Marymount Manhattan College is located in the posh Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is a small (2,000), liberal arts college. The student:faculty ratio is 12/1 and classes generally have 16 students in them. The college is housed in two buildings on East 71st Street. Security was tight and I had to provide my license to gain entry. I received a nametag with my photo on it – serious stuff! I was greeted by the admissions office’s administrative assistant, Nicole who was incredibly helpful and knew everyone that entered the office by name. She made sure that I was able to meet with admissions office from our region, David Thomas (see video), after the tour and information session.
The information session highlighted the curriculum, which has a core requirement. Students need 120 credits to graduate. The cool thing is that Manhattan is very much the school’s campus and many students have access to an incredible list of possible internships (only school with an internship at the United Nations), something the college considers a particular strength. Marymount Manhattan has your typical Majors (Accounting, English, Psychology, etc.) and has dual programs that allow students to gain Masters degrees in several areas. Marymount also has pre-professional programs in Dentistry, Law, Medicine and Veterinary Sciences.
The college was in the midst of a 25 million renovation that made the tour a little bit difficult, but our tour guide, Freddie’s enthusiasm made the tour enjoyable. Freddie was a drama major (musical theater) and he said theater, and dance was a strength of Maymount. At one point on the tour we were able to hear a student belt out a show tune and it was pretty impressive!
Housing guaranteed at Marymount and students live in traditional dorm, apartments and suites (one is the tallest dorm in the country). It is truly city living. By the same token, there are no official school sports (although the club soccer team won the trophy this year). Students seem to know each other and Freddie said that professors know their students well. There is a Writing Center to support students, all courses are taught by professors who have office hours, and free tutoring is available as well. Additionally there is a substantial ACCESS program for students with learning disabilities. Another program called Jump Start gets Freshmen on campus during the summer so that they can take a class, and learn “how to do Marymount”.
Admissions is rolling. Tuition is around $35,000. Financial Aid is provided to 85% of students. There are merit (3.0+ GPA and 1150 combined SAT gets students $6,000) and leadership scholarships. Tuition is around $35,000.
David Thomas will be in town for the National Hispanic College Fair at HCC on November 3rd and he’ll visit Renaissance at 2:30pm on that date. Check MMC out.