This Week’s College: College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio (a College That Changes Lives)
The College of Wooster, located in Wooster Ohio is the only liberal arts college to have made US News and World Report’s list of best colleges for undergraduate mentored research since they began school rankings in 2002. And it’s been either number one or two (dueling with Princeton) since the inception of those rankings. Not bad for a school of a little over 2,000 students.
In fact, undergraduate research at College of Wooster begins as early as freshman year, and with no graduate students to compete with as there are at large research universities, the students at College of Wooster are doing graduate level, publishable, and often peer edited work with their professors or mentors. Each year, these students present original research at conferences, symposia, and meetings, co-author papers, publish their own independent work, and it shows. Upon graduation, over 92% of their grads are either employed or in graduate school, blessed with the advanced skills that this sort of individually mentored learning environment can provide.
It should come as no surprise that Independent Study (I.S. as it is called at Wooster), is its most distinctive feature. As part of the senior capstone project, this is your chance to really explore your field of study one on one with a mentor, to design a plan for learning that is unique to you and your interests, which will culminate in professional piece of work that you will be able to show to future employers, graduate schools, or share with the community.
But how will you get there? Wooster has a very carefully planned path for you from your beginning, starting with the Freshman Seminar, a writing intensive class meant to help you make the transition from high school to college. Topics range from Global Warming to religion and politics, from substances we consume to philosophy, from history and memory to mysteries and narrative. There’s something for everyone’s interests but the core of them are the same. They aim to produce students who can examine an issue from multiple perspectives, who can problem solve and reason clearly, who can synthesize ideas, evaluate ideas, construct arguments, compare differing points of view, and who can write well and express themselves coherently.
From there, students continue to take certain courses which are considered essential to a liberal arts education by Wooster. These include at least one course on Global Perspectives, one on Religious Perspectives, another course intensive in Writing, a course in Quantitative Reasoning, and six courses across disciplines. Students are expected to take at least nine classes in their major as well as three courses in I.S. This kind of open coursework (many, many classes they offer will fit this bill) helps students to read widely, learn broadly, gain perspective, and become learned about the world, their place in it, and their country’s role in it as well. Moreover, they will have gained the ability to think critically, reason well, express themselves verbally and in writing, and have done independent research as well.
So what is it like to go to Wooster? A whopping 98% of students live on campus here. That makes for a tight knit community. Freshmen may have cars, so people do come ready to hit the town (Wooster is a bit smaller that Charlottesville) which is a typical small college town. First years live together which helps folks to bond to one another, and the dorms are pretty nice (see the floor plans online).
Greek life here is small but it’s robust. About 15% of students are Greek. Wooster is also a DIII School so you can enjoy football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring. You can also run track/cross country, play lacrosse or soccer, and root for the women’s field hockey, soccer, volleyball, swimming, and more. If you’re not up for the DIII level, have no fear! There are plenty of club sports and Intramurals to keep you busy. And the fitness center and sports centers are pretty great just for a workout too.
There are about 300 clubs and activities you can engage in at College of Wooster. From Wooster Volunteer Network to yoga, from Pre-Dental to Quidditch, from The Fighting Scots Dance Team to Model UN, from Biology Club to A Round of Monkeys (this is a coed a cappella club), to the Cricket Club and Woo Undead. If there’s nothing to satisfy you, you’re welcome to begin your own club or organization as well. There are also multiple chances to explore the arts, music, and theater at Wooster as well.
College of Wooster offers both Early Decision (binding) and Early Action (non-binding). They tend to focus most on the rigor of your transcript and your high school GPA above your SATs and ACTs. They will take them into account, but the caution it’s just one indicator. All of their students that they admit come from either the top 25% or top 10% of their class with a GPA in the range of about 3.25 and up (unweighted). They’d like your SATs to be in the 1180-1410 range, with an ACT in the 25-30 range. But because it is small and many folks outside of the midwest don’t have it on their radar, it has an acceptance rate of about 55%, making it a great school to consider if you have these sorts of numbers!
Is Wooster for you? If you are looking for a school where you will get a lot of one on one attention, where you will work with mentors and faculty who will know you well, who can advise you personally, then it could be. If you want a place that’s small and close knit, then yes, it’s for you.
