Thanks St. John's College and Washington College!

St. John's College

• St. John's, in Annapolis, is the third oldest college in the country, founded in the late 1600s. They offer no majors-- instead all students earn a Bachelor's in the Liberal Arts. Don't let this fool you though into thinking graduates are without academic passions or career options. Students go on to graduate school in droves and are well prepared for the working world in jobs that require communication, critical thinking, and deep knowledge.
• The curriculum is interdisciplinary and led by 'tutors' -- what they call professors here. All tutors teach all subjects, so it is possible to have an instructor who is as new to a topic as the student. 
• There are no textbooks. Instead, students read 40 'Great Books' and learn even fields of math and science by reading the texts of people like Ptolemy and Einstein. 
• Grades are not shared with students unless they go to the Registrar and ask to see them. Instead, students get real interactive feedback from their tutors and have a chance to talk about their progress. If you are the kind of student who thrives on checking the decimal points of your GPA, this probably isn't the school for you. 
• The video you see above is the entirety of the first year cohort, taking their chorus class (part of that universal curriculum). Even for students without a musical background, this course is intended to help students understand not only the beauty of music but also how to work together, how to approach things that are unfamiliar, and maybe even how to appreciate Latin (the perennial anthem of the school is a chorus favorite: a psalm performed in Latin). Seeing it in person gave me chills.
• This is a quirky place. In addition to reading, they devote their time to the likes of croquet and swing dancing. It is a place of juxtapositions-- simultaneously nontraditional and ultra-traditional (doesn't get much more traditional than reading Plato), hyper intellectual and open to taking students who don't have straight As or high test scores (they are testing optional). 
• They have a second campus in Santa Fe!
• Earlier this year I went to a reception in NYC at the home of the author of this article. He calls St. John's the most future proof college in the country. 

Overall Impression: Schools like St. John's are what make being a college counselor fun. In a world where I devote my time trying to prove that fit matters and that all schools are not interchangeable, a campus like this comes along and makes my job easy. Admittedly, this is a once in a decade kind of school-- meaning the odds of having a student interested in taking this kind of intellectual risk, interested in working this hard, and bold enough to look past college selectivity in place of fit. But, with that said, they are seeking 140 students per year who truly thrive in this kind of space.

Washington College

• Washington College is the only college in the nation to use George Washington's namesake with his blessing. He sat on the equivalent of the 'board of trustees' when Washington College was founded in the late 1700s and his legacy is woven throughout campus. 
• Located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Washington College boasts 60% of their student body from out of state. 
• On tour, we got to have an impromptu conversation with a Professor and he was earnest in his enthusiasm for the students and community. This is a place that will provide individual attention. 
• Their most popular majors are Business and Biology. 

Overall Impression: For a student seeking slightly warmer weather than New York, a small campus environment steeped in history, and the chance to qualify for merit scholarships, Washington College checks all of those boxes.