Class of 2017 Early Application Results from Highly Selective Colleges: What Do They Indicate?

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Early application acceptance numbers are in for Ivy League and other highly selective schools. Read on to check out what percent got admitted and about early trends in applications for the Class of 2017.

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State Universities vs. Private Colleges–A Professor Reflects

During a recent visit to the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, I caught up with an old friend, Professor Bill Worden. He is now a professor of Spanish and director of graduate studies.

Bill was educated at elite private institutions in the Northeast (Dartmouth, Brown), but he teaches at a large, public university.

During our conversation he reflected upon his experience, and about his understanding about the quality of students at both kinds of educational institutions.

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Large State University vs. Small Private Colleges–Which Is Best?

As I traveled around the Deep South last week visiting colleges, I was happy to feel some of my old stereotypes melt away. To be sure, southern colleges reflect their geography and the culture of people of the region.  But academically speaking, there are many fantastic schools, excellent students, talented professors, innovative programs, and beautiful campuses.  It’s a pity that more of my clients from the West, the Northeast, and the Midwest generally will not consider colleges in the South.

I asked my friend Bill Worden, a professor of Spanish at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, about these prejudices.  Bill and I were pals at Dartmouth, and he grew up in Massachusetts. He received his doctorate at Brown.   So when he landed a job a UA, he had to make some adjustments in his academic worldview.

So I asked him about his experiences at the University of Alabama, and his impressions of his students, and his discoveries large, public universities in some parts of the United States.


The point is that all types of universities offer excellent educational opportunities to those who take advantage of them.  What’s important is finding the college or university that fits you best–a place where you feel comfortable and welcome.  For many, the flagship university of your home state may be the best fit for you.  For many others, however, a smaller, more intimate setting may be best.

But whatever you deem best for you, don’t let parochial views of your peers, neighbors, or acquaintances influence your priorities too much. Take the time to investigate the types of schools that fit you best.  Be willing to think outside the box and look at other regions of the country. Don’t make uninformed judgments based on stereotypes.  Determine your own, personal educational priorities, and take the time to find the best college for you.

Mark Montgomery
College Counselor and Southern College Enthusiast


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St. John’s College in Santa Fe: Defining the Liberal Arts

St. John's College building

The Liberal Arts. A Classical Education. Humanism.
If this is what you seek, then seek no further than St. John’s College. I spent a couple of hours on its gorgeous campus on the edge of Santa Fe, New Mexico, today. As I got out of my car, I heard the strains of a violin playing on a balcony. I passed the fountain in the center of campus, where the pool was filled with multicolored water lilies and koi. Even a pit stop revealed state-of-the-art no-flush toilets. I figured this was going to be a different sort of experience.

I had a private tour, led by a dashing gentleman from Mexico. He began to list off his interests: classical Spanish literature and was studying Persian and Hebrew in his spare time (he listed these as his “extracurricular activities.”
He told me about the fixed, four-year curriculum that leads students through a chronological study of Western civilization; philosophy, science, mathematics, literature, music, languages (start with ancient Greek, and go forward from there).

Math classes are not about memorizing formulas. Instead they read the original works of Euclid and Pythagoras. In music, they start by singing Gregorian chants and end up analyzing–and composing–in nearly every style of western music. Students take three years of lab science, but they do not use textbooks: they use Kepler and Ptolemy and Lavoisier and Darwin.

St. John’s has no professors, only tutors who guide and engage in learning with students. Said my tour guide: “professors at other universities profess the truth; here we all explore the truth together.” In class, everyone uses last names and the title of Mr. and Ms. (no “Professor or Dr. So and So,” even when your tutor is a Nobel laureate). You will find few computers. You will find no “smart classrooms” with the latest gizmos. Powerpoint? No, blackboards are sufficient. Enormous online databases? Available, but who needs them when you’re reading the classics? No need to listen to your professor interpret these texts, when you can interpret them for yourselves.

I was smitten. I wanted to start over and go here and I want to get the sort of education that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had. As my tour guide said, in some ways, their education is highly indulgent. They can explore all the great ideas of Western civilization in detail and with relish. No need to consider the outside world.

Yet many still do. The career center is tremendous. Eighty percent go on to graduate school–many to earn doctorates–and many go on to become doctors and lawyers and architects and government officials.
Most colleges and universities in America have abandoned the ideals and traditions of the liberal arts. What we, in this country, now call “liberal arts,” has nothing to do with the 19th century academic traditions–which still live on at St. John’s.

Today’s “liberal arts” education is generally an enormous smorgasbord, from which students can pick what they fancy and leave what they do not. At St. John’s, there remains a coherent vision of what it means to be “liberally educated.” Since the 1960s, however, American education has veered from its roots in the Classical, humanist tradition. Now just about anything goes, with some colleges (like Brown) allowing students to take pretty much whatever they want without any real guidance whatsoever.

St. John’s is not going to be for everyone. In fact, only about 130 students matriculate to the Santa Fe campus each year. But for those few for whom this is a good fit, the opportunities to stretch your mind and train your intellect are immeasurable. If you’re looking for the smorgasbord and all the electronic bells and whistles, this is not the place for you.

But if the life of the mind is paramount in importance to you, this college is worth a second look. And a third. And maybe a fourth. St. John’s is special.

Mark Montgomery
College Counselor