Beloit College | Alexa Flash Briefing

There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. And while the media tends to focus on just a handful of schools, we at College Coach encourage students to think outside the box during their college selection process and explore a wide range of colleges, including this week’s School Spotlight, Beloit College. How is it that a small liberal arts college in Wisconsin is one of the nation’s top producers of future PhDs? At Beloit College, one of the Colleges that Change Lives, students don’t simply study the liberal arts; they engage in it. Beginning in their very first semester, thanks to a Spark Course led by their faculty advisor, students think critically about their educational goals and create a written plan that will help inform and guide their four years of study at Beloit. Additionally, all students “practice” the liberal arts—through internships, fieldwork, or study abroad—prior to graduation. Beloit’s 1,275 students come from across the country and the world (18% of undergrads are international), and they can choose from nearly 50 majors, from anthropology and environmental studies to modern languages and theatre. Highly motivated students can even tackle a self-designed interdisciplinary major to cater to their unique academic interests. As a liberal arts college, Beloit prepares students especially well for future careers in business. Through the Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education, students interested in developing their own businesses can spend one or two semesters running their enterprise out of the Coleman Venture Lab, while future musical artists can learn about recording technologies in the Maple Tree Recording Studio.