<p>Are any colleges known for producing skilled and eloquent writers and speakers, regardless of a student’s major? Is there any kind of a list/book I could consult to find these schools?</p>
<p>Harvard.</p>
<p>But then again, they only accept skilled and eloquent speakers.</p>
<p>vassar, oberlin, wesleyan</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence is a college known for its emphasis on writing in all subjects.</p>
<p>hamilton college comes to mind…</p>
<p>With all the intellectual debate and mind-expanding drugs I would personally check out Reed :)</p>
<p>Swarthmore College rolls off the tip of my tongue without any thought.</p>
<p>It seems that Harvard writers are having a little trouble being original these days :-P</p>
<p>^^haha…ouch!</p>
<p>Kenyon & Bard are both strong. Iowa has a great grad school for writing.</p>
<p>Pretty much every top-tier LAC</p>
<p>People have alluded to a remarkable trend; the schools which accept only the best students tend to overwhelmingly produce the best writers and speakers. Amazing, isn’t it? ;)</p>
<p>I would look for generally intellectual schools, generally outside of those that concentrate solely on mathmatics, science, and engineering. St Johns College, Reed, Chicago, Princeton, Swarthmore, Rice, and other places known for being intellectually rigorous.</p>
<p>Unless of course you’re asking about creative writing programs. Perhaps you are talking about analytic writing programs (which I haven’t heard much about, think are far more rare, and imagine are integrated to English or journalism departments, if they exist)? If not, then it sounds like you’re just looking for an intellectual school, so people advising you to check out certain schools are doing so primarily because of their strong creative writing programs.</p>
<p>Remember, if you’re serious, almost any school will have enough resources to help you. Don’t rule out those that aren’t “the best” and are right behind them. For instance, Berkeley’s English department (which is quite strong) produces many capable English users yearly. Or are you not that interested in English?</p>
<p>I hear Williams…</p>
<p>But I agree. It really depends on the individual. The main reason a college will produce good writers is because that college is more focused on writing and literature, and has a more strenous admissions process for such students.</p>
<p>There’s a simple answer. The colleges that produce the best writers have these characteristics:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Tough, tough grading. If you don’t write well, you get Cs until you do.</p></li>
<li><p>Required courses and strong emphasis on writing. Places like St. John’s (MD and NM) and the University of Chicago place heavy emphasis on writing in their apps for a reason. They also have rigorous core requirements.</p></li>
<li><p>Other students who are very good writers. If you’re unable to simply outclass the competition, you will have to get better.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Colleges with the best English programs in the nation (Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, Duke) have all produced a good number of famous authors, fiction and non-fiction.</p>
<p>I’m not looking for specific writing programs like creative or technical writing, but rather a strong focus on writing throughout the entire curriculum. I am planning to major in English (literature, not creative writing). Hamilton College is probably my first choice right now, so if anyone has personal experience with it and can elaborate on Hamilton’s English program that would be great. Thanks for all the info.</p>
<p>Cornell, Pton, Harvard, and Duke might be the best in quality of their English major, but I think it takes the atmosphere of the school and organizations outside of typical coursework to become a good writer too.</p>
<p>I would think a place like Berkeley or Columbia would have been the coolest/best for that in the 60s and 70s (duh).</p>
<p>Some current well-known writers and their respective places of higher education…</p>
<p>David Foster Wallace - Amherst
Johnathan Franzen - Swarthmore
Benjamin Kunkel - Harvard (via Deep Springs!)
Johnathan Safran Foer - Princeton
Nicole Krauss - Stanford
John Updike - Harvard</p>
<p>Hm.</p>
<p>James Michener- Swarthmore
Robert Ludlum- Wesleyan University</p>
<p>There are a lot of them. I really think you’ll do well going to a LAC like Hamilton for writing. It’s a good school.</p>
<p>Carolyn Forche (one of my fav poets) - Bowling Green State University :)</p>
<p>Optimus Prime–While a number of well-known writers attended highly-ranked schools, many more did not. For example, here are the authors who received the most votes on the recent NY Times list of best works of American literature in the past 25 years and the schools they attended:</p>
<p>Toni Morrison–Howard
Don DeLillo–Fordham
Philip Roth–Bucknell
Cormac McCarthy–University of Tennessee (I don’t know if he graduated)
John Updike–Harvard</p>
<p>To the original poster, although I don’t have specifics to give you, I have heard excellent things about the academics at Hamilton and I know that the entire curriculum emphasizes writing.</p>