Friday, April 13, 2018

Thanks Goucher!



Goucher College
  • Another Maryland CTCL school, this small liberal arts college has their eyes set on the future. They have massive construction on campus that will include a future freshman housing village, new centralized dining hall, new science center, and new interfaith center. 
  • Every single student studies abroad, something that no other college in the country can say. 
  • In the words of their dynamic President Jose Bowen, many colleges are in the business of content but Goucher believes that the jobs of the future haven't been invented yet so they are in the business of making sure students learn how to learn. 
  • Speaking of the charismatic President, he allows students to sign out his dogs for walks, a phenomenal idea that I've never seen on any other campus. 
  • The new dorms have been designed based on data analytics. Things like requiring students to have roommates in their freshman year (as opposed to luxury singles), sacrificing room size for common spaces (and putting faster WiFi in those common spaces) to encourage interaction with peers. These small things nudge students into building connections with others and investing themselves with on-campus life instead of the world of high school through their phones or Facebook accounts. 
  • Goucher does not require a CSS Profile for Financial Aid and there are merit scholarships available up to $30,000 per year. 
  • Last year they became accredited to award degrees to people who are incarcerated, a really wonderful and rare thing for a liberal arts college to be involved in and a sign of their commitment to educate all types of students and do work related to social justice. 
Overall Impression-- This is a school that does things with intention.  It is refreshing to see a place think about what students truly need, not just what they want. For them to be committed to turning out better people, not just issuing diplomas.

What a pleasure it was to be hosted by these 11 colleges this week. Thank you to the Crab Crawl and the ElRo PTA for their supporting my participation.