Did you know …

Manchester College offers more than 45 areas of study to 1,170 students from 29 states and 34 countries. The independent, liberal arts college is located in North Manchester, Ind. About 74 percent of the students live on the 120-acre campus and about 15 percent of MC students are members of the Church of the Brethren.

Art Professor James R.C. Adams, a member of the Manchester College faculty for more than 40 years, was the 2002 U.S. Professor of the Year for baccalaureate colleges. More than 400 colleges and universities nationwide compete for the honor. Adams chairs the Department of Art and is co-director of curriculum.

The Princeton Review’s 2004 edition of “The Best Midwestern Colleges” includes Manchester College. Here's what one student told The Review: "Our professors just rock. They teach brilliantly without being stuffy and keep office doors wide open."

Manchester College receives acclaim for its exceptional academic program and its affordability in the “2004 America’s Best Colleges” guide of U.S. News & World Report. The magazine ranks Manchester College fifth for “Best Value” and as a “Best College” among Midwestern liberal arts colleges. Manchester, which has received a “Best College” ranking for nine consecutive years, is seventh on the magazine’s list of Midwestern liberal arts colleges with the lowest graduate college debt.

The U.S. government has selected 15 Fulbright Scholars from Manchester College since 1996, including three in 2003. The program is funded by Congress for faculty and students.

Yahoo! Internet Life ranked Manchester College the 35^th “Most Wired” baccalaureate campus in May 2000.

Involvement of Manchester College students in volunteer activities continues to rise. In 2001-02, almost 700 students contributed more than 10,193 hours of service to their college and communities. Big recipients were the Indiana Reading Corps (almost 4,500 hours), campus orientation and Habitat for Humanity.

Year after year – within six months of their commencement – at least 95 percent of Manchester College graduates enter the work force, are continuing their education full-time or are in full-time voluntary service. MC offers its students an “employment guarantee” – if they have taken advantage of the college’s services and opportunities and still don’t have a job within six months of graduation, they get a full year of classes tuition free. Only one student has exercised the guarantee since 1995.

An accounting degree from Manchester College really adds up. Four-year students pass the CPA exam at twice the national rate and 50 percent pass on the first try. Nationally, only 15 percent pass the exam at the first sitting. There’s more: MC graduates posted five of the top 10 scores on the May 2002 Indiana CPA exam.

Biology/chemistry students leave Manchester College well-prepared for medical school. More than 80 percent of MC graduates who apply to med school are accepted. The national average is about 40 percent.

In the past four years, 100 percent of law school applicants from Manchester College have won admission. Over the last 14 years, the acceptance percentage is 90 percent.

Five percent of all Manchester College baccalaureate graduates in the 1980s earned a doctoral degree within 10 years of graduating. The college ranked in the top 10 percent of all schools nationally for baccalaureate origin of doctorates.

The Manchester College faculty is dedicated to teaching, with enthusiasm far above the national average of college and university faculties, according to the 2001-02 National Faculty Survey of the Higher Education Research Institute. About 98 percent of MC faculty indicated a campus priority of promoting intellectual development, compared to 77 percent nationally.

In the same extensive national study, more than 93 percent of Manchester College faculty indicated a campus priority of developing community among students and helping them understand personal values, double the national rate.

Manchester College is home to the nation’s first peace studies program and to one of the earliest environmental studies programs. It’s also the headquarters of the 100-college Graduation Pledge Alliance. Annually, about half of Manchester College’s graduating students sport green ribbons on their gowns, signifying they have joined the Alliance. Their pledge:

“I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organization for which I work.”

Manchester College was one of the Top 20 campuses for peace activism in the nation, according to Mother Jones magazine, which called MC “a small school with a big impact” in 1996.

The John Templeton Foundation praised Manchester College in its 1998 and 1999 Templeton Guides as a character-building campus that inspires students to lead ethical and civic-minded lives.

In May 2001, the A Cappella Choir of Manchester College performed at Carnegie Hall. The choir will perform in the Vatican in Rome in March 2004.

September 2003