Learning Outcomes

Your time at Goucher will help shape you as a person, a scholar, and a community member. Below are five goals that we consider essential to a successful first-year experience.

1. Seek Challenge
   You will pursue your passions and explore your questions through your coursework and co-curricular endeavors. You will understand and accept the expectations placed on you, and you will strive for excellence. You will also develop leadership skills and personal ethics. You will be willing to address new ideas, and you will develop and sharpen your repertoire of skills to embrace challenges successfully.
   
   
2. Improve Academic Skills
   You will make measurable efforts to advance your writing, reading, critical thinking, verbal communication, research, and study skills. You will begin to understand the importance of cross-disciplinary learning. You will be familiar with varied resources on campus and will reach out for assistance if you experience academic difficulty.
   
   
3. Develop a Plan
   You will develop an understanding and appreciation of the liberal arts tradition and the core curriculum at Goucher College. Ultimately, you will become self-directed in developing a working plan for your educational path, including a study-abroad plan that is an integral part of your overall academic vision.
   
   
4. Engage in the Community
   You will identify with and become involved in the Goucher community in academic, co-curricular, and social arenas. You will develop the self-awareness and confidence needed to proactively engage with others in and out of the classroom. You will participate in co-curricular activities, organizations, or initiatives and cultivate at least one mentoring relationship with a staff or faculty member. You will embrace Goucher’s community principles of respect, inclusion, communication, service and social justice, and responsibility. You will develop an awareness of your own identity and place within a diverse community.
   
   
5. Venture Out
   You will make an effort to spend time beyond the Goucher campus, exploring the many opportunities for social and cultural interaction that exist in Baltimore and Towson. You will also familiarize yourself with the numerous community-based learning (off campus service) opportunities coordinated by Goucher.