Pros:
Cons:
The College of Wooster, located in Wooster Ohio is the only liberal arts college to have made US News and World Report’s list of best colleges for undergraduate mentored research since they began school rankings in 2002. And it’s been either number one or two (dueling with Princeton) since the inception of those rankings. Not bad for a school of a little over 2,000 students.
In fact, undergraduate research at College of Wooster begins as early as freshman year, and with no graduate students to compete with as there are at large research universities, the students at College of Wooster are doing graduate level, publishable, and often peer edited work with their professors or mentors. Each year, these students present original research at conferences, symposia, and meetings, co-author papers, publish their own independent work, and it shows. Upon graduation, over 92% of their grads are either employed or in graduate school, blessed with the advanced skills that this sort of individually mentored learning environment can provide.
It should come as no surprise that Independent Study (I.S. as it is called at Wooster), is its most distinctive feature. As part of the senior capstone project, this is your chance to really explore your field of study one on one with a mentor, to design a plan for learning that is unique to you and your interests, which will culminate in professional piece of work that you will be able to show to future employers, graduate schools, or share with the community.
But how will you get there? Wooster has a very carefully planned path for you from your beginning, starting with the Freshman Seminar, a writing intensive class meant to help you make the transition from high school to college. Topics range from Global Warming to religion and politics, from substances we consume to philosophy, from history and memory to mysteries and narrative. There’s something for everyone’s interests but the core of them are the same. They aim to produce students who can examine an issue from multiple perspectives, who can problem solve and reason clearly, who can synthesize ideas, evaluate ideas, construct arguments, compare differing points of view, and who can write well and express themselves coherently.
From there, students continue to take certain courses which are considered essential to a liberal arts education by Wooster. These include at least one course on Global Perspectives, one on Religious Perspectives, another course intensive in Writing, a course in Quantitative Reasoning, and six courses across disciplines. Students are expected to take at least nine classes in their major as well as three courses in I.S. This kind of open coursework (many, many classes they offer will fit this bill) helps students to read widely, learn broadly, gain perspective, and become learned about the world, their place in it, and their country’s role in it as well. Moreover, they will have gained the ability to think critically, reason well, express themselves verbally and in writing, and have done independent research as well.
So what is it like to go to Wooster? A whopping 98% of students live on campus here. That makes for a tight knit community. Freshmen may have cars, so people do come ready to hit the town (Wooster is a bit smaller that Charlottesville) which is a typical small college town. First years live together which helps folks to bond to one another, and the dorms are pretty nice (see the floor plans online).
Greek life here is small but it’s robust. About 15% of students are Greek. Wooster is also a DIII School so you can enjoy football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring. You can also run track/cross country, play lacrosse or soccer, and root for the women’s field hockey, soccer, volleyball, swimming, and more. If you’re not up for the DIII level, have no fear! There are plenty of club sports and Intramurals to keep you busy. And the fitness center and sports centers are pretty great just for a workout too.
There are about 300 clubs and activities you can engage in at College of Wooster. From Wooster Volunteer Network to yoga, from Pre-Dental to Quidditch, from The Fighting Scots Dance Team to Model UN, from Biology Club to A Round of Monkeys (this is a coed a cappella club), to the Cricket Club and Woo Undead. If there’s nothing to satisfy you, you’re welcome to begin your own club or organization as well. There are also multiple chances to explore the arts, music, and theater at Wooster as well.
College of Wooster offers both Early Decision (binding) and Early Action (non-binding). They tend to focus most on the rigor of your transcript and your high school GPA above your SATs and ACTs. They will take them into account, but the caution it’s just one indicator. All of their students that they admit come from either the top 25% or top 10% of their class with a GPA in the range of about 3.25 and up (unweighted). They’d like your SATs to be in the 1180-1410 range, with an ACT in the 25-30 range. But because it is small and many folks outside of the midwest don’t have it on their radar, it has an acceptance rate of about 55%, making it a great school to consider if you have these sorts of numbers!
Is Wooster for you? If you are looking for a school where you will get a lot of one on one attention, where you will work with mentors and faculty who will know you well, who can advise you personally, then it could be. If you want a place that’s small and close knit, then yes, it’s for you.
Pros:
- Undergrad research is no joke here!
- Independent study is a chance to do graduate level work
- Close relationships with faculty
- Great peer group. This is a school full of smart people!
Cons:
- It’s on the smaller side so if you don’t do well you can’t hide
- Not as much variety as a large research university might have
- Private so can be more expensive
- Ohio is a cold winter