Allegheny College is proud to be a founding member of Colleges That Changes Lives (CTCL), an organization regarded as a leading advocate of higher education access and college choice. CTCL began in 1996 when a book by the same name — Colleges That Change Lives — was published by retired New York Times education editor and journalist Loren Pope.
“Students profess loving their lives at Allegheny.”
1,500
undergraduate students from 46 states and 62 countries
68%
complete one or more internships in their four years
12
average advanced class size (introductory classes: 19)
100%
seniors who complete a major research project
11:1
student-faculty ratio
Of course we think Allegheny is extraordinary — but don’t just take our word for it! Here are a few excerpts from the highly regarded guide Colleges That Change Lives:
“Students who are eager to explain all of the things they do on campus – what they study, what they play, how they lead, where they volunteer. They seem to be enthusiastic not because they’re padding résumés but because they’re generally delighted by all facets of their work.”
“The college gets high marks from students for being a place where they can feel comfortable taking risks to discover the areas – academic, athletic, political, artistic, you name it – where they thrive.”
“‘I’m not just one thing,’ says a senior political science and environmental science and sustainability double major who plays football and follows the prelaw track. ‘Nobody here is one-dimensional, and I think that makes us all eager to learn more about each other and ourselves.’”
“Students are thrilled and a bit overwhelmed by their comps [intensive senior research projects], but by the time they are seniors, they’re eager for the challenge.”
“It sounds simple, but the [major/minor] requirement prevents one of higher education’s biggest vices: education that trains a student for only one field, when the reality is that most of today’s college kids will have as many as seven different careers.”
“Of course, the success of all of these things – a strong core curriculum, a thoughtful seminar program, new and exciting off-campus and interdisciplinary programs – depends on high-quality teaching. In this category, Allegheny delivers.”
Attractive Allegheny, founded in 1815, is a shining example of what the exciting colleges in this book are doing to prepare their students for a new kind of world, things that make most of the prestige institutions look stodgy. It has a long and distinguished record of producing not only future scientists and scholars, but business leaders as well. — Loren Pope
“Today, Allegheny shuns the ethos of prestige places (many of them in the Northeast) and delivers an education at least on par with — and perhaps better than — those places.”