School Spotlight: Dean College

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. As such, we are highlighting a new college each week in our School Spotlight series. Check out the college below, along with the other posts in our series, and you may just stumble upon your dream school! School Spotlight: Dean College Franklin, Massachusetts For a relatively small institution (there are about 1,200 full-time undergraduates), Dean College’s student life offers a little of everything, including a campus radio station, a literary journal, the badminton club, a chapter of Best Buddies, a hip-hop team, and the Jewish Community Club. Located between Boston and Providence (it’s about an hour’s drive to each city), Franklin is a small, historic and quintessentially New England city, and campus is located near the heart of downtown. About half of students are from outside of Massachusetts, representing 39 states and 13 countries. Dean has a vibrant residential feel to its campus given the fact that 88% of students live on campus. Roughly 91% of Dean students are pursuing bachelor’s degrees, while the remaining 9% are working on their associate’s. There are four schools within the College: arts, business, dance, and liberal arts, and students can also design their own course of study via the Individually Designed major option. Some of the most unique offerings for a school of Dean’s size are the majors in Arts and Entertainment Management and Sport Management, whose students greatly benefit from the Center for Business, Entertainment and Sport Management. The Center partners with organizations including Kraft Sports + Entertainment and the Providence Bruins, providing students with unique opportunities to get real world experience in these competitive fields. But career programming isn’t limited only to those interested in business, entertainment, or sports management—every student has full access to the Dean Career Advantage, a program that embeds career services into multiple aspects of student activities, residence life, and alumni interactions. Dean boasts that 100% of its students have an internship before they graduate. Additionally, Dean is the only college in New England that offers both bachelor and associate degrees in dance; a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is also available. Theatre students can choose from four concentrations: acting, musical theatre, technical theatre, and theatre studies. Dean students have participated in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for the past 40 years and receive top honors. In addition to professionally and artistically focused majors, Dean offers majors in traditional liberal arts like history, psychology, and biology. You can see the full list of programs here. The College may be a great fit for students who thrive within a supportive and personalized approach to education yet still want to take part in a traditional college curriculum. The Arch Learning Community provides cohort classroom learning, customized coaching, weekly seminar classes, and specialized advising. Arch’s comprehensive support is available to those with diagnosed learning disabilities and/or other learning differences. Visit the website to learn more about admission to Dean College, as well as financial aid and scholarships. Image Credit: Top, Courtesy of Dean College