Located in Helena, Montana’s capital city, Carroll College is a small Catholic college with extensive offerings in the liberal arts, business and health science disciplines.
Known for its anthrozoology program, Carroll’s mission is to educate students as whole people. There is a core curriculum, so students will take courses to build their writing and quantitative skills, as well as their cultural competency and ethical reasoning. While Carroll is Catholic, they say that religion is “exposed but never imposed.” They view their religious backing as an opportunity for students who are interested in including this facet in their lives to do so.
Through all its programs, the Carroll education focuses on experiential learning – “learn by doing,” they say. All students must complete at least one of these “hands-on” experiences:
- Internship
- Study abroad
- Service learning
- Undergraduate research
- Practicum
Carroll has solid programs in all of the health sciences, including Physician Assistant, Nursing and Public Health, as well as the standard biological sciences, which can also prepare students for study beyond the Bachelor’s degree level. Carroll’s chemistry program requires seniors to spend a full year on a research project. Because there are no medical schools in Montana, students generally apply to WWAMI, the University of Washington School of Medicine’s one-of-a-kind, multi-state medical education program. The acronym, WWAMI, stands for the states served by the UW School of Medicine: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. Carroll graduates have a very high acceptance rate into medical school, and a very high NCLEX pass rate, the nursing licensure exam.
More about their anthrozoology major: this unique program helps students who love interacting with animals find ways to pair that passion with a career. Sometimes that means veterinary school, but Carroll’s program shows students the many other options for work that involves animal-human interaction.
Carroll’s location gives students access to incredible outdoor opportunities: the Carroll Adventure and Mountaineering Program (CAMP) has free hiking, biking, backpacking and kayaking trips. Helena is ranked one of the top 20 best mountain biking towns by National Geographic.
Carroll College is a great place for nature-loving students who want to explore different academic areas. Evelyn visited Carroll in the summer of 2015; Michelle visited in 2022. You can scroll through all of their photos in the slideshow below.