Spotlight on Champlain College

This week's spotlight takes us to one of my favorite cities -- Burlington, Vermont -- where we find Champlain College. Champlain is not your typical small college. While the school's curriculum does have a liberal arts foundation, it emphasizes practical and professional training as well. Champlain college calls this "education in 3 dimensions" -- the Academic Core Dimension, the Professional Dimension, and the Life Experience and Action Dimension. You can learn more about 3D on the Champlain website.

The result of this merging of liberal arts and preprofessional training is a somewhat quirky yet compelling curriculum in which undergraduates can major in specialized and niche fields. Few other colleges, especially small ones, offer majors such as game design, radiology, environmental policy and digital filmmaking.

Champlain College's admissions are selective, but not out of reach for most hard-working students. While not cheap, Champlain has done better than many small colleges in keeping tuition, fees, room and board to a minimum. The majority of students receive some form of grant aid.

Every week I spotlight a great college that might be off the radar of college applicants. If you'd like to recommend a school for a future spotlight, please do so here in the College Admissions forum. And if you're familiar with Champlain College, please share your impressions.

To learn more about Champlain College, be sure to check out my Champlain College admissions profile and visit the school's official website.

Related Reading:

• Top Liberal Arts Colleges
• Colleges Featured in the 2009 Spotlights
• Small College or Large University?