Thomas College President Laurie Lachance has high expectations for incoming first-year students, a third of whom are taking advantage of the school’s three-year bachelor’s degree program.
Classes started Tuesday at the Waterville school, which focuses on preparing students for work-life through a career-focused curriculum, internship opportunities and professional development, and accelerated degree programs that get students into the workforce rapidly.
Eligible students can earn an undergraduate degree in three years or a master’s in four.
Business administration, criminal justice, psychology and education top the list of incoming students’ majors, and the class is made up of 86% Mainers, 13% from elsewhere in New England, and a few from Florida, California, Bermuda, Haiti and the Czech Republic.
In an email to Mainebiz after a busy student move-in weekend, Lachance said: “This year’s incoming class has distinguished itself for academic excellence, with fully one-third of the first-year students taking advantage of Thomas College’s unique accelerated bachelor’s program, which will cut the cost of their college education by 25% and will allow them to begin their careers a year earlier than their peers.”
The school did not yet have a number of the total class size.
“We are proud to welcome these highly motivated, academically driven students into our community,” added Lachance, a 2015 Mainebiz Next list honoree.
