Thursday, April 23, 2009

Marlboro







Simple, rustic and informal is how the president of Marlboro described her school. The lone cafeteria on campus where students eat nearly all of their meals has metal folding chairs and seems to have been retrofitted from an old gym from an even older barn. The school is writing intensive and has no majors. Instead, students must create a plan of study that takes nearly all of the last 2 years to complete and involves a rigorous oral defense of the project. There are also no clubs or varsity sports. Instead, there are comittees and intramurals. A regular town meeting is held to discuss issues on campus, make policy and plan events. Each student that attends (and it seems like many do) gets an equal say. There are only about 320 students here and, given it's remoteness, they must get to know each other very well.
My biggest critcism has to do with their financial aid policies. A student with a lot of need probably can't afford to attend without acruing massive amounts of debt. And since their degree typically doesn't lead directly to a career, grad school might require even more loans. Students who can afford it may be turned off by the lack of creature comforts and amenities.

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