A Guided Tour of Rollins Gateway

Our students and graduates give you a behind-the-scenes look at how your Rollins experience prepares you to pursue your purpose.

You’ll never walk alone. That’s just one of the commitments we make to you when you start your Rollins journey, but it’s probably the most important promise any college can deliver. After all, Gallup research reveals that having at least one mentor in college is the single most important factor to personal and professional success. At Rollins you’ll be surrounded by an entire community of mentors—from expert faculty and staff to successful alumni and your fellow students. To give you a sneak peek at how big a difference mentors make, we invited one of our current students and several of our graduates to walk you through Rollins Gateway, our signature approach to preparing students to pursue their purpose.

Emma’s Guide to Rollins Gateway

As a Gateway Guide, I help new Tars chart their path through Rollins by drawing on all of the knowledge and skills I’ve developed during my four years on America’s most beautiful campus. Basically, my job is to help make sure your Rollins Gateway is as life-changing and career-defining as mine has been. So follow me on this tour of my Rollins Gateway and start picturing what your life’s greatest adventure will look like.

Emma Gibson ’23

Gateway Guide

Major: Psychology

Future-Proof Foundation

Coming out of high school, I was the student who was like, “I want to get right into my major,” but I’m so glad Rollins’ unique approach to the liberal arts encouraged me to take the time to explore. In addition to my psych courses, I took classes in communication, political science, philosophy, business—all of these different disciplines that I never would’ve considered on my own. That’s what a Rollins education is all about. It doesn’t just prepare you for one job—it helps you discover fields you didn’t even know existed and gets you ready to thrive in whatever path you fall in love with.

Liberal Arts in Action

At Rollins, you get so many opportunities to take what you’re learning in class and build on that through experiences like internships, studying abroad, community service, and student clubs. I came in as a first-year focused just on academics, but I quickly realized there is this whole other side to my education that is just as important. I got to explore the roots of psychotherapy during a field study in Vienna and London; I learned to lead through my role as vice president in Fraternity and Sorority Life; and I’ve honed my analytical and writing skills through a collaborative research project in behavioral neuroscience. Now I’m applying everything I’ve learned in my paid internship with a local counseling practice. These experiences helped me understand what I want to do and gave me the confidence that I’ll find success in what I choose to do next.

Meaningful Mentorship

The most impactful thing for me at Rollins are the people who have acted as mentors. At Rollins, you’ll really find mentors everywhere you look. I have a dedicated faculty advisor as well as a thesis advisor who have been important mentors for me, but because Rollins classes are so small, you really get to develop meaningful relationships with all of your professors. Staff helped me land my internship, and my work-study supervisors helped guide me and make meaning of my journey. Some of my most important mentors have actually been my friends and classmates. It’s so valuable to get advice from someone who was in your shoes just a few years ago. That’s one of the reasons I love being a Gateway Guide—I get to pass on everything I’ve learned and help guide new Tars on their own journeys.

Keep Exploring

It’s impossible to capture the richness of the Rollins experience through any one Tar’s story. That’s why we’ve enlisted a handful of Rollins grads to do a deeper dive into each piece of Rollins Gateway and show you how it made the difference in their meaningful lives and purpose-driven careers.