SMALL COLLEGE CONSORTIUM: AN ADMISSIONS NETWORK OF TOP-RANKED SELECTIVE LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES

The Small College Consortium (SCC) is an association of nationally-ranked, highly selective, private liberal arts colleges from across the United States. These are amongst the most prestigious tertiary education institutions in North America and competition for places at these schools is extremely high. Despite their small size, these colleges are often rated on an equal footing to much larger research universities due to the high quality educational programme on offer and the excellent resources and facilities available.

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ABOUT

Third-level education is an extremely competitive market in the United States and, given that most institutions must charge tuition fees as state and federal funding is limited, there is an immense pressure on colleges and universities to ensure that they are able to attract the best and brightest students. Such students can have a significant impact on a college’s fortunes. Not only are most paying to attend by way of fees (or through externally awarded scholarships), they also contribute to the academic output of the school which, in turn, helps attract funds and grant money. Moreover, the more capable students tend to achieve greater success in their lives post-graduation which may result in wealthy benefactors to support the college’s endowment and fundraising efforts in the future.

This financial model, however, is heavily skewed in favour of large research universities with extensive postgraduate programmes, particularly those members of the Association of American Universities (AAU). Their capacity to market and attract great minds from across the United States and beyond far outweighs that of their small college peers. In the United States, a substantial proportion of the tertiary education sector is comprised of small colleges, often undergraduate focussed and typically offering a degree in the great American liberal arts tradition. Whilst many of these colleges are household names in their own right, they still face an uphill struggle to remain competitive in terms of admissions and student selectivity. Recognising that working in consortia, the sum may be greater than the parts, many of these colleges work collectively to tackle this common problem.

Consortium membership may help a college to boost its profile by identifying to the marketplace where it sits and who its peer schools are, acting as a badge of honour of sorts. More importantly, they help the member institutions to benchmark against their perceived peers and to share knowledge, ideas and insights that can greatly enhance their management approach and thus lead to a multitude of performance gains.

The Small College Consortium is one such group. It was established in 2015 when the admissions officers from a select grouping of America’s leading private, small, selective liberal arts colleges came together to share experiences regarding admissions and enrollment procedures and to develop a common best-practice approach. Its member schools include some of the finest and oldest educational institutions in North America, with a long history of academic excellence, exclusivity and selectivity. Their legacies are further enhanced by their outstanding alumni, who have held many of the great offices of State or have committed themselves to great successes in the arts, sciences, public life, religious, military and political service. Membership of the SCC is subject to approval by the existing members, limiting participation to only those schools considered to be peers of one another.

The consortium bears no connection to a similar consortium that was established in Washington, DC in 1977 that acted as an admissions and advocacy voice for small colleges across the United States (predominantly Junior Colleges and Community Colleges) (see Christopher Toppe’s “An Evaluation of the Small College Consortium 1977-78” [1978]). Nor is it the same organisation as the Small College Consortium founded in 1979 in California, which is today known as the Consortium of Liberal Arts Schools and Independent Colleges (CLASIC), which shares several of the same member institutions.

The group coordinates annualised surveys and benchmarking initiatives to facilitate knowledge-sharing and to identify matters of common interest across the various members’ admissions policies and systems. The consortium’s members convene an annual conference to appraise developments throughout the course of the year and to discuss other issues that affect them collectively. External speakers will often be invited to join the SCC schools at this conference.

The member schools of the Small College Consortium collaborate in various other arenas too. Many are members of the Selective Liberal Arts Consortium (SLAC), which seeks to promote these colleges as a viable alternative to the big research universities. All are members of the The Annapolis Group of Liberal Arts Colleges and most are part of the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC) too, both of which serve as networking and marketing bodies for the selective, liberal arts college sector. Many SCC member schools also participate in the Oberlin Group of College Libraries which supports the research functions and academic output of their member schools and helps to develop knowledge-management and sharing tools to complement these endeavours. Many of the same schools are members of the 568 Presidents’ Group, which brings together the presidents of America’s most prestigious colleges and universities to advance needs-blind admissions to its member schools. They also work with scholarship organisations, like Questbridge, to ensure that the brightest students may attend, regardless of background or circumstance. The schools that make up the membership of these selective, peer-approved membership associations are generally considered to be the upper echelon of America’s liberal arts colleges and, alongside the NESCAC, Seven Sisters and Patriot League schools, are often referred to as “Hidden Ivies” or “Little Ivies” (a reference to the Ivy League universities with whom many share close historic relationships and typically compete directly with in terms of college admissions). Many of these schools are included amongst the Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL). All of the member schools are fully accredited by their respective regional authorities and accrediting bodies and regularly feature towards the tops of college rankings.

If you would like to know more about the Small College Consortium, you can get in touch with the secretariat directly using the contact details below. Alternatively, reach out to your preferred member school as listed here to find out more.

Finally, if you or somebody you know attended one of the member schools listed, we would enjoy hearing about the experience or any unique insights you may have garnered that could help future applicants. Likewise, if you have experience working with the Small College Consortium or similar organisations, please do feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

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MEMBERS

CHOOSE LIST VIEW FOR A SIMPLE LIST OF ALL LISTED SCHOOLS. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN SELECT SCHOOLS USING THE MAP BELOW.

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