College Partners Amherst College Amherst, MA | Campus setting: Suburban | Undergraduate population: 1,850 QuestBridge partner since: 2003 Located in the quaint town of Amherst, Massachusetts (about 90 miles from Boston), Amherst College offers 40 programs of study. With a student to faculty ratio of 8:1, the college is able to provide its students with meaningful research opportunities. Amherst is also part of the Five College Consortium, which allows students to enroll in courses offered at Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. FUN FACT: Amherst has a machine that creates an atmosphere so cold that molecular motion stops altogether. Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME | Campus setting: Suburban | Undergraduate population: 1,950 QuestBridge partner since: 2004 Bowdoin is a liberal arts college located on the Atlantic coast in Brunswick, Maine, a town of 22,000. Study at Bowdoin leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree in one of over 40 majors. In addition to study on the main campus, the school offers opportunities for fieldwork with Bowdoin scientists, artists, and scholars. Marine, urban, and rural environments are all within a short distance from campus, giving students unparalleled opportunities for real-world research and access to a breadth of recreational activities. Bowdoin does not require that applicants submit SAT or ACT test scores for the purposes of admission. FUN FACT: Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in Appleton Hall, a Bowdoin dorm. Brown University Providence, RI | Campus setting: Urban | Undergraduate population: 6,580 QuestBridge partner since: 2009 Brown University is located in the second-largest city in New England. As the first college to accept students of all religious affiliations, Brown continues to be known as a university dedicated to diversity. Brown is known for its distinctive curriculum. With no core curriculum, students create their own course of study across multiple departments, representing Brown’s commitment to freedom of study. FUN FACT: The top of the Science Library on campus is the tallest point in Providence, RI. California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Pasadena, CA | Campus setting: Urban | Undergraduate population: 980 QuestBridge partner since: 2008 Caltech is one of the best places in the world to study math, science, or engineering. Caltech is small for a research university, and has a total enrollment of just over 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students. With an entering freshmen class of only around 240 top-notch students, Caltech undergrads are exposed to excellent research opportunities in a variety of fields. FUN FACT: Ditch Day, a tradition at Caltech since the 1920s, is when all seniors decide to take the day off and collectively vanish from campus. Underclassmen take the opportunity to pull pranks on seniors’ dorm rooms. Carleton College Northfield, MN | Campus setting: Small town | Undergraduate population: 2,045 QuestBridge partner since: 2012 Located approximately 40 miles south of Minneapolis, Carleton College is known for its academic excellence, warm and welcoming campus community, and friendly student body. Carleton students can choose from 50 programs of study, and all students complete a comprehensive senior year project that involves original research or creative expression. The Carleton campus is largely an arboretum, which makes for a beautiful setting and the opportunity for participation in many outdoor activities including broomball, ice skating, hiking, skiing, and hockey. FUN FACT: Carleton’s concert venue, The Cave, is the oldest student-run pub in the U.S. Claremont McKenna College Claremont, CA | Campus setting: Suburban | Undergraduate population: 1,350 QuestBridge partner since: 2016 Claremont McKenna College (CMC), a liberal arts college, is located within an hour’s drive of Los Angeles. Students at CMC benefit from being a part of the Claremont Consortium, which allows them to participate in organizations and take classes at the Claremont Colleges. Through a tight-knit residential community and research institutes and centers that promote innovation, interactions with faculty, and civic engagement, CMC provides a welcoming environment that fosters interpersonal and intellectual development. Outside the classroom, students are immersed in community service projects and service-based summer internships, and attend a special speaker series at the Athenaeum, a distinctive feature of social and cultural life at CMC. FUN FACT: It is a tradition for students to get ponded—thrown into one of the two fountains located on campus—by their peers on their birthday. Colby College Waterville, ME | Campus setting: Small town | Undergraduate population: 2,000 QuestBridge partner since: 2015 Colby College is a liberal arts college located in central Maine, about an hour’s drive from Portland, the state’s largest city. Colby has a 4-1-4 academic calendar, which includes a “Jan Plan” during which students take the month of January to dive deep into a single subject matter, participate in an internship, or conduct research with a professor. Students studying at Colby can choose from 58 majors and 34 minors, and 75% of Colby alumni eventually go on to graduate school. FUN FACT: In 2013, Colby became the fourth college or university in the country to achieve carbon neutrality. Colorado College Colorado Springs, CO | Campus setting: Urban | Undergraduate population: 2,085 QuestBridge partner since: 2013 Colorado College is a private, liberal arts college located approximately 70 miles south of Denver. Colorado College prides itself on small class sizes, instruction by professors only, and an innovative “block plan”, a uniquely intensive academic schedule in which students take one course at a time for three and one-half weeks rather than balancing several courses throughout a semester. FUN FACT: Colorado College gives students “block breaks” between each block session—a four-and -one-half-day hiatus from class that gives students time to refresh and prepare for their next class. Columbia University New York, NY | Campus setting: Urban | Undergraduate population: 6,220 QuestBridge partner since: 2006 Columbia University, a member of the Ivy League, offers two premier schools of undergraduate education: Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. Columbia is known for its famed core curriculum that many alumni cite as the hallmark of their education. With more than 100 areas of study and New York City at their doorstep, Columbia students find inspiration surrounding them. FUN FACT: Columbia alumni include 5 Founding Fathers, 9 U.S. Supreme Court justices, 93 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 34 presidents and prime ministers. Dartmouth College Hanover, NH | Campus setting: Small town | Undergraduate population: 4,215 QuestBridge partner since: 2010 Founded in 1769, Dartmouth College was established to prepare promising students for a lifetime of learning and responsible leadership. A member of the Ivy League, Dartmouth is known for its deep commitment to an outstanding undergraduate liberal arts education and its distinctive D-Plan, a system in which students enroll on campus for at least twelve quarters and can spend the other eight quarters studying abroad, participating in internships or employment off campus. FUN FACT: Over 60% of Dartmouth students engage in independent study with their professors at least once during their undergraduate careers. Davidson College Davidson, NC | Campus setting: Suburban | Undergraduate population: 2,000 QuestBridge partner since: 2012 Davidson College is a liberal arts college situated on a historic, 450-acre campus. Among the aspects that are considered “distinctly Davidson” are a student-administered Honor Code, a high percentage of students studying abroad, a campus-wide commitment to community service, and a NCAA Division I athletic program. It was also the first liberal arts college in the nation to eliminate loans from financial aid packages. FUN FACT: Since 1930, Davidson has hosted a Cake Race, where freshmen run 1.7 miles to win cakes often baked by professors or their spouses. Duke University Durham, NC | Campus setting: Urban | Undergraduate population: 6,810 QuestBridge partner since: 2016 Duke is a private research university located in one of the nation’s best cities to eat, play, and live. With a thriving high-tech community, a flourishing art scene and a food culture rivaling major metropolitan areas, Durham is a great home for Duke University and its students. Interdisciplinary study is central to the academic experience. Duke offers an innovative curriculum that gives you flexibility and empowers you to design your own learning experience. All first-year students live together on Duke’s historical East Campus, which fosters a close-knit community. FUN FACT: The cities of Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, are known as North Carolina’s Research Triangle, as it boasts one of the largest concentrations of Ph.D’s and M.D.’s in the world. Emory University Atlanta, GA | Campus setting: Urban | Undergraduate population: 7,745 QuestBridge partner since: 2007 Emory University has the facilities and resources of a large university, while still providing the benefits of a small liberal arts college. Students can spend their first two years at Oxford College, located on Emory’s original campus, where underclassmen engage in living and learning in a tight- knit community. Emory offers a wide range of majors including