What’s in a College Mission Statement?

Choosing the type of college that matches your educational priorities and goals is just one step in the process of finding schools that are a good match for you. One of the best places to start is to look at a school’s mission statement or letter from the President. The language, tone and content of a mission statement can tell you about university priorities, values and strengths.

Google one of the colleges on your list and “mission statement” or “president’s message,” and click only on the link that has the college name in it. Read it and see how it makes you feel. Is this a place that values many of the things you care about? Below are excerpts from the mission statements of UNC, Santa Clara University, Macalester and Babson.

“The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university, serves North Carolina, the United States, and the world through teaching, research, and public service. We embrace an unwavering commitment to excellence as one of the world’s great research universities. Our mission is to serve as a center for research, scholarship, and creativity and to teach a diverse community of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students to become the next generation of leaders. . . With lux, libertas—light and liberty—as its founding principles, the University has charted a bold course of leading change to improve society and to help solve the world’s greatest problems.”

Santa Clara University will educate citizens and leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion and cultivate knowledge and faith to build a more humane, just, and sustainable world. The university seeks to help students to develop an understanding and appreciation for the complex cultural and physical worlds in which they live and to realize their highest potential of intellectual, physical and human development.”

Macalester is committed to being a preeminent liberal arts college with an educational program known for its high standards for scholarship and its special emphasis on internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society. At Macalester College we believe that education is a fundamentally transforming experience. As a community of learners, the possibilities for this personal, social, and intellectual transformation extend to us all. . . We believe that the benefit of the educational experience at Macalester is the development of individuals who make informed judgments and interpretations of the broader world around them and choose actions or beliefs for which they are willing to be held accountable. . . The education a student begins at Macalester provides the basis for continuous transformation through learning and service.”

Babson College “We want to be the preeminent institution in the world for Entrepreneurial Thought and Action®—and known for it. We want to expand the notion of entrepreneurship to embrace and celebrate entrepreneurs of all kinds. We want to put the power of entrepreneurship as a force for economic and social value creation in as many hands in the world as we can.”

If you are interested in the University of California, click here.