<p>poughkeepsie,</p>
<p>I’m the mom of a graduating 4th year, so though I haven’t had the actual student experience, I’ll try to help answer your questions best I can.</p>
<p>First of all, just because it’s called New College doesn’t mean it’s a new school. They just celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. So far, the no grades has had no negative impact on my D or her friends. They are doing just fine getting into all the other elite post grad programs as are other top students from good schools. I think the way the transcripts get sent out, there is a bit of an explanation about the system there and passing all your contracts should be considered equivalent to an 4.0 or something close to it. You also will graduate having written a very impressive thesis (pretty much equivalent to a Masters level thesis). This is something you can hand to prospective employers or post grad programs and they will see that you have good writing and research skills.</p>
<p>While my D didn’t take environmental studies courses, I believe the program should be good. Professors give you quite a bit of latitude to pursue your own interests and while I wish I could say that the NCF has a good career center…it is very weak. But, most NCF students are very proactive (and successful) in getting prestigious internships, etc. Most of the professors are helpful if a student shows interest in getting one. I know that many NCF students and professors are very active in support of environmental issues and organizations.</p>
<p>Besides the factors that you listed that makes NCF academically prestigious, I honestly think it’s the intellectual environment there. Students must be very self-motivated to succeed, the ones that stay and do well are there because they enjoy learning.</p>