Engaged Students

Social activities at Hillsdale are stimulating and varied. Student clubs offer diverse opportunities for involvement, Greek communities explore leadership potential and develop lifelong friendships, and opportunities to be involved in varsity athletics and intramural sports all enable students to have a great experience at Hillsdale College...

Great Teaching

Hillsdale is committed to traditional values of freedom, individual dignity, free enterprise, and limited government. These values are expressed with passion by the faculty and students as they engage in energetic discussions in and outside of the classroom...

A Philosophical Habit of Mind

• Classes average around 15 students, and the overall student to faculty ratio is ten to one. About 90 percent of faculty holds terminal degrees in their field. The college offers twenty-seven majors, seven interdisciplinary concentrations, and nine pre-professional programs; the most popular programs are business, history, politics, English literature, teacher education, and the sciences. Students at Hillsdale report that they spend a great deal of time studying and engaged in meaningful debate.

• All students share the common academic experience of the core curriculum, which requires studies of the United States Constitution, rhetoric, great books, and Western and American heritage.

• Classes at Hillsdale typically pay special attention to original source documents and embrace the Socratic method of learning, which teaches by asking questions. Students are encouraged to articulate both what they think and why they think this.

Academic Programs: Accounting, American Studies, Art, Biochemistry, Biology, Business, Chemistry, Christian Studies, Classical Education, Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, Computer Science, Economics, Education, English, European Studies, Exercise Science, Financial Management, French, German, Greek, History, Latin, International Studies, Marketing/Management, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Physical Education, Physics, Political Economy, Politics, Psychology, Religion, Sociology and Social Thought, Spanish, Speech, Sport Management, Sport Psychology, Theatre, CCA, Honors Program, Off Campus Study, Pre-Professional

Vibrant Community

Every Hillsdale student is able to engage in forming strong relationships with peers and faculty members. Each student’s experience is impacted by the people that surround them, academically, socially, and spiritually...

A Cosmopolitan Mix of Students, Activities, and Beliefs

• Hillsdale is proud of its history as the first American college whose charter prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religion, or gender. Though founded in 1844 by Freewill Baptists, Hillsdale has always been nonsectarian. However, the college makes a point of emphasizing “moral truths that bind all Americans, while recognizing the importance of religion for the maintenance of a free society.” The college is committed to the classical liberal arts, Judeo-Christian principles, Greco-Roman heritage, and independence of thought and action.

• The student body is self-governed by an honor code that promotes collegiality, passionate and aggressive pursuit of truth, a pledge to live an honorable life, and a commitment to self-governance. The college believes that the honor code contributes to Hillsdale students’ reputation for being fiercely independent rather than blind followers.

• The college attracts many nationally known speakers to events, both on and off campus, including the National Leadership Seminars and events hosted by the Center for Constructive Alternatives. Speakers tend to be of a more conservative stripe than at most colleges, and have included Steve Forbes; conservative radio host Michael Medved; Newt Gingrich; Karl Rove; and Andrei Illarionov, former chief advisor to the prime minister of the Russian Federation. Hillsdale’s distinguished visiting faculty have included Justice Clarence Thomas, historian David McCullough, Sir Martin Gilbert, Mark Helprin, and Victor Davis Hanson.

• About 85 percent of students live in campus housing. Dorms are single-sex, with the exception of a new residence hall featuring separate wings for men and women. About one in three students’ joins a fraternity or sorority, and some choose to live in fraternity or sorority houses.

• Varsity athletics are an integral part of the life of the college, and in recent years, some teams—notably, the football, track & field, women’s volleyball and basketball teams—have achieved considerable success at the Division II level.

Successful Outcomes

Far-ranging by design and incisive by method, study at Hillsdale College is intellectually demanding. Students work closely with faculty who guide them in their studies, helping students to prepare for a lifetime of accomplishment, leadership, and learning...

Our Evidence of Success

• Alumni and parents of current and former students remain fiercely devoted to Hillsdale. Many are actively involved in the recruitment of new students through interviewing, letter writing, phoning, or participating in college fairs in their communities.

• According to recent surveys, 97 percent of graduated students are employed, enrolled in graduate or professional schools, or obtaining advanced certification within six months of graduation. The college is proud that its graduates are honorable, conscientious citizens who appreciate freedom and live productive lives.