By Meredith Crawford
The bumper sticker’s been proudly affixed for months, the car is packed to the roof with furniture, and your child is about to embark on the adventure of his or her young life. All that’s left to do is join the endless caravan that’s en route this fall to colleges and universities throughout the nation.
A growing number of Nutmeggers, though, won’t have too far to travel, since they looked no further than their home state when it came time to file applications.
Connecticut’s array of selective institutions means talented students are sure to find a school to suit them.
In turn, Connecticut schools are dedicating themselves anew to retaining students and reversing the “brain drain.”
Not only are the following schools committed to taking extraordinary steps to attract Connecticut applicants, but they are also among the top institutions in the country.
Connecticut College
New London’s Connecticut College has always been about imparting opportunities. Conceived to afford women a high-quality, liberal arts education, the college opened its doors to men some 50 years later. Today, Connecticut College remains true to its founding principles.
“Every change is also something that will stay the same,” explains Dean of Faculty Roger Brooks of the small, highly selective college. “The reason we were founded as a women’s college was to give access to education. We’re still all about access—making sure financial aid dollars are available for those who are admitted.”
According to Brooks, Connecticut College promises to meet 100 percent of accepted students’ demonstrated financial need. This, Brooks says, enables the school to maintain and enhance its diversity. An emphasis on internationalism and interdisciplinary, critical thinking also defines Connecticut College.
“Sixty percent of our students study abroad,” says Brooks. “Our students are encouraged to engage in international thinking in all of our colleges…We found out really early on our students don’t want to know about something from one perspective—they want to know about it from many different perspectives…We have five interdisciplinary centers on campus.”
At Connecticut College, the learning doesn’t stop when students head back to the dorms, either.
“We really leverage the residential part of our campus in a way that’s pretty unusual,” says Brooks. “Our first-year seminar takes place in the residence halls…It helps students build an intellectual community, so the same people they see hanging around the dorms are the ones they talked to in class that morning.”
Connecticut College balances this intimacy with a competitive thrust more typical of larger universities.
“Our faculty are active researchers. They bring the research they’re doing right into the classroom, so our students are learning at the cutting edge,” says Brooks.
In the final estimation, it may be Connecticut College’s beauty that’s the hardest to overlook, however.
“Of all the liberal arts colleges I’ve been to it has the best physical setting,” enthuses Brooks. “The rosy, granite buildings are just unbelievable. Where some of those schools have our beauty they don’t have our locale, or if they have our beauty, they don’t have our locale.”
Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts is probably the best Connecticut school you don’t know about.
Founded by sculptor Elizabeth Gordon Chandler, it became an accredited four-year college just 12 years ago. According to President Debra Petke, the school’s founder was concerned that arts schools weren’t teaching students the skills essential to drawing, painting, and sculpting.
“Thirty percent of our students are transfers from other schools,” says Petke. “When they got [to other schools] they found they weren’t getting the education they wanted and they weren’t getting a lot of instruction…There’s a lack of drawing emphasis elsewhere and we’re filling that need.”
Lyme Academy students major in painting or sculpture. This fall, they’ll also have the choice of a major in illustration and, in January, drawing.
No matter the area of concentration, students are expected to meet the usual liberal arts requirements.
“The students have to take math and science and English...They’re very driven to do this curriculum…and it’s very demanding,” says Petke.
“In identifying students who will do very well here, what you look for is a level of intelligence and patience,” Petke adds. “We emphasize that even more than the portfolio, so you may have some very serious students who’ve done very well in high school—many have 3.0 GPAs or higher.”
Lyme Academy’s students are recognized for their talents locally, regionally, and nationally. In particular, the school aims to foster strong ties between students and the statewide art community.
“Our students exhibit locally…A lot exhibit in Madison and Old Lyme. Whatever we can do to connect them to the community we absolutely do.
“I’ve taught at a number of different colleges and I’ve never seen a connection like the one between the students and a college as here—It’s a lifelong connection,” Petke concludes.
