Marlboro College

Mind to Mind

Marlboro College undergraduates create an individualized course of study in collaboration with faculty, while actively engaging with a self-governing community.

Marlboro College is intentionally small, with a student-faculty ratio of 6:1. In addition to discussion-based classes, faculty members interact with students through one-to-one tutorials, Plan advising sessions, service-learning trips, and collaborative projects ranging from scholarly papers to films.
Meet the faculty
Learn more about tutorials

Freedom
and Responsibility

Freedom and Responsibility

Rather than follow a prescribed academic program, Marlboro students pursue a self-designed Plan of Concentration based on their intellectual interests that culminates in a major work of scholarship. Plans often integrate multiple disciplines - from mathematics and philosophy to dance, theater, and physics.
Learn more about the Plan of Concentration
Visit the Virtual Plan Room

Clear Writing
Clear Thinking

Clear Writing

Within their first three semesters, Marlboro students must fulfill the Clear Writing Requirement, which involves submitting a portfolio of clear, concise, and grammatically correct writing samples for review by the faculty. Why does Marlboro have a Clear Writing Requirement? Click through to find out.

Learn more about clear writing
Clear writing supports clear thinking.

Marlboro’s focus on helping students develop their command of the written word speaks to the college’s underlying focus on clear thinking, which is both a product and reflection of clear writing.

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Clear writing is the foundation for Plan.

The culmination of every Marlboro student’s academic pathway is the Plan of Concentration, a self-designed, thesis-level project that includes a substantial written component. Fulfilling the Clear Writing Requirement signifies that students have built a solid writing foundation before embarking on Plan.

Learn more about clear writing
Clear writing is an essential job skill.

In a 2013 survey conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education, employers ranked written and oral communication skills as the most important skills needed by recent college graduates to succeed in the workplace. The Clear Writing Requirement helps ensure that Marlboro students graduate with the ability to process complex information and clearly communicate their ideas to others.
Learn more about clear writing

▷ This is Marlboro College

What makes Marlboro matchless?

"To me, education is a conversation," says politics professor Lynette Rummel. Hear from faculty and students why Marlboro is their own special kind of academic community.

Experience Marlboro

▷ Graduate & Professional Studies

Preparing for professions at Marlboro.

Marlboro offers master's degrees, certificates, and continuing education courses in management, education, and technology. Take your next big step in a Marlboro College Graduate and Professional Studies program.

Graduate and Professional Studies

▷ Faculty & Students

Marlboro means learning together.

"The great thing about Marlboro faculty members is that they're really willing to meet you wherever you are," says student Raina Workman. Find out how collaboration with faculty can bring out the best work in students.

Marlboro Faculty

▷ The Plan of Concentration

Following your passion at Marlboro.

The Plan of Concentration is..."defining the questions that are important to you, figuring out how to answer those questions," says writing and literature professor T. Wilson. Discover what Plan could mean to you.

The Plan of Concentration

Marlboro Traditions

Marlboro Traditions

While most aspects of community life at Marlboro College are fluid, some have become an established part of campus culture. Click through to learn about some of Marlboro’s traditions, most of which are anything but traditional.
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Midnight Breakfast

The semi-annual Midnight Breakfast offers up some much-needed sustenance and socializing for students the night before clear writing portfolios are due.
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Apple Days

Every fall, the Marlboro community celebrates the apple harvest with seasonally inspired festivities that range from cider pressing and donut-eating contests to bobbing for apples and leaf jumping.
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Wendell-Judd Cup

Named for legendary Marlboro professor Dick Judd and longtime trustee Ted Wendell, this annual cross-country ski race follows a six-mile loop to South Pond and back. Marlboro ski enthusiasts have been competing for the coveted cup since 1965.
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Broomball Tournament

Pitting teams of students, faculty, and staff against each other, the annual broomball tournament is a spirited show of camaraderie and clumsy athleticism on ice.
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Work Day

Many of Marlboro’s buildings were built or renovated by community members. Work Day extends the college’s DIY spirit, bringing together students, faculty, and staff for construction and maintenance projects around campus.
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President’s Fall Ball

This semi-formal dance takes place in a transformed Marlboro dining hall. The dress code is “creative black tie,” and the music is live and loud.

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Trails Day

One Saturday every November, Marlboro community members and town neighbors fan out along the college’s cross-country ski trails to ready them for ski season. Activities include cutting fallen trees, clearing brush, and eating hot chili in the great outdoors.
Learn more

Graduate and
Professional Studies

Marlboro College offers graduate degrees, certificate programs, and continuing education classes in management, education, and technology.

Graduate and Professional Studies

Marlboro College offers master’s degrees, certificates, and continuing education courses in management, education, and technology. Designed for working adults, these programs include both fully online and blended study with intentionally small, in-person classes at Marlboro’s scenic rural campus.
Learn more about Graduate and Professional Studies

Master of Business Administration

Master of Science in Management

Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Master of Arts in Teaching for Social Justice (K-12)

Master of Arts in Teaching with Technology

Certificate Programs

Professional Development

Alumni Impact

Tenley Archer '03

Outsmarting Brain Cancer

“I have found that my experience at Marlboro scales to other projects,” says Tenley, who is doing postdoctoral research at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her work focuses on unraveling how mutated genes contribute to the leading malignant brain cancer in children.

Read Tenley’s story
Brandon Willits ’12

Sharing the human experience of war

The year after he graduated from Marlboro with a Plan in literature and writing, Brandon founded Words After War, a literary organization with a mission to bring veterans and civilians together to examine war and conflict.

Read Brandon’s story
Jamie Polzin MA-TESOL ’15

Teaching English to refugees

Working with Community Refugee and Immigrant Services in Columbus, Ohio, Jaime teaches English to refugees from Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Bhutan. She also teaches Italian classes and tutors Somali women in academic writing.

Read Jaimie’s Story
Randy George ’93

What working families knead

The co-owner of Red Hen Baking Company since 1999, Randy gained national attention for his employment practices when he joined other “Champions of Change” at a White House press conference about making strides for working families.

Read Randy’s story
Christine Hazzard MSM-MDO ’13

Helping seniors live at home

Working with the Brattleboro Housing Authority, Christine supports elders at home by connecting them to resources in their community. “I am amazed at how many aspects of my graduate school experience I have been able to apply to my work,” she says.

Read Christine’s Story
Don Simms MBA ’11

Empowering Malawian girls through education

A building contractor in western Massachusetts, Don (pictured right) is one of the founding board members of Daughters of Toleza, supporting expanded life choices for girls in Malawi. The project grew out of a class trip he took while in the MBA program.

Read Don’s Story

Life at Marlboro

Life on the Hill

Campus life at Marlboro College correlates directly with student interests. Each incoming class brings with it new ideas and initiative for extracurricular groups and activities, which in past years have ranged from Ultimate Frisbee and poetry slams to contra dancing and the Typewriter Social.
MORE ABOUT STUDENT LIFE

Community Governance

Marlboro students, faculty, and staff gather every four weeks for Town Meeting – a community forum modeled after traditional New England town meetings – where college-wide issues are discussed and brought to vote. Community members also serve on committees for everything from curriculum development and faculty hiring to public art and food services.
Learn more about community governance at Marlboro

Admissions

Graduate Admissions

News & Events

Pre-College Summer Programs