Agnes Scott College is a women’s college in Decatur, Georgia, inside the metropolitan Atlanta area. With just 1,200 students, Agnes Scott students create a sisterhood, supporting each other through their time here. Each class selects a mascot during their freshman year, and this is one of many things that bonds them together throughout college and beyond.
Agnes Scott’s SUMMIT program is a unique approach to advising that deepens each of the four years. The goal is for the students to build their own advising panel, develop leadership skills, experience a global aspect to their education and create an ongoing digital portfolio that they can use after they leave college. During their first year, Agnes Scott students (sometimes they call themselves “Scotties”) take a Leadership 101 class, with different themes available. They are assigned both a peer advisor and an academic advisor who helps them shape what their four years should look like, both in and outside the classroom. During their second semester, Scotties take a course with a global component, and travel with their class and their professor for a 7-10 day abroad experience. During this first year, Scotties also create the beginning of their digital portfolio, uploading their best work from the year and some additional self-reflection on their path.
During the second year, Scotties can engage in an additional abroad experience, or take another leadership sequence course. They also choose their major at this time (although it’s not difficult to change it). During the third year, students engage with a career mentor (EVERY student is assigned one), and continue building their network of mentors. During these two years, they continue to add to their portfolio, and make it public for potential internship employers to see.
Senior year is the culmination of the SUMMIT process. Students engage in critical thinking, team building, writing, public speaking and digital literacy. Most students have some presentation opportunity where they show off their research. 70% students do some type of mentored research here and 67% of students do an internship.
The SUMMIT program is new; the first class to embark on this process is the Class of 2019. Agnes Scott leaders say that this structured program takes what Agnes Scott College has always done well and raises the bar a bit, making sure all students engage in the College’s goals for them.
Students who fit here are looking for a diverse, inclusive community. They are globally conscious, engaged and socially involved. There’s no Greek life at Agnes Scott; students see their class as one big sisterhood. Housing is guaranteed for all four years and over 80% of students live on campus, including most first-year students. Foreign language is required, and many Scotties take advantage of cross-registration with the 18 other colleges in the Metropolitan Atlanta region, several of which are easily accessible by MARTA, Atlanta’s public transit system.
The average admitted Agnes Scott student has a 3.5 unweighted GPA with strong rigor in her curriculum. Agnes Scott College is test-optional, but the middle 50% of admitted students’ scores are 24-30 ACT, or 1180-1350 on the new SAT. Half of students have a job offer before they graduate, and Agnes Scott’s four-year graduation rate is 90%.
Women leave Agnes Scott with poise, confidence and skills that make them valuable in the workforce. As most women’s colleges will remind you, women’s college graduates make up just 1% of the workforce but 20% of the women in Congress, and 35% of the women on corporate boards in the Fortune 1000. Don’t automatically cross women’s colleges off your list without exploring whether or not they are right for you!
You can scroll through all of the photos I took at Agnes Scott during my visit in February, 2017.