One of the (many) distinctive things about our college is the sheer amount of interaction between students and faculty. In our discussion classes, students and tutors (we don’t call them professors, since they don’t profess anything) take part in the conversation as equals around the table, meaning that even if you never encounter a single tutor outside of class you’re still guaranteed to talk with them multiple times a week.

And never seeing a tutor outside of class would be pretty much impossible—at the very least, every class you take will feature a few one-on-one essay conferences, in which you and your tutor meet to go over an essay you’ve written for their class. The content of these conferences can range from constructive critiques on essay structure to far ranging discussions of the ideas presented in your paper. In seminar, you’ll have two “orals” a year; basically mini seminars with just you and your tutors, taking a paper or prompt which you have written as a starting point.

On top of that, more informal interactions between students and tutors abound. Tutors sometimes will host class parties in their homes, and are always happy to schedule lunch or coffee with their students. The dining hall even has a program which allows them to eat for free if a student signs them in, and you don’t have to be on the meal plan to use it! Of course, some tutors prefer to eat off campus.I’ll never forget how surprised I was freshman year when a tutor who a few friends of mine and I had nervously asked to lunch drove us to a pizza parlor and then paid for our slices!

Tutors also sometimes participate in extracurricular activities. You’ll be particularly likely to find them in some of the many musical groups on campus, and a few will even show up to intramural sports—faculty and staff are placed on teams just as students are. They don’t expect or want any extra respect on the court, but they will nonetheless cheerfully take advantage of any hesitations you might have about guarding them, so be vigilant!

Even the rankings have picked up on how amazing our tutors are—you’ll find us listed among the top ten colleges in the country for our teaching by both Princeton Review and US News and World Report.