Sweet Briar College

[EduCativ]

Independent-minded, fiercely determined to see your dreams through: deep down, you know that’s who you’ve always been.

Here on Sweet Briar College’s 3,250-acre campus in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, we reveal and amplify everything that makes you amazing, and help you own it in ways you never thought possible — on the athletic field, in the riding arena, in the workplace and while studying abroad.

You’ll be surrounded by a family of faculty, coaches and friends who will push you, excite you, and energize you: to take what you learn into the world and take the lead. With an average class size of eight students, you’ll lead research, ask questions and forge supportive relationships with faculty that can last for decades. You’ll graduate from Sweet Briar career-ready and life-ready: you’ll know who you are and what you do best.

Our students have a favorite rallying cry: “There’s nothing that you cannot do.” You’ll discover that, here, it rings true every day.

Sweet Briar College prepares women (and at the graduate level, men as well) to be productive, responsible members of a world community. It focuses on personal and professional achievement through a customized educational program that combines the liberal arts, preparation for careers, and individual development. The faculty and staff guide students to become active learners, to reason clearly, to speak and write persuasively, and to lead with integrity. They do so by creating an educational environment that is both intense and supportive and where learning occurs in many different venues, including the classroom, the community, and the world.

We prepare young women to excel in the modern world — and we’ve been doing it since our first students arrived in 1906. You are our sole focus. At Sweet Briar, women get all the attention, all the student leadership roles, and any career choice is open to you. We think that makes Sweet Briar pretty special.

Sweet Briar College was established in 1901 by Indiana Fletcher Williams in honor of her daughter, Daisy, who died at age 16. The sole owner of Sweet Briar Plantation, Indiana left the expansive estate to create an independent college for women. From its founding, Sweet Briar has united traditional undergraduate coursework with applied learning to empower women through education in the liberal arts and sciences — graduating generations of change-makers as lawyers and legislators, humanitarians, artists, doctors and scientists and entrepreneurs. These Sweet Briar alumnae fulfill not only Indiana’s bold vision, but their own passions and ambitions.

We’re also shaking up the traditional model of academic departments separated by areas of study. Instead, majors and faculty are clustered into three “centers of excellence.” Study is intense, collaborative and interdisciplinary — the building blocks of the career and life skills the liberal arts are known for: critical thinking, written and verbal communication ethics and awareness and adaptability.

We reconfigured the academic calendar, too, so that there are more opportunities during the year for you to participate in high-impact learning experiences. These may include internships, research with faculty and capstone projects. Every undergraduate student is eligible for up to $2,000 to support these experiences.

Three-week short terms may also be used for intensive courses taught by guest instructors who bring practical lessons from their everyday jobs. Such guests may be policy-makers and legislators, working artists from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, or accomplished alumnae who represent any career you can dream of. These are opportunities for lifelong connections and mentorships.

At Sweet Briar, we invest in YOU. We’ve done so for more than 100 years. Now, we are completely resetting tuition to provide cost transparency and predictability for families of all income levels. Beginning in fall 2018, the cost of tuition, fees, room and board at Sweet Briar College will be $34,000. That’s $21,000 for tuition and fees, and $13,000 for room and board. This marks a 32 percent reduction from the published price for 2017-2018.

Financial aid will continue for need-based students, and more than 200 scholarships remain available for eligible students. At Sweet Briar, we understand that a family’s financial situation doesn’t fit into neat categories. That’s why we work with you and your family one-on-one, providing thoughtful advice and personal assistance as you move through the financial aid process.

A five-year Master of Arts in Teaching program combines a graduate degree with licensure preparation. The College’s Honors Program spans disciplines to foster critical thinking. And along with pre-veterinary, pre-law and renowned English and creative writing and arts programs, you can complete certificates in areas such as equine studies and arts management, create a self-designed interdisciplinary major or choose from more than 20 established programs of study.

Leading each of our disciplines is a professor who’ll change the way you see the world. Our faculty’s credentials are as impressive as yours can be: published authors notable researchers in science, math and the humanities archaeologists who’ve led digs in Turkey and Kazakhstan and professors who’ve actually written textbooks on their subject matter. And because our average class size is eight students, you’ll have opportunities to get involved in your professors’ research, ask questions and connect with faculty one-on-one.

View full university