Is Choosing a College That Emphasizes Diversity a Good Idea?

If you’re weighing all of your options when deciding on your top college choices, you may not have considered the thought of diversity at college. Some of the most obvious things students look at are price, availability of desired program, job placement, location and size of campus. You may not have thought about student diversity on your eventual campus and how such a factor could influence your education as well as your future. There are a number of benefits to attending a diverse school. Choosing a college that emphasizes diversity is definitely a good way to add value to your education for many reasons. Let’s examine a few.

Improved Understanding

Going to college with people of diverse cultures, race, ethnicity and religion is likely to provide you with a better understanding of others and of yourself. Every interaction you have with someone of a different background than your offers you an opportunity to learn something new. Even if in the case of a disagreement with someone who holds beliefs that are far removed from your own closely held ideas, you will gain experience with interpersonal communication and knowledge of the kinds of thoughts or beliefs held by other groups of people. Encountering diversity teaches you about yourself, too. As you meet people and are exposed to differing views, you can begin to process why it is you hold your own particular set of beliefs, traditions and customs. This kind of introspection is essential to shaping your worldview and who you are as a person.

Enhanced Career Readiness

Living and learning among a diverse community of both students and professors will prepare you for the workforce by providing you with many desirable skills employers seek. As previously mentioned, your interpersonal skills will be strengthened by interacting with a wide variety of people. Someone who communicates well with a broad base of constituents, including co-workers and clients, is always a business asset. Being exposed to the multiple perspectives of your peers and faculty throughout college will also likely contribute to better critical thinking skills because you’ll be forced to contemplate ideas that are new to you and determine how they correspond to your own understanding. An employee who possesses the capacity to examine every angle of a situation from various perspectives is most certainly an asset.

Improved Confidence

Through your encounters with a diverse campus population, you will likely be more confident and ready to face all of the new experiences that will come your way upon graduation. No matter where your journey may lead, you will probably be thankful for the diversity of your education because it will have given you the chance to adapt to a host of novel experiences. Think of your college experience as a trial run for the real world. New situations may not seem as daunting to you as they might to someone who never had the chance to encounter diversity.

These are only a few of the benefits that come from choosing a college that emphasizes diversity. Embracing and understanding a world of perspectives through diversity at college will add to your life in more ways than you can imagine.