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A GRINNELL EDUCATION

At the center of a Grinnell education is intensive mentoring of students by the faculty. This mentoring begins in the First-Year Tutorial, the only required course at Grinnell College. While faculty members from all academic departments teach the tutorial and their topics vary widely, every tutorial emphasizes writing, critical thinking and analysis, oral discussion skills, and information literacy. Each tutor also serves as adviser to this group of students until they declare a major field of study. Thus, students receive guidance from an instructor with personal knowledge of their academic interests, aptitudes, and needs. The tutorial is usually limited to 12 students, making it somewhat smaller than the average class, though similar in intensity to the rest of the curriculum. Grinnell classes generally are small, with an average enrollment of 17 and fewer than 6 percent of classes above 30 students. Many academic programs offer a Mentored Advanced Project (MAP), either as independent study or in the context of a seminar. The MAP, closely guided by a faculty director, gives upper-level students the opportunity to culminate a sequence of academic work by completing a highly advanced project in research or creative arts.

At all levels of the curriculum, Grinnell College students receive an education rooted in active experience. For example, students in science classes engage in discovery-based learning, even at the introductory level. Each area of the fine arts offers opportunities for creative practice alongside the study of history, theory, and formal analysis. Outside the classroom, the Career Development Office has coordinated more than 400 College-funded summer internships forstudents over the past five years. About one- third of students participate in intercollegiate athletics through membership on varsity teams. Residence life, another important feature of a Grinnell education, teaches students the pragmatic social skills of self-governance as they live together in community. The College offers a calendar packed with cultural events and activities, including concerts, lectures, theatre, films, and opportunities for volunteer and civic involvement. Grinnell has never had fraternities or sororities; social events are open to all members of the College.

Grinnell’s emphasis on active learning extends to participation in the global community. With international students making up about 10 percent of our student body and domestic students representing every state, Grinnell offers a geographically and culturally diverse environment for living and learning. A flourishing Center for International Studies coordinates and highlights the many courses and programs at Grinnell College with a global perspective. Even without a language requirement, nearly all students elect to study a foreign language. Roughly half of Grinnell students (a number matched by very few other colleges) spend a semester in Off-Campus Study. Nearly all of these students decide to live and study in an academic program outside of the United States.

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Washington University is highly regarded nationally and internationally for the quality of our teaching, our research, and our service to society. No matter what your interests, you can find a top-notch program in our undergraduate curriculum.

Our medium-sized University has approximately 6,000 full-time undergraduates, but you’re also part of a smaller college or school where you’ll receive lots of individual attention.

Our residential areas have classrooms and other amenities to support your education. You can choose from nearly 240 student organizations, varsity and intramural sports—and much, much more.

Washington University has a beautiful campus surrounded by great neighborhoods. Our students discover that St. Louis is a great place to live and go to school.

This genuinely friendly place reflects our Midwestern location. Some say it is our combination of academic excellence and supportive atmosphere that sets us apart.

Academics at Washington University

Professor William Buhro, a leading researcher in nanoscience and materials chemistry, teaches undergraduate students.

Washington University has a personality, and you feel it everywhere.

It’s a friendly, welcoming feeling that you pick

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Located in the community of Hyde Park on Chicago’s South Side, just 15 minutes from the city center, the University of Chicago is uniquely positioned to contribute to, and draw from, the strength and diversity of this world-class metropolis. We have also made an indelible mark on the world at large.

Changing the World

Our faculty and students are pioneers, discoverers, teachers, scholars, and change agents. We ask tough questions, engage the world around us, and pursue knowledge with rigor because we believe in the transformative power of ideas.

Shaping Minds

Our undergraduate program is known for its emphasis on critical thinking and broad interdisciplinary exposure to the full range of intellectual discovery. Our College classrooms have a reputation for being hotbeds of exhilarating discourse. Discussions that start in the classroom often move to the dormitory hall, to the lunch table, and into the community. A Chicago education is a life-changing experience.

Creating New Disciplines

As the nation’s celebrated teacher of teachers, we place particular emphasis at the graduate level on the training of students for careers in academia and research. Committed to scholarship of the highest order, our faculty has made major contributions to existing bodies of knowledge and to the creation of new fields of study. Chicago scholars seek to break down artificial disciplinary barriers and frequently explore research and coursework outside their selected fields. We have long thrived in an atmosphere of free and open inquiry, which has led to classic studies of literary criticism and urban sociology, the development of ecology, and the study of religions as an academic field.

Leading in Law and Economics

Our legal scholars have pioneered the analysis of legal issues from an economic point of view; and more than any other university in the world, ours has made its mark in the reshaping of modern economics.

Leading in the Sciences

It was at Chicago that REM sleep was discovered and carbon 14 dating was developed. Our scientists laid the mathematical foundations of genetic evolution; executed the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction; conceived the study of black holes; and performed the nation’s first living-donor liver transplant. Researchers here have also expanded our understanding of dinosaur evolution; reconstructed the evolution of the early universe in astonishing detail; proved that chromosomal defects can lead to cancer; and pioneered scientific archaeology of the ancient Near East.

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Central Michigan University, with a main campus in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and more than 60 locations across the U.S., is nationally recognized for academic excellence in more than 200 programs. Cutting edge research, new facilities, graduate programs and top faculty ensure an education that is one of the best in the state.

But what really sets Central apart from other schools is difficult to describe. We call it "the CMU experience." It’s the fact that nearly half of all CMU freshmen participate in leadership training their first week on campus. Or that CMU recently won a national award for assisting victims of Hurricane Katrina. Or it’s that special professor who still remembers your name after 20 years. It’s a spirit that defies definition. That’s CMU.

