College Counselor Campus Visit: Saint Mary's College of California
Sara recently visited Saint Mary’s College of California, a Catholic liberal arts college in Moraga, California serving 2,800 undergraduate students. She was impressed by the commitment to teaching undergraduate students, and the talented faculty and students who take discussion-based learning, critical thinking, and community-building seriously. The core of their curriculum is Collegiate Seminar, in which all students read the Great Books and learn to analyze, write, and debate over four semesters. They even held a Seminar class for Sara’s group of college counselors; she brushed off her rusty poetry analysis skills and had a blast!
Saint Mary’s operates on a 4-1-4 calendar so every January term students are immersed in a month-long topic. Some of these classes are held on campus, but many have an experiential component and travel the globe. Upon glancing at the January Term offerings you will want to take them all - Excavating Ourselves: The Archaeology of Now; The Least of These: Marginalized Children in the Bay Area; Living Globally - Rwanda Rising, Land of A Thousand Hills; Disconnect, Power Off, and Unplug: The Lost Art of Solitude; and Introduction to Buddhism are just a small sampling of the course offerings. All professors teach January Term classes (as well as Collegiate Seminar), which is incredibly unifying for the curriculum and student-faculty interaction.
There are majors offered across the liberal arts and sciences, including a School of Business and a School of Education. Additionally, there is a 3-2 Engineering program for students interested in getting both a liberal arts and an Engineering degree, with a transfer agreement to Washington University in Saint Louis.
The campus is nestled in the hills of Moraga, a small community in East Bay, just a BART ride away from nearby Oakland and San Francisco. Students regularly explore the Bay area on weekends, as well as for jobs and internships. Talk about an incredible location! Students here are friendly, diverse, and service-minded. The college’s Lasallian heritage emphasizes their commitment to social justice and the power of education to transform lives. You don’t have to be Catholic to attend Saint Mary’s; in fact, only a quarter of their students are practicing Catholics. They are committed to diversity of thought, religion, and background. If you are looking for a small college community dedicated to the liberal arts in a stellar location, Saint Mary’s College of California is a great school to consider.
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