As we walked through Warren Wilson’s beautiful, hilly campus just outside of Asheville, N.C., our tour guide, Malcolm, a junior from Brownsville, TX, was explaining Work Crews (as one of 8 work colleges in the U.S., every student is assigned a job when they get to campus). We had just toured the cafeteria and come to a stop in a building where we had a view of the livestock in a field and the campus gardens. He talked about how students on the Garden Crew grow produce for the cafeteria and hemp for their new industrial hemp program; the Herb Crew grows herbs for their “herbal programs,” such as making teas, ointments, and plants to sell to the community. Then he mentioned the Local Foods Crew who tackle the budgeting and science of trying to “make things as local as possible.”

He pointed to the cows and said, “We’re having hamburgers today,” he said, “So that’s where those come from.”

The cycle of sustainability is front and center at Warren Wilson. At the campus store, you can buy meat and dairy from the school’s cows, and items students make from the land.

Let’s just say Warren Wilson is not your average college. Students basically run the place, which gives them confidence—and plenty to talk about in job interviews. They can check out a guinea pig from the library when they need a study break. Malcolm said that recently he was stressed out while studying for a test in the library when a friend came over and dropped a guinea pig in his lap. The stress temporarily melted away.

5 WAYS WARREN WILSON STANDS OUT

1. It feels like family. First of all, it only has about 800 students. And 30 percent of the faculty lives on campus. It feels more like a big family than a college.
2. Hands-on experiences are built in. Students gain resume-building experience by being on work crews, many of which, such as Plumbing Crew, offer certifications. There are 85 different work crews, from President’s Crew (where you help with media and advertising for the school) to Recycling Crew to Creative Writing Crew, there is something for every student interest. Pre-veterinary students can work with farm animals as part of Farm Crew, giving them valuable experience for vet school applications. Warren Wilson boasts a 95% acceptance rate for veterinary school.
3. It incorporates “Green Entrepreneurship” into the curriculum. For example, students in the Forestry Program work with Dave Ellum, dean of land resources, who came to Warren Wilson from Yale, to create value-added products, such as medicinal plant tinctures. The students had to do everything from feasibility studies to labeling to marketing their product.
4. Each student as an integrated advising coach. In addition to their academic advisory, students have an integrated advising coach who helps them find and plan experiences that complement their academic focus, including Work Crews, study abroad, internships, research, and community engagement activities. The coach helps the student maximize his or her experience and navigate barriers.
5. It’s a Learning Friendly environment with excellent academic support for students with learning differences. As a student with dyslexia, Malcolm has found that his professors give him extra support. He hasn’t had trouble with the core curriculum and points to the math class he took to fulfill his math requirement—“Math Anxiety” (which approaches math from a social science perspective)—as one of his most interesting.

A few other interesting facts to note about Warren Wilson:  51% of the student population is LGBTQ and a significant number of students are vegan. About 10% of incoming students have taken a gap year and Warren Wilson offers gap-year themed housing so those students can have a community of other students who have shared a gap-year experience.

MOST POPULAR MAJORS

 With such amazing access to the outdoors, it’s not surprising that Environmental Studies is the most popular major and offers six different concentrations. Social Work and Creative Writing are also popular. There is a strong psychology and business program. All told, there are 21 undergraduate majors.

ADMISSIONS TIPS

Admissions officers at Warren Wilson are looking for students who can:

1.     Communicate effectively in both their interview and in writing

2.     Show quality rather than quantity in their extracurricular engagement. “We don’t like to see a laundry list…”

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

 With a 2.75 GPA, you automatically qualify for $2,000 per year

Other merit scholarships based on academics, leadership, and involvement in sustainability, range from $7,000 to $18,000 per year—no separate application required

25 full-tuition scholarships are awarded each year to students with family incomes at or below $125,000 per year – a separate application is required