Southwestern

Engaging Minds, Transforming Lives

About Southwestern

At A Glance

Southwestern is a selective & independent four-year undergraduate national liberal arts college consisting of The Brown College of Arts and Sciences and The Sarofim School of Fine Arts. It was the first institution of higher learning in Texas, chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1840. Southwestern is affiliated with The United Methodist Church.

Southwestern is located in historic Georgetown, Texas, just north of Austin, the state capital. Austin is known for its vibrant culture, live music, theatre, film, and art - an "intellectual capital" and one of the country's best places to live.

Southwestern's 700-acre campus features tree-lined 100-acre central grounds and a lush, green academic mall. Our facilities include two live-performance theaters, spacious sports/ recreational areas, a human performance laboratory, an aquatic animal research laboratory, an observatory and a teaching greenhouse. More than eighty-five percent of Southwestern students live in spacious on-campus apartments or residential halls, which provide wireless internet, cable TV and voice-mail.

Our Community

At Southwestern, we are grounded by our core purpose, to foster a liberal arts community whose values and actions encourage contributions toward the well-being of humanity. Our core values guide us as an institution of higher learning. The 2007-08 student body profile:

  • 1,289 men and women
  • Minority students constitute twenty-three percent of the student body.
  • Of 1,916 applicants for Fall 2007, sixty-seven percent were admitted
  • Of 371 entering first-year students for Fall 2007, fifty percent ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class
  • SAT middle 50 percent: 1130-1320.
  • ACT middle 50 percent: 24-29.
  • Ninety-four percent of students from Texas and six percent from other states and nations.
  • Thirty-seven states and nine nations are represented.

Southwestern has a student/faculty ratio of 10:1, with an average class size of 14 students. Ninety-nine percent of tenured or tenure-track faculty hold doctorate or highest degree in their respective fields. Collaborative research and publication with students is common.

Majors & Opportunities

Students can choose from 27 majors, and participate in pre-professional & certification programs in Medicine, law, education, engineering, theology. Southwestern confers: Bachelors of Arts, Science, Music, and Fine Arts. We offer no graduate degrees or programs. Our $314 million endowment is one of the highest endowments per student in the nation (as of June 30, 2007).

Southwestern's nationally recognized Paideia Program enriches its students' liberal arts educations by integrating knowledge from many disciplines with students' own purpose-driven explorations. Paideia fosters and promotes connections between civic engagement, intercultural and diversity experiences, and hands-on research and creative works through a series of one-credit-hour seminar sessions and through frequent one-on-one meetings with Paideia Professors.

Over fifty percent of Southwestern's students study abroad or participate in an off-campus program, with opportunities including New York Arts, Washington, D.C. politics, and London semesters; summer biology research; department and professional internships, both domestic and abroad; summer programs in Germany, Mexico, England, Jamaica, and Turkey; access to universities around the world through several major international study abroad organizations.

Civic Engagement

More than 60 percent of Southwestern students volunteer on campus or in the community-a rate that is twice the national average. In 2006-07, Southwestern students contributed over 17,000 hours of service to nearly 100 different agencies or programs. For more that 12 years, students have participated in Destination Service, Southwestern's alternative Spring Break, volunteering to build and repair homes, working in national parks, and serving in urban social programs and ministries nationally and abroad.

Organizational Leadership

More than 90 student organizations: scholastic and honorary (Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Chi honor society chapters), government, special interest and departmental. Nationally-chartered Greek organizations include Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Delta Delta, and Zeta Tau Alpha for women; Kappa Alpha, Kappa Sigma, Phi Delta Theta, and Pi Kappa Alpha for men.

Athletics

Member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) with Austin College, Birmingham Southern, Centre, Colorado College, DePauw, Hendrix, Millsaps, Oglethorpe, Rhodes, Trinity (Texas) and Sewanee-University of the South. Student compete in Men's baseball, Men's and women's basketball, Men's and women's soccer, Women's softball, Men's and women's cross country, Men's and women's swimming, Women's volleyball, Men's and women's golf, Men's and women's tennis

Twenty-five intramural sports and 9 club sports, including cheerleading, equestrian, handball, men's and women's lacrosse, rock climbing, SU Dancers and volleyball. Nearly ninety percent of students participate annually in some form of organized physical activity. Southwestern's school colors are Black and Gold. Our mascot is the Pirate.

Thinking Green

Southwestern's commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility has lead to it being the second university in Texas to sign the Talloires Declaration, an initiative that calls on the University to envision programs and practices that make our world more sustainable. Initiatives include a Green/Civic Engagement residence hall, computer based effluent water irrigation systems, an alternative transportation Pirate Bike Program, use of sustainable/recycled products, low/no maintenance building finishes and products, low-volume shower heads, and LEED certification on all new construction projects--just to name a few.

Consortium & Accreditation

We are a member of the Associated Colleges of the South with Birmingham-Southern College, Centenary College, Centre College, Furman University, Hendrix College, Millsaps College, Morehouse College, Rhodes College, Rollins College, Trinity University, the University of the South, and the University of Richmond. Also member of the Annapolis Group, a consortium of the nation's leading liberal arts institutions, and the Council of Independent Colleges. Southwestern is accedited by The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the National Association of Schools of Music, the University Senate of the United Methodist Church, and the Texas Education Agency.