Colleges Most Recently Attended by Center for the Humanities Graduates

American University

George Washington University                                                                               

Harvard University                                                                                                                

Howard University

MIT

Sweet Briar College

Virginia Tech.

Wake Forest                                                 

William and Mary

University of Mary Washington

University of Richmond                                                                    

University of Virginia                                                            

                                                                       
Over the past couple of years, the total money received from schools, scholarships,and awards has exceeded $700,000.00 each year.

The class of 2007 received $1.4 million in scholarship money.

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Our graduates write to our faculty often describing their success in college. They find themselves well prepared for thoughtful discussion, critical thinking, and analytical reading. These skills consistently lead them to success and to earn the respect and admiration of their professors and their peers. Our students also bring to college a wealth of experience with writing that allows them to excel in all fields. While we focus on history, English, philosophy and the arts, our students go on to pursue degrees in all fields, including the sciences, and find that the skills they developed in the Center for the Humanities program have served them exceptionally well in all aspects of their academics.

Emil, currently a student at William and Mary, wrote the following about his experience in the Center for the Humanities,

"Without fear of sounding too cliché, going to the Humanities Center was one of the best decisions of my life. It's rigorous courses have more than prepared me for college. Humanities incorporates interdisciplinary skills that have proved to be invaluable in becoming a successful student. Without it, I feel that my writing skills would be nowhere as good as they are now. The Center goes above and beyond teaching what is in the textbooks, and engages the student in discussions on how they perceive the material. It basically forced me to be able to express my own ideas and opinions more clearly (a skill that many students lack even in college). The Humanities Center helped me to grow both academically and as a person. Moreover, it has changed how I view the world, giving me a new love and appreciation for literature, art, and history."

Rachel, currently as student at the University of Virginia, wrote to us describing how the Humanities Center program helped her to excel in collge.

"If I had to describe the differences between college and high school, I think I’d say that being in high school is a lot like being a lab rat... In college, on the other hand, you are like the rat that is braving the tough streets of a metropolis. Your world is unpredictable and incontrollable, you have to constantly fight and scavenge to survive, and you’re essentially on your own... This is where the Humanities Center comes in.  In this bizarrely extended metaphor, it is like the animal shelter that takes in the young and defenseless and cares for them, while preparing them for their eventual release date into the wild. 

So how does the Humanities Center prepare its young wild animals for college?  The most crucial skill taught is how to write.  Whether its an essay for a test, a response paper or a research paper, you’ll learn how to write it, hopefully with speed and proficiency.  I’ve had to use all three forms since being in college, and I know that I’ve used my experience in the Center to help me.  Another skill that is taught is thinking thematically, merging the study of historical and political events with that of the cultural, religious and literary responses.  I have seen a similar synthesis in my Intro to East Asian History seminar, where weekly readings cover Japanese imperialism from geo-political, economic, anthropological, and literary perspective, in my Intro to Western Religious Tradition lecture, where the development of theology is studied in a historical context, and to a lesser degree, in my Intro to Astronomy class, where the statistics of the planets are accompanied by the history of their discovery or an explanation of their names (and thanks to the Center, I already knew about Aphrodite and Ishtar, and why the plains of Venus would be named for them)... So far in my life on the mean streets of Charlottesville, I’ve done a good job surviving.  I think I can safely credit my Humanities Center training for a good part of that."