand their professional network, contributing to their career exploration and preparation for future work.

Past practitioner-taught courses include: The Business of the Arts, Advocating for the Environment, Practicum in Science Journalism and Outreach, Digital Marketing, Mediation & Restorative Justice, and much more.

Through the Purposeful Work Job Shadow Program, students connect with Bates alumni and parents to learn about professional options, personal perspectives, and how others have navigated pathways toward purposeful work. This is a smart first step in the exploration process, allowing students to test the waters in roles, industries, and organizations they might want to explore. The Purposeful Work Job Shadow Program can also build lasting bridges to professional contacts for Bates students, regardless of their inherited family networks, and create important connections around work experience and identity. Students may participate in up to three job shadow opportunities per year.