If indeed there are ten thousand worlds for the choosing as Cormac McCarthy wrote in
All the Pretty Horses, Connecticut College gives you access to each of them. The opportunities
are endless. CC students are their own breed—intelligent and inventive souls with a strong
commitment to social justice. Fewer than 2,000 students from all parts of the world (a sur -
prisingly large majority from “outside of Boston”) come together to partake in a four-year
journey—academic, social, and personal transformations. Connecticut College is a highly competitive coeducational liberal arts college where the classes are like exotic lands of thought
that you enter at your own will, the people—your tour guides. With a tradition of shared governance,
social activism, and an Honor Code, it promotes an academically strong, socially conscious
home base from which to embark on the inevitable adventures to follow beyond the
undergraduate years.
Resting on what is referred to as “the hill” in historic New London, Connecticut, the picturesque
campus is located halfway between New York City and Boston and overlooks the Long
Island Sound. “What college is supposed to look like,” my father remarked the first time we
stepped foot on the green. Our eyes widened to the casual gait of students moving from one
class to another, tossing Frisbees across the green, and two dozen more students sitting under
a blossom tree by the sun dial, engaged in what was their 2:30 P.M. Writing the Short Story
course. Yes, I felt, this is it.
Connecticut College is committed to empowering students to take charge of their own
education; the faculty works to provide students with the necessary tools to implement their
ideas. My experience with professors goes unmatched. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 10-to-
1, I never felt short of attention from professors! It is common for professors and faculty to host
students to do everything from watching “Rosewood” and eating nachos, to sitting around a
backyard picnic table discussing existentialism, or whether or not our D3 basketball team
would make it to this year’s NCAA basketball tournament.
The Connecticut College education in a nutshell? That is the point: There is no nutshell.
Each individual brings a different spark to the campus community. Because of this, there are
infinite ways any one student can work to take advantage of opportunities such as international
study, research with faculty, paid internships, self-designed studies, and community action.
While the CC Experience may encompass a set of core values and ideals, opportunities, and
experiences each serving as colors on a palette, no one student colors his or her canvas the
same. This is the greatest part about CC—you can truly develop yourself as a scholar and as an
individual.
The Connecticut College experience is a metamorphosis. Each semester unfolds an
organic undergraduate experience for students. As freshmen, CC students may come in wideeyed
and idealistic, questions in hand. As graduates, they leave only to embark on another journey.
Now, however, they have the tools to create answers of their own. Nothing could begin to
compete with the altruistic qualities of the curriculum at Connecticut College, the spirit of
philanthropy among its students and faculty.
Like a pebble tossed in a pond, CC’s ripple effect can be felt literally all over the world.
From the Adult Education ESL classes in downtown New London to the maze of streets in
Hanoi, Vietnam, where dozens of CC students have completed a Study Away Teach Away semester
accompanied by CC professors. Professors conduct research in countries all over the world
and an impressive number of students have been able to copublish along with them. Without a
doubt, the extraordinary study and work experiences the college offers through its unique centers
and programs are what make CC stand out from the rest.
When I first stepped on campus, I had no idea what a carpet ride I would embark on during
the next four years. As an undergraduate, I was able to travel to twelve different countries
including Vietnam, France, and Nigeria. If the spine of my college experience at Connecticut
College is a liberal arts curriculum, then the flesh is international experience. Still, what makes
CC stand out from the rest is just that—each CC experience unfolds for itself, thereby making
each CC student a valued part of the greater Connecticut College Camel community.
Connecticut College
Academics
Distribution Requirements
Take the liberal in liberal arts college seriously. Students choose from fifty-five majors,
with the option of self-designing a major as well. Yet that’s not to say that the academic
program falls anywhere short of demanding and powerful. Connecticut College’s academic program within the major is extensive with its requirements. In addition, there are
seven General Education requirements (seven courses from seven different academic
areas), a language requirement, and a writing across the curriculum requirement.
My vision of college was a nebulous one before my freshman year. I
never imagined that “learning” could take place while sitting among my classmates
in the living room of one of my professor’s houses and discussing issues of
the “Other” or the problem of choice in a pluralistic society. I never imagined that
so much of my education would be attributed to long talks in dorm hallways late
at night while procrastinating challenging assignments. And I surely never
imagined that my college experience would endow study abroad or work experiences
in a dozen different countries.
Students must take a foreign language course at the intermediate level or study a new
language for two semesters. Placement at the intermediate level is achieved by passing a
college-administered oral and written proficiency exam during orientation. I found that many
students took advantage of the plethora of language study programs and services offered by the
college (see Study Abroad section).
