Letter to Guidance Counselors

Marymount Manhattan College is a small liberal arts college located on the upper east side of Manhattan. We are usually thought of as a New York City school although some may know that we recruit nationally for our acclaimed dance and theater departments. You may not know that our new 38-story dormitory houses about one-third of our students.

This letter is meant to introduce the Business Department at MMC. First, note what we are not, namely a school of business. We are a division within a liberal arts college in spirit as well as in fact. As such, the education we provide is in the liberal arts. We believe in a focus on the fundamental intellectual skills: abstraction, empirical investigation and the ability to communicate ideas. We also stress the use of historical and social analysis to learn about societies and philosophy, literature and psychology to learn about individuals. We aim to produce lifelong learners.

We believe that this approach is more appropriate for a business major than ever before. In the current environment, no job stays the same for very long. Workers must continually learn new skills and often new jobs. Being a lifelong learner is essential.

We are also small and our size allows us to nurture students. Almost all classes have fewer than 20 students and none are larger than 35. We have no large lecture sections. The full-time faculty know all of the business majors. Our faculty includes many professionals who have chosen to return to academic life. They use their many contacts in their professions to facilitate the placement of students in internships, which in New York City means placement in firms that are among the world leaders in areas like finance, the arts, media, fashion and retailing. It can also mean smaller institutions that are nonetheless unique like the New York Food Museum or the Ocean Liner Museum. The department encourages all majors to participate in at least one internship during their college career.