Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated by covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Sherman, Texas, about 60 miles (about 100 km) north of Dallas. Austin College was profiled in all three editions of renowned education writer and editor Loren Pope’s book Colleges That Change Lives, which distinguishes schools having two essential elements: “A familial sense of communal enterprise that gets students heavily involved in cooperative rather than competitive learning, and a faculty of scholars devoted to helping young people develop their powers, mentors who often become their valued friends.
The undergraduate student body of Austin College is about 1,300. Students are required to live on campus for the first three years of their education in order to foster a close-knit and community oriented campus lifestyle. Austin College actively promotes study abroad programs; 70% of graduates have at least one international study experience during college, and about 82% of students are involved in research. The college cultivates close interaction between students and professors via a 12:1 student to faculty ratio and an average class size of fewer than 25 students.The college has no teaching assistants, so regular faculty teach all levels of coursework.
Austin College offers about 35 majors and pre-professional programs for study, and students can also create a specialized major to match their academic interests. The college is known for its nationally recognized five-year Master of Arts in Teaching program, its pre-medical, international studies, and pre-law programs, which draw many students to the campus.
Austin College participates in NCAA Division III athletics in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC).