A General Guide to Goucher College in Towson, Maryland

Goucher College is a small liberal arts campus located in Towson, MD. Towson is about 10 miles north of downtown Baltimore, but its proximity to a major city does not come at the expense of a "cozy suburbia" feel. Towson has lots of shopping, and Goucher is a ten minute walk to a large four story shopping mall. Bars, restaurants, and Barnes and Noble are also very close by.

Goucher's strongest departments include the 'harder' sciences: chemistry, physics, and biology. Students in these disciplines have to work VERY hard to achieve even mediocre grades, and labs frequently run overtime. The difficulty is somewhat offset by a friendly and accessible faculty. The student to teacher ratio is phenomenal, and there are no classes in which the professor is absent. TA's exist, but are merely supportive and/or complimentary to the educators.

Goucher requires all students to partake in a study abroad program. These programs can occur over as little as three weeks to as much as one or two semesters. Money (stipends) is available for all students. Locations are varied and the department is open-minded about new possibilities for going abroad. Many mathematicians travel to Greece. Some history students find the three week intensive study-abroad program in Prague to be perfect for satisfying the requirement in a short and convenient amount of time. Professors sometimes travel with the students in groups. Other times, students travel alone. The foreign language requirement can be partially completed in a short three week study-abroad program.

Goucher requires all students to demonstrate general writing competency. This requirement is fulfilled by taking two or three English classes, in addition to a review of several essays in students' portfolio. Several faculty members in the English department need to "Ok" students' selected essays, and all students must pass the English classes with a B or higher.

Additionally, Goucher requires writing competency in the major. This requirement is satisfied in distinct ways according to the major. In a philosophy major, there is no designated class the completion of which determines the students' writing competency. Rather, during the senior year, the students' selected papers are reviewed by several faculty members and judged more or less on an individual basis.

Many (if not most) classes at Goucher are composed of 10-20 students. Some freshman classes, such as Foreign Language classes, are composed of more than that, but such instances are the exception rather than the rule. The ideal student to faculty ratio makes academic help very accessible. There are also writing and math tutors available during most of the day.

With regard to Goucher's social life, some might consider it to be lacking. There are no frats and no fraternities. Students do party on the weekends, but there is little in the way of planned college parties. Partying is restricted to dorm rooms and a couple of off-campus locations. Parties are generally small (5-30 people at any given time) but sometimes exceed that number considerably.

Most of the security guards are very nice and mostly lenient: that is to say, so long as a student does not partake in manifestly illicit behavior, chances are that, at worst, most "crimes" will involve little more than a "slap on the wrist".

Goucher is politically active. This might also be restated in the following way: "Goucher is politically liberal". There are few, if any, serious conservatives on the campus. Most of the professors are liberal as well. I only mention this because if you are considering Goucher and are a staunch conservative republican, realize you may have little in the way of political sympathy.