Jill Hubbell Fadule, managing director of MBAadmissions at Harvard Business School, says in aninterview with Business Week that students shouldnot feel they must base their college years aroundcareer plans.

"Really master what you love," she says."Whether it's biology or French, linguistics orarchitecture. You can study business later."

Officials from humanities graduate programs andlaw schools say they, too, have noticed a shift inthe types of activities their applicants pursuedwhile undergraduates.

"I think that the need to differentiate oneselfmight influence people as to what choices theymake as undergraduates," says Hilary Ford,Cornell's director of graduate school admissions.

Hearts

But many professors and educators questionwhether the aims of a liberal arts education areserved when students devote their undergraduateyears to planning for the future.

Wright-Swadel says most undergraduates choosetheir concentrations and activities based on theirinterests, but some feel pressure to studysubjects that lead to specific professions.

"Liberal arts students often say they wish theyhad something like an accounting degree becausethat would have a particular job attached,"Wright-Swadel says.

Professor of English Engell thinks that thisprofessional focus is jeopardizing the humanities.In an article published last month in HarvardMagazine, Engell asserts that careerism has sappedthe vitality from the liberal arts.

"The idea that students are in college toprepare for full participation insociety--including participation that won'tadvance their careers or enlarge their bankaccounts--no longer has much sway in highereducation," he writes.

Engell says the decline in students studyingthe humanities and a reduction of grant money tothese fields give students an early indicationthat they should focus on more directly marketableareas.

"The perception is that if you are majoring inthe humanities you are not preparing to godirectly to a professional field," Engell says.

While few publicly share Engell's direpredictions, many educators do expressreservations over the trend toward careerism.

Ford says she is troubled by the trend toward"working backwards"--choosing occupations based onfuture money, and activities and majors based onfuture occupations.

But students and administrators involved incareer-oriented clubs dismiss the criticism.