You'll find that our focus is on undergraduate teaching and giving students the personal attention they need to succeed. Sit in some of our classes and you'll feel the difference. You won't see large lecture halls with material taught by teaching assistants. Instead, you'll see our faculty leading small classes — the average size is fewer than 20 students.

Teaching focus

Private college professors focus on teaching. Many of them do groundbreaking research and are nationally renowned in their fields of expertise; 84% hold doctorates or other terminal degrees. But the reason they work at private colleges is because they love to teach and have a passion for challenging students to discover how to be their best.

Faculty make themselves available outside of class and take an active personal interest in their students, often serving as mentors and role models. The amount of undergraduate research that is done at our colleges is one sign of this faculty commitment.

To quantify how our faculty are available for students, consider the ratio of students to professors — 12 to 1. Or consider the view of our graduates. When asked about whether their professors challenged them and personally helped them meet the challenge, 78% of our alums say that occurred, compared to 39% of public institution alums.

Student experience

Students at our colleges engage in a profound learning experience.

• They take many small discussion courses in which they are expected to articulate and defend their interpretation of extensive required readings.
• Evaluation is based primarily on essay exams, written reports and projects rather than multiple-choice exams that test students' memorization.
• Professors — not graduate students — teach most courses. They work closely with students on their writing and lab activities, challenging them to take learning one step further.

College graduates who had these kinds of academic experiences more often reported that they were better prepared for life after college, equipped with effective communication skills, problem solving abilities and other career skills.

We see our students and recent graduates being recognized for their academic success; recent awards include 74 Fulbright Student Scholars, 12 Watson Fellow, 24 Goldman Scholars, 7 Rhodes Scholars and 2 Truman Scholars.

Best four-year graduation rates in Minnesota

Given the individualized attention our students receive, they are more likely to complete their coursework and graduate on time compared to students at Minnesota's public systems. Yes, there are many reasons students may not graduate within four years.

But students and parents alike want consider where the odds of graduating on time will be higher; the cost of additional tuition and deferred income is just one factor. And the best graduation rate in the state is at our private colleges.