Franklin College, Franklin Indiana

I can not believe I have lived in Southern Indiana for 37 years without ever visiting Franklin College!  I have several friends who attended and graduated from FC who love their alma mater and now I understand why!

If you search for Franklin College on the internet, you will quickly find out that Franklin College is a small (approx 1000 students) liberal arts college located in Franklin, Indiana.  Like most colleges and universities, web sites full of facts and statistics simply can not tell the whole story.

One of the things I have found to be consistent of most people who choose a smaller school is their desire to be a person rather than a number to the university.  Franklin College made certain right out of the gate to communicate that very idea to me. As much as I love visiting college campuses, I have to admit I was a bit reluctant on this particular day to get out of my car and face the cold winter day.  I felt incredibly appreciated by the staff when I arrived to find a reserved parking space with my name on it!  The admissions staff had a fire going in the welcome center and cookies on a plate ready to enjoy.

This same theme of connectedness is continued through a student's tenure at FC through their student advising.  Professors advise/mentor approximately 15 students at a time and students will continue to have the same advisor throughout their time at Franklin College.

When speaking with admissions staff, I quickly found out that athletic training, biology, business and journalism are some of their most popular majors.  Athletic Training has been such a successful program that FC is looking to expand this program into a Masters Degree in the future.  If you want to see FC Journalism in action, then check out The Statehouse File.  This is an innovative project which was created....  "To train young journalists and to provide more government and political coverage to media organizations across Indiana." (The Statehouse File)  

Franklin College is also engaged in a program with Purdue University which allows their students to earn a degree in Applied Mathematics from FC while also receiving a degree in engineering from Purdue University.  This allows students who desire to attend a small liberal arts school like Franklin to be able to do that while still achieving the engineering degree they're seeking.  

Something I heard about several times throughout the day was the "Study Away" program.  Many students take advantage of this opportunity during the winter term.  FC is on a 4-1-4 system where students have a semester of courses in the fall, a short term in January, and then another semester in the spring.  Many students choose to use the winter term to participate in internships, study opportunities within the United States and study opportunities abroad.  Students have an opportunity to earn scholarships for studying abroad by taking a course and earning a minimum grade point average. 

A Division 3 school, FC does not offer athletic scholarships, but nearly 1/3 of the students are athletes!

After taking a swing through the student center, I headed over to the fine arts building to spend some time at their leadership center.

The Leadership Program at FC offers many opportunities for students.  They offer a minor in Leadership with 12 credits of prescribed coursework and an additional 6 hours in electives.  Students in this program will engage in project-based learning opportunities.  Some of the topics include:  personal skills, foundational leadership (reading great leaders and theorists), professional development, sociological and psychological theory and practice and multicultural leadership.  One of the projects has the students observe a campus group and provide input to improve the leadership of the group.  If you are interested in more information about this unique program, check out this link:  http://www.franklincollege.edu/academics/minors/leadership 

***As always, this post represents impressions I have of this school based upon visiting the school.  This is not an endorsement of Franklin College for every student.  For more information about Franklin College, please visit the school. To arrange your own visit to Franklin College:  http://admissions.franklincollege.edu/visit-franklin