If it is apparent and obvious that you are interested in learning, Earlham professors will open a road for you. My recommendation to incoming students is to say ‘yes’ to every opportunity that comes your way.
Our students do real research. This is excellent practice for those who might want to pursue a Fulbright Grant or Watson Fellowship later.
I had more responsibility during my second summer in the lab. I was able to teach the other students and answer their questions. [The professor] let me answer questions and problem solve a little more.
I feel confident that Earlham will help me get into medical school. For me, a medical career makes sense: I can help people by using my interest in science. It’s the perfect match.
Earlham gave me the tools to think about problems in their greater context. I’m so glad I took classes outside of my major. It made me a more well-rounded and interesting person. I can talk about things other than science.
I work as a lab tech at Michigan Medical Genetics Labs. It’s a way cooler job than I ever thought I’d be able to get straight out of school, and I was hired because I was the only applicant in a large pool who could say they’d had hands-on experience with the instrumentation we use in the lab. And that’s all thanks to the Earlham chemistry department.
Because Earlham is small and because the faculty and staff encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning, you have a lot of opportunities that you might not have at other schools. I was able to participate in two Ford/Knight student-faculty research projects, sing in choir and act in plays. If you’re willing to work for it, almost anything can happen.
I was given the opportunity to explore my passion, discover my interests, and develop them. That’s what Earlham, in my view, is all about.
You know you’re not going to a typical college when you count professors among those you’re closest to. The respect professors give to their students is unparalleled by any other college. Here the relationships you build with your professors truly can ascend beyond simply teacher-and-student and even beyond colleague-and-colleague to the point where you really are friend-and-friend.
The easiest, least valuable, and most common form of respect is tolerance: a practiced indifference built on the understanding that other people are free to do as they will. Of greater value is an engaged respect, practiced through relationships that continually discover the meanings of experience. That’s what we aspire to at Earlham.
So many people made Earlham feel like home.
Try to get involved as much as possible. There are a lot of cool groups, activities, and clubs. Talking to recent alumni, almost all of the time it’s the extracurriculars that guided their career paths; you can learn a heck of a lot being on cross country, like I was, or in Dance Alloy. You’re going to meet people, and have something exciting that’s not just your school work.
They recruited me for football, but I chose Earlham for science. I get plenty of time on the field with my team and in the lab with my adviser. It’s the perfect balance.
I loved my time at Earlham. For me, it’s the ideal combination of great academics and an opportunity to play soccer. And with geology, you get to travel the world and get your hands dirty. It’s perfect for me.
My experience of interning with the World Organization Against Torture in Switzerland during the summer of 2018 was super-empowering. I met amazing change-makers from all around the world, and grew a greater awareness to the amount of injustice, inhumanity and hatred there is in the world.
At Earlham, I feel like I’m starting to really matter in the world, starting to make a difference beyond myself, and starting to really understand how each individual impacts the connections worldwide.
Earlham gave me a chance not only to explore myself, but what it means to be a part of a global community.
I was accepted to several other private liberal arts colleges in the Midwest including Beloit, Grinnell and Knox. I chose Earlham mainly for the tight-knit community I sensed when I visited. I felt that Earlham could surround me with people that I would want to get to know. I wanted a liberal arts education because I wanted to have the ability to take classes that interested me, not just classes that I was supposed to take. I also really appreciate Earlham’s cultural, ethnic, socio-economic and religious diversity.
I was accepted at several good schools, including Smith College and Goucher College. I searched for a community that would foster a variety of academic experiences, but also attract students whose passions spilled outside of the classroom. Earlham is able to foster that kind of academic environment it does because students understand the value of their peers and in turn the value of their community, inside the classroom and out.
Garrett Byrd ’20 had never been west of Terre Haute.
Akilah Hartgrove ’20 has learned the power of patience when it comes to helping people.
John Zamora ’22 wants to dispel the notion that engineering is all work and no play.