Marlboro College

Quick Facts

Chance of Admission:
Location: Northeast
Setting: Rural Setting
Type: Private
Size: Small (Under 2,000 Undergrad)
Marlboro College From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Marlboro College is a small, coeducational, alternative liberal-arts college in Marlboro, Vermont, USA.

History

Marlboro College was founded in 1946 by returning World War II veterans on Potash Hill in Marlboro, Vermont. The school's operation was initially financed using money received from the GI Bill. The campus incorporates the buildings of two old farms that once operated on the college site. Marlboro has grown slowly but steadily since its inception and about 330 students currently attend.

The Marlboro College campus has also been the summer home for more than 50 years to the renowned Marlboro Music Festival.

Academics

Marlboro College emphasizes a flexible, personal, and interdisciplinary approach to undergraduate education. Class sizes are small and the student-to-teacher ratio is low (10:1). Students are encouraged to take courses in a wide variety of subjects during their Freshman and Sophomore years. As students matriculate they work more closely with professors and create their own customized tutorial classes to facilitate more advanced and personalized studies. Because of the college's small size, most departments are very small, often consisting of only a single professor.

The Clear Writing Requirement

Freshman students usually take one or more classes designed to boost their writing skills to an acceptable undergraduate level. All Freshman must submit 20 pages (5,000 words) of nonfiction writing to the English Committee by the end of their second semester. If the committee decides that a student's writing skills need more work, they recommend a class to help, and the student must prepare another portfolio, at least 10 pages of which must be new, at the end of the next semester for re-evaluation. In the event that a student fails the writing requirement for three consecutive semesters, the school asks them to leave. However, almost all students pass the writing requirement within a few semesters.

The Plan of Concentration

Juniors and Seniors focus on developing a Plan of Concentration rather than on heavy coursework. "Plan" is a large self-designed project often involving a special and individualized combination of majors and minors. Juniors and Seniors focus on independent work and increasingly take tutorial classes (one or two students and an instructor). For most students Plan culminates in a written thesis, although art and science students may pursue other projects. However all Plans must include a written portion constituting at least twenty percent of the total plan work. In addition, all plans must include an independent project prepared without direct faculty input, also constituting at least twenty percent of the total plan. Plans that consist entirely of academic writing usually range from one hundred to two hundred pages double-spaced.

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Read the full entry on Wikipedia

Students & Campus Life
Undergraduate Enrollment: 331
On Campus Housing: Available
Full Time Students: 100%
Athletic Programs: Unavailable
> More Students & Campus Life
Expenses
Average Tuition: $ 27,790
Students Receiving Aid: 84%
> More Expenses & Financial Aid
Admissions
Application Fee: $ 50
Selectivity: Highly Selective
> More Admissions

Students

General
Full-Time vs. Part-Time
Full-Time 100%
Part-Time 0%
Men vs. Women
Women 61%
Men 39%
Race/Ethnicity
Caucasian 88%
Other 7%
Hispanic 3%
Asian 1%
African-American 1%
Geography
In State vs. Out-of-State
Out-of-State 93%
In-State 7%
Top States for Incoming Freshman
New York 20%
Massachusetts 13%
Maine 9%
Vermont 7%
Connecticut 5%
Percent of Students International: 0%

Housing

On-Campus Housing Available: Yes
Percent of Students Living On-Campus: 80%
Freshman Students Required to Live on Campus: Yes
Tuition & Fees (undergraduate) Expenses  
Published Tuition and Fees:
$ 27,790    
Average Tuition for Full-Time Undergrads:
$ 26,940    
Required Fees for Full-Time Undergrads:
$ 850    
Financial Aid Avg. Amount Received % of Students Receiving Aid  
Federal Grants:
$ 3,646 35%  
State and Local Grants:
$ 2,296 19%  
Institutional Grants:
$ 12,848 63%  
Student Loans:
$ 2,676 77%  
Any Aid:
  84%  

Selectivity (Undergraduate Only)

Acceptance Rate: 58% (Highly Selective)
Test Scores  
SAT Scores:  
% of Students Submitting SAT Scores: 80%
Bottom 25th Percentile: Verbal: 560, Math: 470
Top 75th Percentile: Verbal: 690, Math: 620
ACT Scores:  
% of Students Submitting ACT Scores: 20%
Bottom 25th Percentile: Composite: 24, Verbal: 26, Math: 22
Top 75th Percentile: Composite: 29, Verbal: 30, Math: 26

Application Requirements (Undergraduate Only)

Application Fee: $ 50.00
Formal Demonstration of Competencies: Not Required
High School Diploma or Equivalent: Recommended
High School GPA: Recommended
High School Rank: Not Required
High School Record: Required
Recommendations: Required
TOEFL: Required
Test Scores: Required

Degree Programs at Marlboro College

Bachelor's Level Majors

College Advice

Yahoo
I am a high-school student in Bangladesh but my family is immigrating to the USA soon. I look forward to enrolling in college in the US in 2008. I have already been searching for suitable colleges. One that caught my eye is Marlboro College in Vermont. PrincetonReview gives Marlboro the highest possible academic rating of 99, putting it in the same league as Harvard, MIT, Amherst College etc. On the other hand, Marlboro seems to be an unknown college elsewhere, and does not even make the list of US News & World Report Top Liberal Arts colleges. I cannot make up my mind about the quality of education there. Can anyone, preferably a Marlboro graduate, give me an accurate assessment and make my decision of choosing a suitable college easier?
16 months ago
Best Answer
Princeton Review ratings are garbage. Do NOT trust them. To be blunt, Marlboro is not in the same league as HYPSM. They only have ~40 faculty, and the offerings are very limited. On the other hand, Marlboro emphasizes an interdisciplinary education, and students mostly design their own curriculum. If this appeals to you, Marlboro may be a good match. I would suggest Sarah Lawrence, Bard, and Hampshire, all of which have excellent reputations. If you like Marlboro's location, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, and Middlebury are also worth consideration. I suggest that you get a copy of Loren Pope's "Colleges That Change Lives." It's an excellent book describing 40 or so lesser known liberal arts colleges that provide great educations. The Fiske Guide is also a good place to read about colleges.