Connecticut College students have the unique opportunity of applying to a number of
centers and programs that are designed to integrate a student’s major with a service project,
domestic or international internship, intensive science research, or other technologically
advanced research project. This hands-on experience is designed to complement curriculum
with practical experience often reserved for graduate students at larger academic institutions.
Basically, of all the competitive colleges and universities I looked at as a senior in high school,
not one offered such distinct, creative opportunities as the ones described below.
The Toor Cummings Center for International Studies
and the Liberal Arts (CISLA)
AConnecticut College gem is its Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and
the Liberal Arts, a program to which students apply in the fall of their sophomore year
to work toward completing an integrative research project relative to their major. The
center funds an international internship the summer before the senior year. In addition,
students are required to complete two International Studies courses, with a focus on the
following questions: What are the origins and dynamics of contemporary society? What is
the relevance of the past in understanding the present and the possibilities of the future?
What are the material, spiritual, and ethical challenges of modernity?
The Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts is indeed one
of the most highly regarded international studies programs in the country. Officially, it aims for
its students to leave prepared for a lifelong reflection on study and learning as a journey to wisdom
that one shares with others. Unofficially, it is the coolest program at Connecticut College.
The plethora of independent research projects can include conducting environmental field
research in Bali, researching media studies while interning at CNN in Berlin for a summer,
and examining the effects of Amnesty International’s human rights work in Santiago, Chile.
These experiences, combined with the solid academic foundation of a liberal arts
college, in addition to the large realm of study and work experiences in all parts of the world,
surely make for profound, diverse classroom discussions.
The Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology
Students can weave their academic, personal, and artistic expression together through
the college’s Center for Arts and Technology. The Ammerman Center links studio art,
music, dance, theater, writing, film, and museum studies with the world of mathematics
and computer science. Students study the symbiotic relationship between technology and
the arts while exploring such areas as computer graphics, animation, music composition,
recording technology, and virtual reality. In addition, students of this center have the
opportunity to undertake projects such as designing a program to conduct a virtual music
ensemble, exploring 3-D visualization to enhance scientific learning, and designing interactive
web sites. Like the other distinguished interdisciplinary centers at Connecticut
College, The Ammerman Center offers funded internships. For example, working at a hightechnology
firm during the summer can complement a student’s key knowledge gained in
the way of coursework and involvement in the center.
The Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology
and Environmental Studies
The location of Connecticut College—on Long Island Sound and the Thames River—
attracts a faculty that includes some of the world’s leading experts on wetland ecology,
water quality, tidal marsh vegetation, and bird migration. Goodwin-Niering Center
internships have included studying production and environmental sustainability on an
organic banana farm in Costa Rica; studying a component of Vitamin E found in palm oil in
Malaysia; and working for the Oregon Environmental Council. Many students choose to use
their extensive research experience and copublish their results with faculty members.
In the past, students have won environmental awards for their presentations at national
conferences.
The Holleran Center for Community Action and
Public Policy (CCAPP)
Connecticut College provides a supportive environment in which students take advantage
of many volunteer or community service opportunities. Indeed, CC is a school that
pushes students to walk their talk, so to speak, when it comes to issues of social justice.
With students committing as many as 30,000 hours a year to organizations in the surrounding
area, the Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy builds on CC’s longstanding
tradition of working to address issues of poverty, inequality, and racial/ethnic conflict.
This remarkable center also sponsors the Program in Community Action, otherwise
known as PICA, which has formed many community partnerships and public policy initiatives
with local and national causes and their organizations. Through the Holleran Center,
students have completed internships at the Harvard University Medical School, U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., Save the Children in
Bolivia, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Study Abroad
The second semester of my sophomore year I studied abroad in Hanoi,
Vietnam, on the SATA program. SATA, the College’s Study Away Teach Away
Program, enables CC students to travel to another country and study with CC
pro fessors. It is a unique program that works to broaden experiences of both students
and professors, with the goal of having them bring back what they learned
to the greater CC community. It was through taking classes in government, economics,
and even Vietnamese, that my major of international relations was first
actualized for me. For the first time I felt I could see the answers to questions we
asked in class and the certain effects that a government could have on a nation.
From riding my bicycle through the maze of streets on a daily basis to talking
to new Vietnamese friends, I felt I was able to gain a greater understanding
of Vietnam.
The Office of National and International Programs. Whatever happened to regular study
abroad? The Office of National and International Programs at Connecticut College helps to
place students in a number of different study abroad programs around the world according
to their personal and academic interests, independent of the college’s unique centers and
programs. These more traditional study abroad programs include L’Institute d’Etudes
Européenes in Paris, France; London School of Economics; University of Cape Town in
South Africa; or a semester abroad in Sydney, Australia. Other study abroad opportunities
take the regular term to a new dimension however.
