Wabash College Top Questions

What are the academics like at your school?

Dakota

They are some of the best in the country. At Wabash the teachers want to push you to succeed. They want you to work your tail off for what you want, but they are willing to help you any way they can.

Stephen

The classroom experience is very personal. Professors know who you are and know what is important to you enough to help with personal problems with your academics. They are also open enough to pause what they are doing to help you out with a problem even outside of listed office hours.

Wally

Wabash is relatively free from the rampant grade inflation that infects other colleges. Many professors pride themselves on their tough grading and intense classes. That said, it is possible to get through much of the coursework with little work if you so choose. As with all schools, a particularly lazy person can make his way through the college with minimal effort. However, the average Wally and those who are especially interested in hard work will come out of Wabash with an excellent academic and life education.

Andy

Every single professor I had in class knew my full name, what fraternity I was in, and whether or not I owed them some outstanding project. I was invited to their houses, met their families, ate dinner with them, and often chatted about anything and everything outside of class. Class participation is a way of life in all of the humanities classes. Not only are you graded on it, most students are drawn into conversations by the professors. Additionally, Wabash students are competitive enough that few statements or opinions will go unchallenged. Academics at Wabash are tough. No two ways about it. Professors are always pushing and assigning more reading. That being said, most professors are willing to bend over backward to help you when you're struggling, but they aren't going to hold your hand. An average week of class included at least 15 hours of study to prepare for class, not counting class time or paper writing. The education at Wabash is typically geared toward learning for the sake of learning, but most of the skills that are learned by that type of instruction are translatable to both the job market and graduate school.

Elliott

Academics at Wabash is a truly different from other schools. Most of our classes are discussion-based rather than lecture-based. Students are actively engaged with each other and with their professors which provides a learning environment in which the student is constantly learning and questioning. And since this is a Liberal Arts school, we do have a broad curriculum but our education transcends mere academic diversity. For us, Liberal Arts education means immersing yourself in something new; it means having an open conversation with somebody else who has diverse and different opinions than yourself. Liberal Arts at Wabash is as much listening as it is talking.

Jacob

Students study alot at Wabash. I spend about 3-4 hours a night in the library. As a matter of fact, the library is a pretty regular campus meeting spot. We don't have a student union or anything, so we see men from across campus alot at the library since most students are forced to study regularly to do well in class. The education at Wabash is geared towards making you as well rounded an individual as possible. Between pledgeship, sports/ intra-murals, immersion trips, and the amazing atmosphere of learning al over campus, one learns just as much outside of the class room as within. As far as getting a job, I am confident that I can do almost any type of task at any job (and if I can't, I have the gusto to find out how) just from my experience at this institution. Every professor I have met knows my name, where I live, and loves to hear about my extracurriculars. Many share my love of running. I have taken meals and traveled alongside some of my most interesting faculty mentors and have developed close friendships with three professors already. One of the greatest things about Wabash is that everyone is an equal here. Whether a freshman pledge, PhD, Dean of the College, or the fraternity cook, everyone is given their own respect for their humaness as well as their skill set. This shines through in the late night profound conversations carried out regularly across campus about a myriad of intellectual topics. Faculty Dinners, parties, and sports events are regular scenes for intellectual arguments about global topics.

Chris

Difficult if you are doing it right. Each of the professors know his or her students' names and because of that can be relentless in their pursuit of academic achievement. I majored in Latin and Ancient Greek and every single class I have taken from the department'f four professors has challenged me in many, new ways. Each course brings itsown unique challenges and each professor requires his or her students to achieve more than they have in previous classes. I'd say that this relationship extends to the other departments and their majors. Because the professors know their students, they have an accurate understanding of what students can do and therefore create courses and assessments which force students to improve upon areas of knowledge that are lacking.

Pat

Wabash is a great school to get an education. The small class sizes assist professors in getting to know all of their students and getting students to participate in class. I feel like I know all of the professors I have had thus far fairly well. There is an open door policy, and all professors are easily accessible. Professors also strive to challenge students. It is difficult to obtain a high grade in almost every class. In addition, If students struggle in any of their courses, there are multiple ways to get help. There are trained student tutors in almost every major. In short, the liberal arts education helps students think critically. Students are not trained to do something specific very well. Students are educated so that they may handle any situation or task successfully.

Blaine

Small class sizes. Professors know you by name and can often be found interacting with students outside of the classroom. Students study, on average, much more than many students do at other schools. Classes are difficult and challenging.

Will

Academics are just as wonderful a learning experience for the exceptionally intelligent students as for the weaker students. With a world-class faculty (most of whom graduated from name-brand institutions such as Harvard and Yale) and the small classes, every man can get the level of attention to challenge himself from professors who are intellectually well-endowed enough to overmatch any student. There are no grad students who don't care, or T.A.s who know less that the students being taught.

Jacque

This topic is where we, as Wabash students, get labeled as elitists. We feel our academics at Wabash College compare on a toughness level with anyone in the country. This is where we get into trouble with fellow college students that go to state schools. I do not believe for an instant that they are challenged as much as I am at Wabash. Maybe some are in the different schools that the large universities offer. (i.e. engineering) We have 900 students roughly that attend Wabash College. As a freshman my average class size is 19. Every professor knows your name and knows whether you attend class. Can state schools claim that? Students participate in class discussions and debates. Wabash teaches you to think critically and the liberal arts educates its students to be well-versed in a wide range of topics.

Blake

Without a doubt think that we have the best cirriculum of any small school in Indiana. We study hard. Truthfully we do. Our classes put us to a good test and make sure we are getting the education that we are paying for.

Nate

Acaemics are very rigorous here at Wabash. It is not an easy place to be, however, it is completely worth it. Our 10-1 student/faculty ratio make us unique because of our abilities to get to know our professors. Profs have invited me over for dinner at there homes. There, I will sit with my prof's wife and children, at their kitchen table, and have an awesome home-cooked meal. I've stayed for over 3 hours one time, and not once did we ever talk about school. Even the President of the college knows my mother's and my two older brother's names, and he's only met my mother once. It's a unique place to be. Everybody knows everybody.