For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admissions representatives at colleges all over the country (the subject line of the e-mail is “Three quick questions”), and then I hope to hear back from them. When I do, I post them on Apply with Sanity. It’s that simple.

The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique but that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.

This response is from Skylar Kuhn, Admissions Counselor at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to Washington College?

All of our students take a First Year Seminar course at WC where they learn research, writing, and presentation skills. There is not one set course for every student, but each student gets to choose from about 20-25 different seminars based on their interests. One of our First Year Seminar courses offered last year by Dr. Emerald Stacy, called “Genius: Deconstructing the Idea of Intelligence,” was designated as one of the 17 most innovative courses of the 2019-2020 school year by Medium.com (you can read more about it here). This course investigated the social structures that influence who is considered to be a genius, and the students loved it! This is just one example of the unique courses offered at WC. As a liberal arts institution, our students really get to craft their own curriculums.

Naturally every college wants to recruit the perfect student--high grades, high test scores, involved in their community, leadership...everything. But what kinds of imperfect students tend to flourish at Washington?

We don’t look for perfect students, but for well-rounded students. We have a holistic approach when reading applications and take many different factors into account. When we look at transcripts, we look for strong transcripts that show that students have challenged themselves throughout high school. Students that are looking for opportunity, direct access to faculty members, and the ability to write their own college experience flourish at WC.

When people come to visit Chestertown, what's a place off campus that you recommend they check out while they're there?

You have to check out the Chester River while you’re here—it’s beautiful! Part of our campus actually sits on it. I recommend grabbing a coffee from one of the local cafés downtown and taking a walk along the Chester. Bonus points if you’re here on the first Friday evening of the month because downtown Chestertown celebrates First Friday, where our shops, art galleries, and community organizations have extended hours, free food, and entertainment.

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Photo by Angela Elisabeth.