About CMU

Central Michigan University is one of the nation’s top 100 largest public higher education institutions and Michigan’s fourth largest public university.

Founded in 1892 and becoming a university in 1959, CMU is committed to providing students with a superior learning environment and global perspective to compete in an increasingly complex world.

With more than 20,000 students on its Mount Pleasant campus and another 7,000 enrolled online and at 60 locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, CMU offers an impressive breadth of 200 academic programs, including nationally ranked programs in entrepreneurship, journalism, music, audiology, teacher education, psychology and physician assistant. CMU also is moving forward with establishing a college of medicine.

Our accomplished professors share a strong commitment to teaching and a focus on engaging students in applied research, scholarship and creative activity. Our undergraduate and graduate classes are led by faculty experts who blend theory with hands-on experience to help students get the most out of their courses.

Academic Programs

Central Michigan University, with a main campus in Mount Pleasant and more than 60 locations across the U.S., is nationally recognized for academic excellence in more than 200 programs.

Cutting edge research, new facilities, graduate programs and top faculty ensure a quality education. And with accelerated classes and online course options you will get a quality education on your terms.

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The University of Florida (UF) is a major, public, comprehensive, land-grant, research university. The state’s oldest and most comprehensive university, UF is among the nation’s most academically diverse public universities. UF has a long history of established programs in international education, research and service. It is one of only 17 public, land-grant universities that belongs to the Association of American Universities.

History

In 1853, the state-funded East Florida Seminary took over the Kingsbury Academy in Ocala. The seminary moved to Gainesville in the 1860s and later was consolidated with the state’s land-grant Florida Agricultural College, then in Lake City. In 1905, by legislative action, the college became a university and was moved to Gainesville. Classes first met with 102 students on the present site on Sept. 26, 1906. UF officially opened its doors to women in 1947. With more than 50,000 students, UF is now one of the largest universities in the nation.

Facilities

UF has a 2,000-acre campus and more than 900 buildings (including 170 with classrooms and laboratories). The northeast corner of campus is listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The UF residence halls have a total capacity of some 7,500 students and the five family housing villages house more than 1,000 married and graduate students.

UF’s extensive capital improvement program has resulted in facilities ideal for 21st century academics and research, including the Health Professions, Nursing and Pharmacy Building; the Cancer and Genetics Research Center; the new Biomedical Sciences Building; and William R. Hough Hall, which will house the Hough Graduate School of Business. Overall, the university’s current facilities have a book value of more than $1 billion and a replacement value of $2 billion.

UF Timeline » 150 Years of History at UF

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Boston College is one of the oldest Jesuit, Catholic universities in the United States. U.S. News and World Report ranks Boston College 34th among national universities.

Boston College confers more than 4,000 degrees annually in more than 50 fields of study through nine schools and colleges. Faculty members are committed to both teaching and research and have set new marks for research grant awards over the last ten years, more than $45 million in the last year alone.

The University has made a major commitment to academic excellence. It is in the process of adding faculty positions, expanding faculty and graduate research, increasing student financial aid, and widening opportunities in key undergraduate programs, such as foreign study, internships, community service, and personal formation.

Boston College has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, including a 75 percent increase in undergraduate applications over the past decade. During the same period, a remarkable increase in revenue from voluntary giving has helped to move the University’s endowment to approximately $1.4 billion, among the 40 largest in the nation.

History of Boston College

Boston College was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1863 and, with 3 teachers and 22 students, opened its doors on September 5, 1864. Through its first seven decades, it remained an exclusively liberal arts institution with emphasis on the Greek and Latin classics, English and modern languages, and philosophy and religion.

Originally located on Harrison Avenue in Boston’s South End, where it shared quarters with Boston College High School, the University outgrew its urban setting toward the end of its first 50 years. It moved to then-rural Chestnut Hill, on the site of the former Lawrence farm, where ground was broken on June 19, 1909 for the construction of Gasson Hall. Gasson, known at the time as the Recitation Building, opened in March 1913. The three other buildings that would form the core of the campus St. Mary’s Hall, Devlin Hall, and Bapst Library opened in 1917, 1924, and 1928, respectively.

During the 1940s, new purchases doubled the size of the main campus. In 1974, Boston College acquired Newton College of the Sacred Heart, 1.5 miles away. With 15 buildings on 40 acres, it is now the site of the Law School and residence halls housing more than 800 students.

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Emory University is an inquiry-driven, ethically engaged and diverse community whose members work collaboratively for positive transformation in the world through courageous leadership in teaching, research, scholarship, health care and social action.

The university is recognized internationally for its outstanding liberal arts college, superb professional schools and one of the Southeast’s leading health care systems.

This is a time of dynamic change on campus, where the future is being guided by an ambitious strategic plan, Where Courageous Inquiry Leads.

Emory maintains an uncommon balance for an institution of its standing: it generates more research funding than any other Georgia university, while maintaining its traditional emphasis on teaching. The university is enriched by the legacy and energy of Atlanta, and by collaboration among its schools, units and centers, as well as with affiliated institutions.

Rankings & Successes

• Top Rankings: Emory ranks among the top 20 national universities in U.S. News & World Report’s "America’s Best Colleges."
• Distinguished Professors: Distinguished faculty members include former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Booker Prize-winning novelist Sir Salman Rushdie, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, symphony conductor Robert Spano, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey and CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

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