Claremont McKenna College
Claremont, California
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A Liberal Arts Education – An Education in Leadership . . .
That is the essence of education at CMC – a deft melding of the traditional liberal arts with a pragmatic emphasis on leadership. An education that teaches tomorrow’s leaders how to think, reason, negotiate, synthesize, question, cooperate . . . and lead.
CMC is a school with a clear mission: to educate students for responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions. Our place in American education is unique: we balance the world of ideas with the world of events . . . the theoretical with the practical. Our ten cutting-edge research institutes not only lead the nation into new realms of discovery, they also give our undergraduates unprecedented opportunity to work side-by-side with their professors and discover how the curriculum in the classroom links to life in the real world.
As one of the nation’s top private liberal arts colleges, CMC offers students an extra advantage. Here you needn’t choose between a classical liberal arts education and a preparation for a life of leadership: you’ll acquire both. You’ll also enjoy the freedom of structuring your own course of study – enabling you to satisfy your career goals as well as your creative spirit and intellectual curiosity. Future artist-executives, physician-philosophers, legislator-poets aren’t oddities at CMC. They’re the norm.
With a population of 1,200 students, a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio and an average class size of 16, CMC offers students the personal attention and community ethos typical of a small private college – but with a special twist. As a member of The Claremont Colleges, CMC students can take advantage of the academic, social, cultural, ethnic, and athletic diversity typically reserved for much larger universities.
Colorado College
Colorado Springs, Colorado
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A private, four-year liberal arts college, Colorado College is located on a 90-acre campus in downtown Colorado Springs, near the base of the 14,110-foot Pikes Peak.
Colorado College created and implemented a unique academic calendar in 1970 called the Block Plan. This plan divides the academic year into eight three-and-a-half week segments or blocks. Students take one principal course at a time and professors teach one. Some courses may last for one block, others for two or three blocks, depending on the nature of the material.
Courses taught under the Block Plan are units of study designed to cover as much of a subject as a course in a conventional semester or quarter. One Block Plan unit of credit is equal to four semester hours.
Benefits of the Block Plan
* Complete immersion in one subject
* No predetermined length for class discussions
* Flexibility in scheduling class times and locations
* Extended field trips and on-site learning
* More hands-on, experiential learning
* Creative research and extended field work opportunities
* Visiting professors and guest lecturers are easier to schedule
* No cramming for four or five midterms or finals
Each block ends at noon on the fourth Wednesday, giving students four-and-a-half day mini-vacations called "block breaks." Some students relax by staying on the campus; others participate in college-sponsored recreational activities such as bicycle trips to Aspen, raft expeditions down the Colorado River, or volcano climbs in Mexico.
Connecticut College
New London, Connecticut
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Gothic-style residence halls and academic buildings border a central green with sweeping views of Long Island Sound. Some of our most important College ceremonies take place on the Green, with flags flying for the 71 different nations represented among our 1,900 students. Our soccer and lacrosse teams play here, too. On the west side of campus are woods and fields where students in environmental studies and other sciences do primary research. On the east side is the Thames River where Connecticut College sailing and crew teams have nurtured future Olympians.
When you visit our campus, you may fall in love first with the beauty of a classic New England residential liberal arts college. But you will quickly discover even more important qualities. Here you will find a challenging liberal arts experience without pretense or attitude. You will acquire not only depth in your major but also new ways of understanding the world through multiple disciplines and active membership in a diverse campus community. You will select from more than 50 majors in the arts, sciences, social sciences, and humanities and layer on rich experiences: study abroad, interdisciplinary certificates, community service, College-funded internships, research, artistic explorations, writing, leadership development, and more. Distinguished faculty and your fellow students will support you in virtually any quest or objective. At Connecticut College, you will be extraordinary.
Grinnell College
Grinnell, Iowa
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There is a road to a place of endless possibilities.
It is a place where independence of thought and social conscience are instilled . . .
. . . A wide open space of resources, professors, and students in search of truth, understanding, and shared endeavors.
It is a place where there are NO LIMITS.
It is a college named Grinnell.
Grinnell College
Since its founding in 1846, Grinnell College has been a place of great possibilities, dedicated to providing students the opportunity to critically examine the world. The College attracts students, faculty, and staff who value collaboration, intellectual interaction, personal achievement, and community. Thoughtful analysis, strong communication skills, and independent thinking are fundamental to the Grinnell experience. Intellectual, creative, and fun, cosmopolitan yet down to earth, Grinnellians bring their unique backgrounds to Grinnell for a variety of reasons. The college seeks individuals who are interested in making an impact on the college community and, later, the world — a Grinnell education truly has a global imprint.
Haverford College
Haverford, Pennsylvania
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Haverford is a coeducational, residential liberal arts college located 8 miles west of center city Philadelphia. Haverford was founded in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). While the college is no longer formally affiliated with any religious body, the values of academic strength, intellectual freedom, individual worth, and tolerance upon which it was founded remain central to its character.
Haverford's 1,200 students represent a wide variety of interests, backgrounds, and talents. They come from public and independent schools from all 50 States, DC, Puerto Rico, and more than 30 countries around the world.
