Southwestern University

Georgetown, Texas

The Texas countryside—endless miles of cows, tractors, and locals shootin’ the breeze on the porches of general stores—is probably not what comes to mind when picturing college.  That’s until you reach Southwestern University in Georgetown, a beacon of academia among the cornfields. 

Georgetown isn’t exactly a metropolis.  (A double feature at the new movie theater is about as wild as it gets beyond the college’s campus.)  But there’s so much life and energy at Southwestern that even city slickers, like our Seattle-bred tour guide, will trade in the mosaic of urban life for four undergraduate years at a small liberal arts school that truly changes lives.

It’s a good thing that, back in high school, our Southwestern tour guide picked up a copy of Loren Pope’s Colleges that Change Lives or else she wouldn’t have discovered this bucolic locale, home to the oldest university in the state of Texas.  Cruising around the campus with our guide (displaying her school spirit with a “Southwestern Pirates” t-shirt), we found some of the 1,300 undergraduates discovering for themselves what Southwestern’s motto means:  “Not who, but what.”  The “what” for our ambassador is a major in communications and minors in theater and math.  Quite a combination!  But that’s pretty normal at Southwestern, where the focus on liberal arts imbues all subjects.  Students on the Georgetown, Texas campus are adamant about soaking up elements of the school’s four pillars of study—science, humanities, values analysis, and art.

These pillars intersect in each program of study.  Even aspiring thespians don’t have to sacrifice other interests for the love of their craft.  Like our tour guide, Southwestern students may study under the tutelage of the professors at the all undergraduate Sarofim School of the Arts, without the limitations of a strict arts-only curriculum.  Cellists can ponder East Asian civilizations while preparing for a symphonic future.  Future Broadway stars conduct chemistry experiments while memorizing Shakespeare.  And budding Van Goghs ponder political science when they’re not filling canvases with color.  We visited Southwestern’s main theater in a state of transition—students had recently performed “The Trial of Goldilocks” for kids in the community and a state-of-the-art proscenium stage is in the midst of construction.  But even though the facilities are evolving, Southwestern keeps its students in intimate contact with the craft with courses like Theater in New York that culminate in a trip to the Big Apple to experience as many Broadway productions as possible.

Students like our trusty tour guide don’t pick Southwestern for epic, ESPN-televised football games.  That’s not important to them.  They, and their professors, love supporting the men’s lacrosse team, a scrappy group of former high school football players whose athleticism surprises their opponents during each match-up on the field.  It’s a good bet that some of those lacrosse players are proud to call Ruter men’s dorm home—this residence hall is fiercely defended by current students and alumni alike who block the University’s repeated attempts to tear it down.  That’s because Southwestern students love their school and the elements that make it unique.  Like the Cove, the campus’ hang-out spot that’s equipped with a fire place, pool tables, and Xboxes.  Or the chapel at which any student may take organ lessons.  And the democratic way that the Pirates make decisions, like the annual vote by students to determine visiting hours at single-sex dorms.

Upon asking our city-bred tour guide how she copes with living in a one-stoplight town, she brushes it off as a minor hurdle to clear in exchange for the Pirate life at Southwestern.  We could see what she meant.  Although we did not find Captain Jack Sparrow walking the plank or a chest of buried treasure, we made sure to snap lots of pictures of the campus to remind ourselves and our students that there’s more to the Texas countryside than agriculture and pick up trucks.

See if the Pirate life's for you at www.southwestern.edu

Comments

[Scott Sandoval]

Well done. I think this is a fair description of Southwestern. Loved the pictures. As a member of the Southwestern Admission staff, the only thing I would add is that we are just a short drive to Austin.

[John Smith]

Come on, Georgetown isn't as small as it comes off in this article. Sure it used to be small, but it must have about 40,000 people by now.