Franklin & Marshall College

Franklin & Marshall College offers students a hands-on education that emphasizes close relationships with faculty. With a 230-year history of academic excellence, the College unleashes the potential in students to help them achieve beyond what they themselves thought possible. Students flourish in a supportive community that treats them as an individual, and their successes continue long after F&M. The College is a national leader in launching students and alumni to opportunities where they make a difference in the community and the world.

F&M's unique College Houses are the first step on a journey where students find special places to belong. These are not the run-of-the-mill dormitories. In these lively hubs of intellectual and social activity, faculty dons and deans partner with students to create rich learning communities.

F&M has built a national reputation for launching students to success beyond college. More than 90% of graduating seniors reported they were working, pursuing post-graduate education full time, or involved in a fellowship or volunteer activity within 10 months of graduating.

There is a heartbeat of F&M. You can feel it pulsing through the conversations in the classroom. You can hear it pounding in Mayser Gym when the Diplomats defend the home court. And you can sense it swelling with pride at Commencement. Before long, every member of our community becomes a part of that heartbeat.

At F&M, the cornerstone of the educational experience we offer is students working side-by-side with faculty who want to help them test ideas, not just talk or read about them. These are not experiences students have to wait until graduate school to pursue. It's a core part of what we do.More than 50 percent of F&M seniors participate in an independent study or self-designed major, far more than students at other leading national liberal arts colleges. Our students develop intellectual skills and have real-life experiences that serve them well beyond graduation.

Students who learn to confront the complex issues of today's world become the leaders who solve everyday problems in whatever path they choose in life. The Franklin & Marshall curriculum provides a framework for our students’ intellectual development over their four years at F&M, and helps them become the creative, responsible and ambitious participants in learning who will be exceptionally prepared to live and work beyond their years in college.

At Franklin & Marshall College, we believe that undergraduate research, with careful mentoring of a faculty supervisor, can be one of a student's most meaningful and significant experiences at F&M, and it shouldn't be a "rare" experience for just a few hand-picked students.

At Franklin & Marshall College, we believe that college isn’t a four-year break from the real world—it’s the beginning of a lifelong, life-changing engagement with the world. We believe that college is an invitation to do more, know more, discover more—starting now.

Your source of all things Franklin & Marshall: enrollment, demographics, fields of study, our home city of Lancaster and so much more. F&M offers 59 fields of study spanning the liberal arts continuum to satisfy your curious mind and provide a solid foundation for life after college.We are committed to making a Franklin & Marshall education affordable for all deserving students. In fact, more than half of our students receive some form of need-based aid.Think of the college search and application process as an adventure. There will be amazing discoveries, a-ha moments and the occasional detour, but at the end of the journey, your perfect college fit awaits.

There is a strong global presence at F&M. With 15.6% of our students coming from countries outside of the United States, we value the perspectives of students from different cultures.They enrich our campus community. F&M is a welcoming place for transfer students. We offer orientation programming for incoming transfer students to ensure a smooth transition. We hope you'll make F&M your new college home.

With a distinctive approach to college housing, more than 140 active student clubs and organizations, dozens of fitness classes, club and intramural sports teams, its own art museum, and abundant opportunities to engage in volunteer service, Franklin & Marshall provides students with a vibrant campus life experience to complement their academic pursuits.

Activity in student groups, the arts, civic engagement, and athletics and recreation all enhance the culture of teaching and learning at F&M by allowing students to form new friendships, create meaningful and memorable community experiences, discover important life lessons outside of the classroom, and make the most of their years at F&M.

As Benjamin Franklin, one of our College's founders, put it so well: "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember.Involve me and I learn." We invite you to get involved, to open new horizons of learning and service. The classroom might provide you with intellectual grounding, but the 115 or so clubs and organizations at F&M offer opportunities for fun and independent exploration of favorite topics.

F&M's College Houses are more than merely places to hang out, sleep and study. They are places to acquire and hone leadership and collaboration skills. And to help fuel all of that activity, Campus Dining provides an innovative and appealing dining services program. From late-night rides around Lancaster to reserving a meeting space, to finding out if the nearest washers and dryers are available, F&M's many Campus Services provide information, resources and tools that help students and other members of the community with a broad range of questions and needs. Guided by the standing Campus Sustainability Committee, F&M is embarked on a range of activities to make the College and surrounding community more green, from promoting increased bicycle usage through its bike loan program to the installation and maintenance of a living rooftop.