Extensive cooperation with nearby Bryn Mawr College adds an important dimension to the resources available at Haverford. Educational opportunities are further enhanced by cooperation with Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania.
Although students choose Haverford because of its academic excellence, a strong sense of community participation informs the Haverford College experience both inside the classroom and out. Haverford is well known for its emphasis on self-governance, and students work together through the arts and cultural activities, service programs, athletic programs, and day-to-day campus life.
The Honor Code, affirmed by the student body each year, embodies the philosophy of conduct within the College. Students are expected to maintain a strong sense of individual responsibility as well as intellectual integrity, honesty, and genuine concern for others.
Haverford College offers an atmosphere of intellectual and personal challenge, excitement, and growth in a close-knit community that is dedicated to encouraging humane values during the undergraduate years and for a lifetime.
Kenyon College
Gambier, Ohio
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Kenyon College brings together talented students and dedicated professors in a close-knit community on an Ohio hilltop of incomparable beauty. The College’s reputation rests on a long history of creative achievement, but its essence lies in the way personal contact shapes daily experience. Students learn in an atmosphere characterized by collaboration, not competition.
Kenyon’s superb faculty consists of remarkably accessible professors, offering a student-faculty ratio of 10:1 and an average class size of 17. Students gain a thorough grounding in the traditional liberal arts and sciences, with an emphasis on critical thinking and strong writing skills. Whatever their major, all seniors consolidate their learning in a capstone experience known as the senior exercise. About 50 percent of students study off-campus for at least a semester.
Approximately 1,600 smart and creative students from all fifty states and more than two dozen countries find themselves at home here. They lead more than 100 clubs and organizations, while a full roster of dramatic productions, film screenings, musical performances, and art exhibitions maintains a lively campus life. About 30 percent of students compete on varsity sports teams (11 women’s, 11 men’s, in Division III), and many more play club and intramural sports.
Kenyon’s stone halls and comfortable cottages occupy 1,000 acres of hilltop and shaded lawn. Founded in 1824, Kenyon cherishes its history as the oldest private institution of higher education in Ohio. The campus is on the National Register of Historic Places, yet boasts twenty-first century facilities for science and music, and a spectacular $70-million athletic center providing the best Division III facilities in the country.
Macalester College
St. Paul, Minnesota
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Located in a vibrant residential neighborhood in the heart of a thriving metropolitan area, Macalester is a top-ranked liberal arts college. Mac students come from all 50 states and nearly 90 countries to participate in an education focused on “high-powered scholarship and success, pairing academic rigor with global perspective,” notes the Fiske Guide to Colleges.
The college has been preparing students for world citizenship and providing an integrated international education for over six decades. The United Nations flag has flown on campus since 1950. Last year 253 students studied in 46 countries through 86 programs.
Macalester’s location offers unusually broad, easily accessible internship opportunities to add valuable experience, connections, and practice at getting things done, often leading to job opportunities after graduation. Two out of three Mac students complete an internship at a Twin Cities business, law firm, hospital, financial institution, museum, theater, state government, research lab, environmental agency, or non-profit group (and more), all within a few miles of campus. MarketWatch recently ranked the Twin Cities first as “the nation’s best metro area for business.”
A rich and diverse curriculum includes more than 750 courses and 36 majors offered by 29 departments. Nearly 70 percent of classes have fewer than 20 students. From first-year seminars to senior capstone projects, students explore multiple subjects, develop new intellectual passions, find connections and make original discoveries. Graduates enter the work force or graduate school with respected scholarship and real experience in a global community, prepared to succeed in their chosen fields.
Sarah Lawrence College
Bronxville, New York
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Sarah Lawrence College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college internationally known for its innovative educational philosophy and individualized curriculum. Located just 15 miles north of Midtown Manhattan, Sarah Lawrence is highly selective and enrolls 1,391 undergraduates and 318 graduate students from 49 states and 26 countries. The picturesque 44-acre wooded campus blends traditional English architecture and state-of-the-art facilities. Eighty-five percent of undergraduate students live on campus.
The College emphasizes independent, interdisciplinary study, which students pursue through courses that combine a 10-to-15-person seminar with independent study guided by bi-weekly conferences with the professor. The writing-intensive curriculum includes rigorous programs in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences and mathematics, as well as conservatory-level programs in the creative and performing arts. Sarah Lawrence does not offer formal majors; all degrees are bachelor’s degrees in liberal arts, but students may concentrate in a particular area. In the Oxford-Cambridge tradition, each student has a "don" or academic advisor who helps design an individualized program of study. The student faculty ratio is among the lowest in the country at 6:1.
Internships, arranged through our Career Counseling Center, are available in any field and often take place in nearby New York City. Within five years of graduation, 70-75 percent of students attend graduate or professional school. Notable alumni of the College include writer Alice Walker, Congressman Rahm Emmanuel, journalist Barbara Walters, television producer/film director J.J. Abrams, fashion designer Vera Wang, composer/choreographer Meredith Monk, and neurobiologist/epidermiologist Ian Lipkin, who isolated the West Nile Virus.
