North Central College

According to the school, North Central College is an independent, comprehensive college and a community of learners dedicated to preparing informed, involved, principled and productive citizens and leaders over a lifetime. North Central offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and graduate programming in six areas. With more than 2,100 full-time undergraduates and nearly 550 part-time undergraduate and graduate students, North Central College is committed to academic excellence, a climate that emphasizes leadership, ethics, values and service, a curriculum that balances job-related knowledge with a liberal arts foundation and a caring environment with small classes. North Central College is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Located in the historic district of Naperville, IL, identified as one of the nation’s best places to live, North Central College is just 30 minutes from Chicago’s Loop. This proximity to Chicago provides students with access to world-class cultural opportunities and internships but also allows North Central College to build unique programs that set it apart from other schools. The all-college requirements include seminars in religion and ethics, intercultural issues and leadership, ethics and values, all important components to the integrative curriculum. Students study in programs like interactive media relations or urban and suburban studies. Some classes are team taught by faculty from two different disciplines, emphasizing how to negotiate differences of opinion, culture and reason. North Central’s nationally recognized conflict resolution program serves as a model for professional training, peer mediation and community outreach. Faculty and students collaborate across every field of study through faculty-directed research, on-campus seminars, fieldwork and independent study. A North Central College education is much more than attending classes and accumulating enough of the right credits to receive a diploma. Some of the most valuable educational experiences take place outside of the classroom in various extracurricular activities, on the athletic field, or in conversations that arise spontaneously between students and professors. Students and professors often communicate about ideas and issues at a depth not possible within the structure of course schedules and timetables. Students can participate in Chicago Term, an urban immersion program in Chicago that provides an opportunity to learn about the city through classes, internships, exciting field study and service projects. North Central students are also encouraged to study abroad and experience life in a culture beyond the national boundaries—on five continents, from a three-week seminar to a full-year program. Service learning at North Central College includes community based projects and alternative spring break programs that send hundreds of students out to support service projects, ranging from building Habitat for Humanity houses to Hurricane Katrina clean-up. Students in Free Enterprise sponsor another unique program, where students visit Guatemalan coffee farmers to study about social justice issues. The result was bringing NCC’s Best coffee to the campus coffeehouse in support of free trade. North Central College offers more than 50 clubs and organizations providing opportunities such as art, music, theatre as well as honor societies. Students also work at North Central’s award winning radio station, one of the top college radio stations in the nation which has received over 20 Marconi College Radio Awards in the past 10 years. No other college radio station in the U.S. has won more. More than 600 North Central students participate in one of 22 intercollegiate sports and the Cardinals rank seventh in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III for the number of national championships won—with 23 national titles. Cardinal pride is a way of life at North Central College.