Trinity College
Connecticut students looking for an urban-focused learning experience might be surprised to discover it in their own capitol city. “There are many things that make Trinity College special and differentiate it from many liberal arts colleges. One is that we are one of the only located in the heart of a city; we are one of only two located in a capitol city,” explains Director of Media Relations Michele Jacklin.
“We attract students who are interested in a uniquely urban experience,” adds Jacklin. “They are aware that…Hartford has many challenges, socio-economically and otherwise, but our students are prepared for those and tackle them head-on.”
Trinity’s record of outreach initiatives is impressive. Among countless other efforts, the school created the first campus-related Boys & Girls Club; it is a member of and major financial contributor to The Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance; helps rehabilitate local homes; and runs a Dream Camp that provides mentoring and educational opportunities for Hartford’s underprivileged youth. Trinity encourages its students to turn outside of Hartford, too.
“In October we’ll open our Center for Urban & Global Studies. It will be the first center at a liberal arts college to have an urban and global focus. There will be an even greater emphasis on learning about cities and how they fit into the global economy,” shares Jacklin. “We also have a very active Rome campus and six global learning sites.”
A large percentage of Trinity students take on internships in Connecticut and in New England, something the school encourages because of its keen awareness of the brain drain phenomenon.
University of Connecticut
Boasting an incoming freshmen class with an average SAT score in line with selective liberal arts colleges, the University of Connecticut is definitely not your ordinary state school.
“UConn is an amazing value because the education is phenomenal and the price is right,” says Manager of Media Communications Karen Grava. “Connecticut students know that…Since 1995, applications are up 113 percent.”
UConn has formed the locus of the state legislature’s attack on brain drain. Substantial contributions through the state’s UConn 2000 initiative—a $2.3 billion, 20-year investment in the university’s infrastructure—have helped the university attract Connecticut students.
“We have students who’ve turned down Yale and Harvard to come here because they know they’ll be funded for four years and they are well aware of the kind of education we have,” says Grava. “Students come here because they can have research experiences as an undergrad, which you can’t do at a liberal arts college.”
Once at UConn, students find it difficult to leave.
“Our retention numbers are among the best in the country—93 percent of our freshmen stay…and most of our students graduate in 4.4 years,” says Grava.
In addition, a striking number of UConn alums—about 103,000 out of a total 180,000—remain instate once they graduate.
“Most of the time, your pharmacist, your teachers, your dentists are all UConn alums,” Grava notes.
Wesleyan University
Middletown’s Wesleyan University enjoys a reputation as one of the most liberal of the nation’s liberal arts colleges, but the highly selective school remains grounded through its commitment to the principles of academic excellence and critical, interdisciplinary thinking.
Wesleyan has enjoyed an illustrious history since its 1831 Methodist founding. Between 1872 and 1912, it differentiated itself as a coeducational institution. The school has maintained a stellar reputation, consistently ranking among the U.S. institutions of higher learning. Despite a healthy undergraduate population of 2,700, Wesleyan’s faculty-to-student ratio is still an intimate 9:1. Visiting artists and professors are a staple for the school.
Wesleyan’s newest president, Michael S. Roth, has initiated an aggressive plan for the university, which includes increasing financial support for its students. Currently, 41 percent of Wesleyan’s undergraduates receive financial aid. Roth aims to develop scholarships for military veterans, too.
Yale University
Of all of its assets, name recognition may be Yale’s best selling point. The Ivy-League institution annually vies for the number-one slot on lists of the country’s best colleges and universities. Add to this the beauty of its historic campus and its vibrant surroundings and it’s no wonder students throughout the world dream of being admitted.
Yale’s legacy dates back to its 1701 charter, granted when the university opened as the Collegiate School in Old Saybrook. The school became Yale College—named after school supporter Elihu Yale—in 1718. The university has maintained an international population since its first Latin American student matriculated in the 19th century. Today, nine percent of Yale undergraduates are international students.
Yale has nurtured its excellent reputation across three centuries by holding true to its fundamental tenets while adapting to pedagogical shifts. Most notably, establishing 12 residential colleges in the first half of the 20th century enabled “Yale to offer its students both the intimacy of a small college environment and the vast resources of a major research university,” according to the university’s website.