The Best Colleges/Universities that You May Not Know About

[barbino]

Elmhurst College - Elmhust, IL (west suburb of Chicago)

Founded in 1871, Elmhurst is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and has programs for both undergraduate and graduate study. Elmhurst has an interesting church-related history of growth. It has small classes (approx. 13:1 student-faculty ratio). Elmhurst has an excellent academic reputation with both liberal arts and business/management offerings like Applied Geospatial Technologies, Musical Theatre, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Exercise Science, and Jazz Studies. It has a beautiful little campus and the train stops right by it and runs into the city at regular intervals.

Elmurst has Greek life - all conferences. What is different here is that the NPHC chapters all share campuses with other universities: Kappa Alpha Psi and Delta Sigma Theta with Lewis University (previously profiled in this thread), Alpha Kappa Alpha with Dominican University, and Zeta Phi Beta with Chicago State.

[barbino]

I've tried to get a long post up 2x - it must be the computer at the church. Irritating! I'll have to redo it a third time on another computer tommorrow.

[kaylaxlove]

William Woods University- Fulton, MO (roughly halfway between Kansas City & St. Louis)

This is my school! It's a small school with right around 3,000 students, it's on a private campus which is GORGEOUS, 2 lakes on campus, a bridge over one that leads to and from some of the buildings. There are around 40 different majors at this liberal arts institution. There is a stellar Equestrian program, with four seats and a excellent Equestrian Science & Equestrian Administration programs. Our American Sign Language Interpreting program is one of the best in the country. The Arts department also boasts excellent Graphic Design, Studio Art, Acting and Musical Theatre programs. It's an NAIA school with excellent athletics and a competitive Athletic Training department. I could rave for days about the small class sizes, alumni support and professors who are knowledgeable as well as professionals working in their industry. WWU is a diamond in the rough just waiting to be found!

As far as Greek Life: There are four NPC sororities and two IFC fraternities on campus. The student population is roughly 35 percent Greek and the university is extremely supportive of Greek organizations and their presence on campus.

[barbino]

OK, you beat me to it !!! On my list of schools to profile is William Woods, Stephens, and Lindenwood Colleges, all in MO, and all having a liberal arts program along with an equestrian studies program (I used to ride/show).

William Woods was the first college I looked at when I was in high school, but I considered all three. I went to a large university instead. I was so excited when I saw your post. I have never seen these 3 campuses, though.

[barbino]

I'll have to break this up into parts because I've tried 3 x to post this now.

Imagine sitting around a table with 6-20 students and one or two tutors/discussion facilitators discussing ancient literature and classical authors like Plato, Euclid, Sappho. Pythagoras, Thucydides, Darwin, Gibbon, Hume, W.E.B. Du Bois, Godel, Simone De Beauvoir, Einstein, Freud, Descartes, Sartre, Rousseau, and more - the great thinkers of history. You are having "The Great Conversation" - unpacking the important ideas of these writers by reading the original sources. There are no textbooks with paraphrasing, only direct quotes from the authors themselves. St. John's College (Annapolis, MD and Santa Fe, NM is the most well-known example of the Great Books curriculum.

[barbino]

St. John's College - (Annapolis , MD - founded in 1892, approx. 500 undergrads) and (Santa FE, NM - founded in 1967, approx. 100 undergrad.; 90 grad.) - the best-known Great Books College. The reading lists are extensive and at St. Johm's the students read some of the classical authors in Greek. The students develop critical thinking skills by shared dialogue/Socratic method. The students all take the same classes, and there are seminars and tutorials. The shared curriculum connects students to each other and to the books/ideas themselves.

There is a language component so students can read authors in the original language, not a translation. This is an intense, challenging curriculum. It is very formal (think Oxford); requiring comprehensive (master's level-type) examinations. St. John's is a "place of ideas" and a "community of learners (college website). The goal is to make the original sorces understandable by exploring the valuable ideas that they contain.

[barbino]

Shimer College - Chicago, IL (IIT campus, near south side)
Other Great Books colleges include Shimer College, "The Great Books college of the Midwest." Founded in 1853 by Frances Wood Shimer, it was originally a non-denominational seminary, and at one time was connected to the University of Chicago. In the early 1950's, Shimer adopted the Hutchins Plan (originally a plan to change the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Chicago, which only lasted about 15 years).
Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977), one of the presidents at the U. of Chic., and Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001), author of How To Read A Book, produced the Great Books of the Western World (Encyclopedia Brittanica, c. 1952), and its index, The Syntopicon. The 54-volume set starts with The Great Conversation, which explains the goals of a liberal arts education and the need to read the original texts.