The Dominican Experience

Immersed in the Dominican Experience, you’ll be fully supported as you explore, grow, find and embark on a career path. This is your time to shine.

The Program

Undergraduate students of all majors will be immersed in the Dominican Experience. The program’s four components are rooted in proven educational concepts:  

  • Experience Personal Growth: There’s an entire team dedicated to your wellbeing and growth.
  • Experience Connectedness: All learning is – by design – connected to real-world, hands-on experiences.
  • Experience Accomplishment: You will make your mark with a culminating project that is uniquely you.
  • Experience Readiness: When you are ready to land your dream job or apply to your top grad school, everything you have accomplished here will serve you well.

Learning Opportunities That Yield Results

The benefits of the Dominican Experience directly correlate to what today’s employers are looking for:

  • 94% of employers are more likely to hire a graduate who has completed an internship. 
  • 68% of employers are more likely to hire a student who has completed a community-based project.
  • 73% of employers believe college students should complete a significant applied project. 
  • 80% of employers say it would be useful to explore a digital portfolio that demonstrates a candidate's skills and experience.
  • Employees are 2x more involved in their work if they had a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their dreams. 

A Closer Look at the Dominican Experience

Alone, each of these four components presents an incredible learning opportunity. But, together, they represent Dominican’s signature academic model. What will your Dominican Experience look like? 
 

Traditionally, college is designed to expand your intellectual horizon and give you the knowledge and skills to excel in the workplace. However, making the most of the experience, finishing successfully in four years and finding your place in the world takes a more holistic approach. That’s why at Dominican, you have an entire crew dedicated to your wellbeing and growth. You’ll be paired with your personal integrative coach for consistent one-on-one sessions. Faculty and peer mentors are there to help, encourage and challenge you in all the right ways. We’ll be cheering you on from your first day on campus to the day you walk across the stage at graduation and beyond. You’ll love all the resources from free counseling services to job interview prep and adulting classes.

 

You will make your mark with a culminating project, a signature work, that is uniquely you! That can be a research study you design and conduct yourself or a creative project such as a choreography or poetry collection (of course with step-by-step guidance from your professors). Student research will be published on Dominican Scholar, a database shared with researchers around the world that has had millions of downloads. Our NCAA Division II athletes regularly win titles and academic awards. The sense of accomplishment you feel will be immensely satisfying. And it also prepares you to take on inevitable challenges with grace, resolve and passion as you create your path into the future.

What you learn in the classroom and on campus at Dominican will always be connected to real-world, hands-on experiences. Whether through Service Learning in our community, during field research projects, clinicals, internships or global learning programs, being directly engaged with diverse groups of people and applying your knowledge and skills allows you to learn with all your senses. These connected experiences often light the spark that fuels the future careers and educational paths of our students.

 

When you are ready to find your dream job or apply for your top grad school, everything you have accomplished here at Dominican will serve as a springboard for you. We will make sure that you can showcase your readiness with a stand-out resume or application, digital portfolio, LinkedIn profile and well-practiced personal interviews. When you graduate, you’ll have formed a close, life-long network of alumni, faculty, staff and friends to support you.

 

Community Engagement in Action

Environmental Impact

In elementary school, Allison Kustic ’21 first learned to dream of having an impact on the environment. Dominican helped shape that dream. After spending the summer interning in the Sacramento office...

Environmental Impact

The Dominican Experience

Experience Connectedness

Dominican Experience Leadership