Educational Plan

We believe that exposure to the great traditions of intellectual, artistic, and scientific thought serves as an essential foundation for mature, clear reasoning. We care deeply about what is taught and how it is taught. We believe that true learning best occurs in an academic environment that promotes dialogue between teacher and student and in which each student’s talents, insights, interests, and needs help to determine the focus of her or his own work.

Students are thus encouraged to use their own interests as the key to engaged involvement with the subject matter. As a result, they work ambitiously, take greater responsibility for their endeavors, care deeply about their studies, and are better able to remember and apply what they have learned.

We work with each student to develop an educational plan and approach best suited to her or his needs. There are a number of innovative practices instituted by Sarah Lawrence that compose the educational process:

A seminar-conference system through which students learn in small, highly interactive classes and in private tutorials.

A system of donning in which each student works with a faculty adviser to design his or her own program of study and through which the faculty member is available for ongoing academic and personal guidance.

An academic format in which students take three courses each semester in order to explore each subject in depth.

The recognition of the creative and performing arts as an integral part of the liberal arts curriculum. Sarah Lawrence was among the first colleges in the United States to include the arts within its curriculum, underscoring our belief that the development of the creative faculties plays a central role in the growth of the individual.

An emphasis on program planning, encouraging students to choose the courses of study most meaningful to them. The College recognizes the importance of tailoring each student’s program to his or her specific needs and interests. The faculty don and the student work together to plan a program that will be most beneficial.

The use of written evaluations by faculty of each student’s work, in addition to a traditional grading system. These end-of-semester evaluations are the culmination of an ongoing dialogue between teacher and student in class and conference and, therefore, stress individual strengths and weaknesses and give students a more complete sense of their progress. The College maintains a record of student grades for external purposes.

A system of teaching in which there are no graduate assistants, instructors, or adjunct lecturers. There is no hierarchy of faculty ranking at Sarah Lawrence. Each teacher is fully a teacher, available to first-year students and sophomores as well as to juniors and seniors.

The commitment, above all, to the role of teacher as one who seeks to help students realize their fullest possible potential.

Sarah Lawrence offers a full complement of courses in the humanities, history and the social sciences, creative and performance arts, and natural sciences and mathematics. Please see the Curriculum for listings of disciplines in each area of study. Courses are taught in two major formats: the Seminar/Conference and Component structures.