Hamilton College
On my visit to Hamilton college in Clinton New York yesterday, I learned that studying what you love is taken very seriously. It begins with the open curriculum with no distribution requirements. I was surprised to learn that economics and math are the most popular majors here, but they do many things well at Hamilton. The off-campus learning opportunities are worth discussing. First of all, in addition to the usual study abroad opportunities that one might expect, Hamilton offers language immersion programs in Beijing, Madrid, and Paris. Also, Hamilton has semester-long off-campus internships during the day while while Hamilton students take classes in the evening with traveling Hamilton professors. These programs are available in Boston for psychology and neuroscience, in New York for business, economics, and art history, and in Washington for government, public policy, and political science. I think this is fabulous! Hamilton's endowment is over a billion dollars and they have invested $340 million in facilities in the last 15 years. The campus is gorgeous. You don't have to love the outdoors if you come to Hamilton but I think it's a bonus! The outing club lends bicycles and snow shoes to all students for free! Lastly, I was very impressed to hear that all students at Hamilton are assigned a career guide with whom they work one-on-one from the beginning of freshman year. This career guide helps them apply to internships and jobs, helps them with resumes and interviews, and even sends them regular emails with career opportunities. It appears as if the career center is very vibrant. I loved hearing that they have an annual "What I Did With My Major" event with alumni. How cool is that?