Goucher College Top Questions

Goucher is a liberal arts school with a lot of good programs. Only professors teach classes and they are very accessible. The class sizes are really small and even introductory classes do not reach more than 60 students. Most teachers know students by name. There are eleven general education requirements that all students must complete before graduation. Goucher is one of the only schools to have study-abroad requirement which most complete during the junior year. Class discussions are very common and engaging as most Goucher students are socially aware. Competitiveness between students is based on your major but it is healthy not at all cutthroat. There is a lot of group work/studying. Many students have heavy workloads but difficulty of courses is also based on major.

Again, class-size is amazing. I never had a class with more than 15 students. The personal attention a Goucher student receives from a professor is unparalled. The only criticism I have about the academics at Goucher is that there arent as many elective classes within each major as you would find at another liberal arts college. However, the counter to that is that Goucher is super flexible about letting you take classes in other departments to count for your major. It also makes it easier to double-major. And finally, for such a small school, Goucher hosts professors with incredible backgrounds and true passion for teaching and learning. I felt in most of my classes, especially my upper-level seminars that the professors learned just as much from the students as we did from them. I was constantly amazed by my teacher's passion for being continous learners.

Classes at Goucher are small -typically only between 15-20 students -and are even smaller, once you begin taking more advanced courses in your major. Because of this, professors get to know each student individually. Professors are very accessible, and in most cases, students call their professors by their first names. Most classes are discussion-based, and so class participation is very important, and actually constitutes a significant part of the grade in any course. Students are encouraged to share their opinion in class, and to develop their own voice within the classroom. As part of the Liberal Arts curriculum, students are required to fulfill a number of education requirements. One of the most interesting of these, is the study abroad requirement. Goucher is the first college in the nation to require that all students study abroad, either by completing a 3-week "intensive" course in another country, or participating in a semester or year-long program, and provides students with a monetary voucher, in order to do so. I spent the spring semester of my junior year in Spain; I have friends who went to Italy, Costa Rica, Mali and Brazil, just to give a few examples. It's a requirement that really sets Goucher apart from similar institutions, and one that students seem to really appreciate and take advantage of.

Goucher is most definitely a liberal arts college. A liberal arts education is especially important to me because of my background. When I first started looking at colleges, I had my eyes set on music conservatory. I was accepted into my top choice conservatory and I thought I was going to be happy. After looking into this school some more, I realized I would only be able to take classes at the school of music and not the liberal arts college. There just was not any time for me study anything else. I also realized that at conservatory, I could not be involved in all of the activities that I always wanted to do in college. Goucher ended up being the right fit for me. I was able to study music and do so on a high and competitive level, but also take other courses. I have taken philosophy courses, literature courses, business courses, etc. I was also able to go abroad. I spent a month studying opera in Spoleto, Italy. It was AMAZING! I think that ALL students should study abroad as it is an opportunity that doesn't always present itself after college.

I liked to say that at Goucher, the professors were cooler than the students. Now that means the students aren't all that awesome, but also the professors were just amazing. I house-sat for one of my teachers and had another one come to a party of mine, and another one I spent hours talking on the phone with about being a writer. The classes were difficult, but interesting. It is an extremely liberal education that is more intellectual-based than career-based.