Study Away Teach Away (SATA). An unmatched study abroad opportunity offered to
Connecticut College students, this program enables students to travel to another country
and study with Connecticut College professors. Both students and professors work together
to explore the host society, thereby broadening their experiences on a multitude of levels.
The greater goal of having them bring back what they learned to the greater college
community is icing on the cake. Among students on campus, widely recognized SATA countries
include Vietnam, Egypt, Morocco, India, Greece, Italy, and Czech Republic.
Travel and Research Immersion Program (TRIPS). TRIPS, Connecticut College’s Travel
and Research Immersion Program, is an unparalleled academic opportunity. This fairly
new program allows students and their professors in designated courses to travel outside
of the classroom in order to enhance what they are learning in the classroom. Take these
words literally: outside of the classroom. TRIPS can take you to Ellis Island for the weekend
with an American Literature class, or to Jerusalem for two weeks with an Introductory
to Religious Studies class. This is by far one of the most outstanding programs CC offers.
I was fortunate to be able to travel to Spain during Thanksgiving break of
my senior year with Professor Kushigian of the Hispanic Studies Department and
several classmates as part of our advanced Spanish Literature course,
“Orientalism.” While in Madrid, I interviewed an eighty-three-year-old woman who
spoke of her experience in the Franco era. She offered a great and serious insight
into Spain, as she solidified my own passion for writing and journalism.
Most Popular Fields of Study
The top 5 fields of study completed at Connecticut College.
Admission to Connecticut College is competitive. Know this: the Admissions staff at
Connecticut College seeks bright individuals, and they are cognizant that there is more than
one way to reveal this. While CC has experienced an increasing number of applications in the
last few years, the “criteria” remain such that any dedicated, thoughtful applicant has the
opportunity to compete. Connecticut College is looking for students with passion and with a
commitment to pursuing academic excellence through a rigorous academic program and selective
travel and work experiences.
Common Application
Connecticut College uses the Common Application. A college application is made with
the following basic building blocks: Your biographical information and extracurricular
activities, a high school transcript, standardized test scores, an essay, recommendations,
and perhaps an interview. In addition, each applicant must submit the Supplement to the
Common Application. The supplement is due by December 15 with the Common
Application and other admission materials due by January 1 with notification by April 1.
Submission of the SAT Reasoning Test is optional, but all candidates for admission must
choose one of the following testing options: results of three SAT Subject Tests or the results
of the American College Testing Assessment (ACT). Beginning with the class of 2010, which
marks the introduction of the new SAT with the writing component, either the ACT or two
SAT Subject Tests will be required. Submission of SAT scores will still be optional.
Interviews are not required but are highly recommended as part of the application process.
Interviewers see the conversation as a time to exchange information and personalize what
can often seem like an impersonal process to students.
Early Decision
Many of my good friends at CC applied Early Decision. The college offers two Early
Decision options, both of which are binding. Early Decision Round I has an application
deadline of November 15 with a notification date of mid-December. Early Decision
Round II has a supplement deadline of December 15 and all other application materials are
due January 1. The notification date for Early Decision Round II is mid-February.
Financial Aid
Connecticut College invests in its students. The Financial Aid Services Office works
diligently to make the CC experience affordable to anyone based on need. The entire
college works from a foundation of true scholarship; this is evident in the student body.
In recent years more than forty-five percent of all Connecticut College students have
received financial aid. For more information, visit Financial Aid Services Web site at
www.connecticutcollege.edu/offices/financial-aid.
Student Financial Aid Details
How many students use Financial Aid, and how much do they use?
Connecticut College 3415th for the average student loan amount.
Secrets to getting the best Connecticut scholarships and financial aid
Students make or break a college social environment. Nowhere else is this as true as
Connecticut College. With students representing forty-five states and thirty-five foreign countries,
and approximately ninety-eight percent of undergraduates living on campus, the social
scene can be lively and varied. A Friday evening may include attending a dance performance
in Cummings Arts Center, followed by a Comedy Club routine in the student center. Parties are
to follow, of course, although Saturday night’s roar is usually heard the loudest.
My senior year I lived in Knowlton Dormitory, an old-fashioned highceiling
building, now a cultural/language house. Students who wish to immerse
themselves in a second language apply to live in the dorm. For example, as a
French Studies minor I chose to apply to the French section of the dorm.
Although casual, I enjoyed speaking French with the people in my hall and I was
submerged in a living environment where hallmates had an appreciation for
French culture. The hardwood floors were great, too.
