Since 2002, U.S. News & World Report has asked college presidents and deans which colleges provide the best undergraduate research opportunities and senior capstone programs. Only two have made both lists every year: The College of Wooster and Princeton University. 

They also rank Wooster as one of the top 20 liberal arts colleges in America where “the faculty has an unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching.” 

Fiske Guide to Colleges says, “The College of Wooster is nationally recognized for its commitment to independent study [its senior mentored research project] and its international focus.”

And Colleges That Change Lives notes that “unlike many places, where opportunities to conduct research are exclusive to the top performers, Wooster sets the standard high for everyone.”  

Mentored research
Wooster offers an excellent, comprehensive liberal arts and sciences education, culminating in a rigorous senior project in which each student works one-on-one with a faculty mentor to conceive, organize, and complete a significant research project on a topic of the student’s own choosing.    

Through this distinctive program, every Wooster student develops abilities valued by employers and graduate schools alike, like initiative, self-confidence, independent judgment, creative problem-solving, and strong written and oral communication skills. 

The College’s center for academic and career advising—APEX—helps students explore and connects them with internship, research, and entrepreneurial opportunities as well as graduate fellowships and scholarships. It’s why The Princeton Review ranks Wooster in the top 10 for “Best Private Schools for Internships.”

Distinctive spirit
Almost a third of Wooster’s students play intercollegiate athletics, a third perform in at least one musical group, and a quarter are involved in theatre and the arts. They will pack the theatre to see a campus production of Nocturne, which won top honors at the American College Theatre Festival, and fill the gym to cheer on a men’s basketball team that has gone to the NCAA Division III Final Four three times in recent years.

You may find 1,000 people turning up at Homecoming to watch a cricket match between students and local community members, or kilted bagpipers appearing where you least expect them to perform a RAP—a Random Act of Piping.