Green Mountain College

Date: Dec 06 2011
Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
Green Mountain is a VERY specific school for VERY focused people. If you have motivation and really want to make a difference, then GMC is definitely a good place for you. No where else will you find faculty, staff and peers that support you and your goals more. Want to design your own independent study course? No prob. Want to study abroad? Go for it. Students who can take care of themselves and have drive do really well at GMC—particularly those who care about the environment and social justice.

I am a senior studying Conservation Biology. I am not from Vermont (few students here are)—I left my Indiana hometown looking for adventure. GMC definitely provided that. I have been immersed in the unique culture of Vermont. I now ski, whitewater kayak, go to farmers markets regularly and knit my own clothes—all things I didn't do before moving here. GMC supports alternative lifestyles very well, mostly because the students come from all over the country (and many from other countries).

That being said, GMC is small and located in a tiny rural town. If you are the kind of person who needs to be able to "go out" and do something on Friday night, you may not be happy here. If you would rather drink microbrews and play banjo music with your friends instead, this is a great place for you. The town of Poultney is adorable, offering diners, a coffeshop/cafe, a pizza place, bookstore, churches, local/natural food market and other little businesses, but is not large. Free transportation to the larger city 30 minutes away is readily available, though. I have never been bored in my years at GMC.

There is, however, a big gap between the type of students GMC wants to attract and who it actually attracts. The staff and administration want to attract progressive-thinking, liberal-minded folks who really want to help the environment and promote social justice. Often, though, it attracts a lot of trustafarians and crunchies who prefer to smoke a lot of pot and wear hemp clothes (or maybe no clothes at all—nudity is legal in Vermont). Because of the small size of the school, they seem very prominent. Often they flunk out or leave. However, I have met some of the most focused, interesting and motivated people of my life here.

Students should know that GMC is a mandatory-residential college. Unless you are over 23 or married, you must live on campus in traditional dorm-style housing and be a part of the campus meal plan (with few exceptions). This causes a lot of anguish in students. We do not have Greek Life, but do offer "community" dorms where like-minded students can live together based on interests, academics, lifestyle, etc. The food here is much, much better than at many of the colleges I have visited. The company that runs the dining hall tries hard to use local and all-natural products as much as they feasibly can. That being said, I recommend cooking for yourself sometimes :)

The professors are 99 percent amazing. They don't teach at GMC because its glamorous or high-paying (cause its not)—they teach here because they actually want to teach at a small liberal arts school. However, I've had a few adjunct (non-fulltime) professors who really drop the ball. They are not the norm. I have never had a class taught by a disinterested foreign grad student, like you often get at larger universities. You get out of a class here what you put in—work hard and you learn a lot. Slack off and maybe you can get the professor to pity you and pass you. Maybe.

So in short, if you like outdoor recreation, skiing/snowboarding, folk music, picturesque New England, farming, environmental advocacy, social justice, health food, long skirts, carhartt overalls and lots and lots of snow, GMC might be a good fit for you.

If you like shopping frequently, urban environments and fast food, or dislike farm animals, are homophobic or racist, or prefer warm climates, GMC is not a good choice for you.

Hope to see some awesome new folks around here.