Bronxville, NY: Nestled among a green sea of trees and grass lies the complex of Tudor-styled buildings that distinguish Sarah Lawrence College from its surroundings. Having an enrollment of just 800 undergraduates (75% women and 25% men), it's comforting to know that the college refers to you as an individual person with a name instead of by a social security number.

Students here do not sit in large, impersonal lecture halls with hundreds of other students as you might find at a large university, but instead congregate at round tables in highly intimate groups of no more than 15. This approach fosters the idea that everyone (including teachers) is equal and that each person's opinion is highly valued. Encouraging the students to gain as good a liberal arts education as possible, the college limits credits for a major to sixty. The sixty other required credits must come from other areas, to ensure the forging of an academic "Renaissance" person.

Ultraconservative-minded applicants should be wary; Sarah Lawrence is the paragon of liberalism. With "Gay Rights Now" spray painted on the sidewalk, one can see how society here accepts open-minded students and holds no grudge against their sexuality. The campus endorses the preservation of our fragile Earth; there is a giant mural in the performing arts building urging an end to the James Bay II project. Animal rights have not been overlooked either; PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is one of the numerous student organizations available.

Only a ten-minute walk from the downtown Bronxville train station, Sarah Lawrence College maintains a personal link with nearby New York City. Internships are available in a variety of fields, including theaters and art galleries, and working in businesses like Rolling Stone magazine. Reaching beyond the limitless wealth of the Big Apple, Sarah Lawrence also offers several intensive study abroad opportunities in England and Russia.

Whether you're yearning to see a play in a theater built like Shakespeare's Globe or going to the library room with overstuffed pillows to curl up with a book, Sarah Lawrence delivers all this and more, providing an excellent liberal arts education and forging an individualist mindset rarely found at other colleges. n




Reviewed in 1993