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Augustana College in Illinois – A Pleasant Surprise

Jared Hobson — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:27:12 +0000

On a recent trip across country, Mark stopped at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Check out this short video to see what he discovered, or you can read the transcript below.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
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TRANSCRIPTION
You know, every time I visit a college campus I learn something new, and sometimes when I visit a college campus I’m really surprised; pleasantly surprised about what I find. I am here to day on the campus of Augustana College. It’s in Rock Island, Illinois which is right along the Mississippi in what they call the quad cities, which include Rock Island, Moline, Illinois, and Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa. Anyway, so that’s the geography, but this is a gorgeous campus. A really pleasant place. We’re here on a very hot summer day and there’s not a lot happening on the campus, but just walking around and seeing the really nice buildings. The geo-science building is over here. The biology building is not far away. The library is down the way. There’s a nice little pond in the middle of the campus; very attractive place, but academically terrific too. It’s a selective liberal arts college with about 2,500 students and the mid 50% range for the ACT is say somewhere between a 24 and a 29. So, good students come here and the strongest programs are probably in English, Biology, Music, Art, a good pre-law program, Education, what am I missing – Business. It’s also got a good Business program. This is a very nice place, very attractive location, and good academics; something that is really surprising. Again, visiting colleges can help to give you a stronger sense of what it would be like to go to this particular college, and you can learn so much by looking at the guide books, or looking at websites, sometimes you really do have to visit to convince yourself that wow, this could be a fantastic place to go to college.

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Is Muhlenberg College Religious

Jared Hobson — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:58:09 +0000

I recently visited Muhlenberg College, a traditionally Lutheran college in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. When I discovered that a small minority of students are actually Lutheran. It got me thinking about the pitfalls of making assumptions about schools that have religious affiliations.
Have a look at this video.

If you prefer, you can read the transcript.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
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Right now I’m on the campus of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I’m on a college tour and visiting several different colleges that all have different religious backgrounds. I’ve visited a couple of Quaker schools now, a Methodist school, Presbyterian school, and now I’m in a Lutheran campus. And sometimes when I ask students about religion and how that plays a role in their college decision. Some people can be very clear about it, other people are like I really don’t want my college experience to be religious.

But the labels can be deceiving because Muhlenberg College, for example, is a Lutheran College, but it’s about 33% Jewish and about 33% Catholic. I think she said about less than 10%—around 10% of the students—are actually Lutheran. So while Muhlenberg has a historical relationship with the Lutheran Church and its Chapel is to die for—absolutely drop dead gorgeous on the inside; gothic architectures, stained glass windows, the whole nine yards in terms of the religious symbolism and imagery—the student body is not necessarily Lutheran. In fact, Muhlenberg has one of the strongest Hillel programs for Jewish students anywhere in the world—anywhere in the country.

So make sure, as you’re looking at colleges and you see that religious label—whether it’s Catholic or Methodist, or Presbyterian, or Church of Christ, or Lutheran—that may or may not have anything to do with the actual composition of the student body or the spiritual orientation of the school itself. So look beyond the labels and see what the truth really is about a college.

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