With more than fifty-five student organizations on campus, students never fall short of
ways to be involved. If you do, then feel free to start the fifty-sixth student organization! Join
Student Government, or the Ballroom Dance Club. Start your own jazz band or contribute to
The College Voice (the college newspaper), or better yet, one of several student-run magazines.
Engage in dynamic discussions in La Unidad, the Latino/a-American student organization,
or UMOJA (African/African-American student organization). Make your voice heard;
participate in Feminist Majority, or pitch in on the college’s own radio station, WCNI-FM.
In addition, the dance, theater, music, and studio art departments pride themselves on
outstanding student performances, yet Connecticut College works to include other ways of
artistic expression under the umbrella of “the arts.” For example, in recent years film studies,
museum studies, architectural studies, and the nation’s first undergraduate certificate program
in art and technology are increasingly popular among Connecticut College students. And
there are a number of ways to let your creativity flow. Connecticut College hosts a number of
guest artists throughout the year as well. Situated between Boston and New York City,
Connecticut College rests in a prime spot to attract artists and performers of every kind.
Dorm Life
With ninety-eight percent of Connecticut College students living on campus, and all
four classes living together in each student residence, housing is a breeze. The college
has no Greek system (no fraternities or sororities) but there are theme houses as well
as traditional residence halls. Some of these include Knowlton (cultural/language house),
Blackstone (substance-free house), Plant (quiet house), Unity House (multicultural
house), Earth House (environmental house), and Abbey House (co-op house). Each of the
twenty-one dorms has a Housefellow; basically he or she serves as a person to count on for
personal or academic matters or concerns undergrads may have. The College’s Honor Code
values come into play in residential life as well.
Student Enrollment Demographics
How many students are enrolled at Connecticut College?
Connecticut College is a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference
(NESCAC) and is a Division III member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA). The Camels compete in twenty-eight intercollegiate varsity sports (fifteen—
women, twelve—men, one coed) including soccer, basketball, hockey, lacrosse, and water
polo. Men’s basketball, women’s soccer, women’s rowing, and women’s lacrosse have each
qualified for NCAA Championship competition in the past. With a broad range of intramural,
club, and athletic sports to choose from, ninety percent of the student body participates
in intercollegiate, club, intramural, recreational, or physical educational athletics. In
addition to the usual tennis, hockey, golf, and volleyball, other club sports such as Ultimate
Frisbee, karate, and cricket are also offered. Nothing beats cheering for the Camels during
weekend games for both men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse, while sitting on the campus
green and enjoying a view of the Long Island Sound too.
Alumni
Some of the best mail you’ll ever receive after
college comes in the form of Connecticut College
Magazine. It’s downright fascinating to see what your
fellow grads are up to these days. Without a doubt, they
are doing something amazing and demanding. On any
given page, I can read about a fellow CISLA (Toor
Cummings Center for International Studies and the
Liberal Arts) scholar heading a development project in
West Africa, or learn news of a CC couple starting a
school in western Massachusetts.
The advantage of going to a small school is clear
in this regard—the alumni network is booming with
successful social and professional relationships. And
the pool is so eclectic due to the varied interests of the
diverse student body. It is not uncommon to find many
double majors, too.
A key benefit of going to a small liberal arts college
such as Connecticut College surfaces here.
Because your education at CC is so personal and individualized,
you are able to gain the skills and make the
professional contacts as an undergraduate that will
put you ahead of the rest in what is becoming a more
and more competitive job search. When applying to
any given field—professional and academic—sure
enough, you will find a CC alumnus involved in some
way. With more than 20,000 alumni and nearly 600 of
them living abroad, if you wanted to, say, apply for an
international fellowship in Timbuktu, it’s guaranteed that current undergraduates or
Connecticut College alumni have been there—and they are willing to help you, too.
CELS
Also willing to help you in your job search is the staff of the college’s Career Enhancing
Life Skills (CELS) program. They provide everything from résumé writing one-on-one
conferences, workshops on job search-related skills, as well as a number of resources and
alumni contact information for specific fields of interest. In addition, CELS offers a unique
e-Portfolio system that allows students to keep an on-line record of their career and academic
planning processes and accomplishment during their undergraduate years at
Connecticut College. This creative and sophisticated manner of documenting academic
information as well as cocurricular experiences serves as a vital tool in the job search.
Connecticut College students are doing meaningful work in their fields, and are often
publishing or presenting the results before they go on to graduate school or their first real job.
Funded internships, international study, the use of technology, and collaborative research with
other students and faculty all help to build résumés for Connecticut College students before
they graduate. An impressive number of graduates choose to pursue competitive post-graduate
programs such as the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, the Fulbright, the Peace Corps, or Teach
for America, thereby continuing their adventure in education.
