New College of Florida
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The New College of Florida is a public honors college for the state of Florida, located in Sarasota, Florida on the former Ringling Estate. It is a small liberal arts college with 66 faculty and nearly 700 students[1] (http://www.ncf.edu/Documents/FactSheet.html). It is unique because the curriculum is co-developed by students and faculty, and the school does not rely on grades. Instead, students receive narrative evaluations and are required to complete senior theses as well as 3 independent study projects to earn their BA degrees.
Founded in 1963 as a private college for academically talented students, New College merged with the state university system in 1975, becoming affiliated with the University of South Florida. In 2001, New College gained its independence from the University of South Florida, and became the eleventh independent school in the Florida state university system. Today, as the state's independent honors college, New College of Florida retains its distinctive academic program and high standards which make it a college of choice for students who can manage the freedom and responsibility of designing their own education.
New College is well-known for its high academic standards and innovative curriculum. Despite the small number of students, New College sends a large share of its graduates to leading graduate schools. This year, Miranda Tedholm, Erica Haas, Talya Dayton, and Thomas Patteson are the newest additions to a growing list of Fulbright Fellows at New College, bringing the college's total to 21 Fulbrights during the past 11 years, and 24 since the school's inception. New College's record of Fulbrights has made it among the nation’s leaders in per capita production of Fulbright scholars. [2] (http://www.ncf.edu/PublicAffairs/Documents/fulbright_2005.htm)
In 2005, New College was named #1 best value in public higher education by The Princeton Review. New College may be unique among US colleges in that the percent of enrollees who graduate is low (about 60%, far below schools of similar academic caliber) yet the accomplishments of its graduates are, by most measures, extremely high. (For example, some claim that New College on a per capita basis produces more students who go on to earn social science PhDs than any other college.) This unusual combination is likely due to the combination of high academic standards with extreme emphasis on student self-direction.
New College's alumni are relatively few in number - about 5,000. Among the most prominent New College personalities include US Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart and drug policy activist Rick Doblin. A plurality of alumni live in Florida, but large clusters of alums gravitate to San Francisco and New York City.
See also
External link
- New College of Florida (http://www.ncf.edu)