New College of Florida

Information taken from Colleges That Change Lives
"If you are interested in learning for the sake of learning in an honors college that has no required courses, an evaluation-based grading system, and that produces winners wholesale, try New College of Florida in Sarasota. You'll love it."
-Loren Pope

CHARACTER
A liberal arts college founded in 1960 as a private college, and later designated by the Florida legislature as a public honors college for the liberal arts and sciences
New College’s unique academic program allows students the flexibility to pursue their own special areas of academic interest. In addition to classroom courses and seminars, students meet individually with faculty mentors to develop tutorials, independent research and creative projects, and off-campus study experiences to further each student’s academic goals.
The college’s beautiful 110-acre bay front campus lies along the Gulf of Mexico on the former estate of circus magnate Charles Ringling.
New College is located just a few minutes by bus or bicycle from downtown Sarasota, which Money magazine named one of the country’s “best places to live.” Cultural and recreational resources abound, including the Ringling Museum of Art, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, and the white sand beaches of Siesta Key, named by the Travel Channel as one of the world’s premier beach destinations.
 
WORTH NOTING  
For a small school, New College students consistently garner a large number of top prizes and awards. In 2009, the College had a record eight Fulbright winners and reached a milestone of 50 Fulbright scholars – reinforcing its status as one of the nation’s leading undergraduate institutions in terms of per-capita Fulbright winners. In 2009, four students were awarded French Teaching Assistantships; one student won a National Science Foundation VIGRE fellowship; two students were awarded Udall scholarships; one student received a Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship from the U.S. State Department; and one student won a highly competitive Hollings Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Faculty, too, earn top awards: a history professor was awarded the 2008-09 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Post-Doctoral Rome Prize; a sociology professor earned a 2008-09 Fulbright Fellowship to teach and conduct research in Mexico; a biology professor was designated a Fulbright Specialist; a classics professor received the Award for Excellence in Collegiate Teaching from the American Philological Association, and a physics professor was awarded a $1.7 million grant from the United States government to fund her research in nanoparticles – the largest research grant in the college’s history.
In 2009, Forbes.com rated New College No. 3 among all public colleges and universities in the U.S. – and No. 1 in Florida. U.S. News & World Report named New College the No. 5 ranked public liberal arts college in America, the fifth consecutive year that the college appeared in the Top 5.
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Princeton Review and Fiske Guide consistently rate New College among the nation’s best academic values. Kiplinger’s rated New College as the nation’s No. 3 best value. Princeton Review listed New College as the No. 2 public college value in its 2009 edition of America’s Best Value Colleges.

ENROLLMENT
785 students
10:1 student-to-faculty ratio
Average class size: 18
In 2008-09, students came from 39 states across the U.S. and 18 foreign countries.
 
FACULTY & ACADEMICS  
All classes are taught by faculty.
100% of full-time, tenure-track faculty hold a Ph.D. or highest degree in field.
New College emphasizes collaborative learning and student research. January is designated as the Independent Study Period, a time to complete a faculty-sponsored project that pursues a particular interest in depth. Students may take on an internship, work on a play or other creative project, and/or do intensive field, lab, or library research.
Because New College believes that learning should be a highly personalized and individual experience, students receive detailed narrative evaluations rather than grades from their professors at the end of every course. Students also work one-on-one with faculty to research and write a senior thesis, the culmination of their academic program.
The campus includes a mixture of historic buildings –many still in use for classrooms – and state-of-the-art science and research facilities, including the Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center and R.V. Heiser Natural Sciences Building.
A new center for academic life at New College will open in 2010-11. The most significant academic building to be constructed in nearly 20 years, it will be home to 10 classrooms, 45 faculty offices and a lushly landscaped central plaza connecting to the adjacent library.
 
TUITION & FEES  
2009-10 Estimated Tuition, Room & Board (standard):
In-state - $12,567; Out-of-state - $34,169
Fall 2010 scholarship guarantee for incoming first-time-in-college students who complete the admission application file by February 15, 2010.
Financial Aid: 95% of need is typically met

CAMPUS LIFE  
More than 50 ever-changing and evolving student groups and organizations on campus, with interests ranging from politics and religion to academics, sports, hobbies and food. Two current campus favorites are Foreign Artsy Rare Film Society and the Anarchy Death Sticks Club (knitting for cancer patients).
Weekly student-run newspaper, The Catalyst, as well as a college-affiliated community radio station (WSLR).
Diverse guest lectures, theater and dance performances, art exhibitions, and musical events are regularly held on campus including a cutting-edge contemporary music series, New Music New College, in which students frequently collaborate.
The Four Winds Café and student “walls” (parties) offer informal opportunities for students to get together, dance, talk, and play music.
The New College Student Alliance, based on a “town meeting” model, is the student governing body and represents an active form of direct democracy.
Five new state-of-the art “green dorms” opened in 2007, all featuring apartment-style living, high-ceilinged common spaces and fully equipped community kitchens.
Students are actively involved in volunteer outreach in the local community as well as nationwide through Alternative Fall Break, a growing movement among colleges to involve students in community organizing.

ACADEMIC PROFILE OF ENTERING CLASS  
Middle 50% GPA: 3.61-4.21
Middle 50% SAT range: Verbal or critical reading 630-730; Math 590-670
Middle 50% ACT composite scores: 27-31
39% of those with class rank placed in top 10% of high school class;
73% of those with class rank placed in top 20%.
16% are students of color.