Other graduates pursue fields such as medicine/science, law, journalism, fine arts, education,
and business. With a strong liberal arts background developed in classrooms, in
extracurricular activities, in conversations with professors and debates over dinners, in venues
across campus and around the globe, students acquire the ability to see the particular as part
of a larger phenomenon, to understand people from different backgrounds and cultures, to
acquire skills in negotiation and problem-solving and to critically evaluate new ideas. These are
skills that make CC alumni valuable in whatever profession they choose. The value of a liberal
arts degree from Connecticut College lasts a lifetime.
Prominent Grads
James Berrien ’74, President, Forbes Magazine Group
Allen Carroll ’73, Chief Cartographer, National Geographic
Michael Collier ’76, Poet Laureate of Maryland and Director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference
Anita DeFrantz ’74, Olympic Medallist and Member of the International Olympic Committee
David Foster ’77, Ecologist, Author, and Director of the Harvard Forest
Agnes Gund ’60, President Emerita, The Museum of Modern Art
Bruce Hoffman ’76, Terrorism Expert, Rand Corporation
Peter Som ’93, Fashion Designer
Susan Kronick ’73, Vice Chairman, Federated Department Stores
Dr. S. Harvey Moseley Jr. ’72, Senior Astrophysicist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Estelle Parsons ’49, Academy Award-winning Actress and Artistic Director of The Actors Studio
Dr. Ellen Vitetta ’64, Cancer Researcher and Director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center at the University of Texas
Patricia Wald ’48, Former Chief Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals (D.C.)
Amy Gross, Editor-in-Chief, O, The Oprah Magazine
Demographics – Main Campus and Surrounding Areas
Reported area around or near New London, CT 06320
Surrounding community
Small city (inside urban area, pop. under 100,000)
Feel free to add comments or additional information regarding Connecticut College, or discuss this school in the University Discussion Forum
over 3 years agoPaul luckyguypaul ((at)) aim dot com
I graduated with a double-major in 2003. The faculty and staff are fully devoted to serving the academic and developmental needs of the students. A student who wants to take full advantage of what's available in terms of courses, career services, special programs and certificates, study abroad, and specialty dorms would have a wonderful experience. The limitations are related to the location (it's between Boston and New York, so it's possible to go to those places, but there isn't much to do in the New London area per se). Also, if your SAT scores were above 1400, you may find your peers to not be intellectually provocative. This is off-set by the fact that the students tend to have agreeable personalities, liberal values, and to be, generally speaking, "good citizens," so it would be easy to make friends and to have a favorable social experience. The intellectual level of the courses, is excellent, and many of the professors come from excellent academic backgrounds and actively publish. When I was there, the Psychology, Chemistry, Dance, and Economics departments stood out as very strong, although I am sure that there are other departments that are excellent. The college emphasizes multiculturalism, human rights, and is highly progressive; again, because of it's location, it has difficulty attracting as many minority students as it would like to, although strong efforts are constantly being made. One of the best things about the college is that it does not have a fraternity/sorority system, which makes the social environment much more congenial and good-natured. The campus is simply gorgeous. Did I mention that students get individual rooms after the first year?
This website and associated pages are not associated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Connecticut College. StateUniversity.com has no official or unofficial affiliation with Connecticut College.
luckyguypaul ((at)) aim dot com
I graduated with a double-major in 2003. The faculty and staff are fully devoted to serving the academic and developmental needs of the students. A student who wants to take full advantage of what's available in terms of courses, career services, special programs and certificates, study abroad, and specialty dorms would have a wonderful experience. The limitations are related to the location (it's between Boston and New York, so it's possible to go to those places, but there isn't much to do in the New London area per se). Also, if your SAT scores were above 1400, you may find your peers to not be intellectually provocative. This is off-set by the fact that the students tend to have agreeable personalities, liberal values, and to be, generally speaking, "good citizens," so it would be easy to make friends and to have a favorable social experience. The intellectual level of the courses, is excellent, and many of the professors come from excellent academic backgrounds and actively publish. When I was there, the Psychology, Chemistry, Dance, and Economics departments stood out as very strong, although I am sure that there are other departments that are excellent. The college emphasizes multiculturalism, human rights, and is highly progressive; again, because of it's location, it has difficulty attracting as many minority students as it would like to, although strong efforts are constantly being made. One of the best things about the college is that it does not have a fraternity/sorority system, which makes the social environment much more congenial and good-natured. The campus is simply gorgeous. Did I mention that students get individual rooms after the first year?