Why Sewanee

Our Domain, Our Environment

Within a few minutes walk from central campus, you’ll find 13,000 acres of opportunities for research, recreation, demonstration, and contemplation on the Domain.

See that old-growth forest; hear that trickling stream; feel the chill of that dark cave. Lace up your hiking boots and join the faculty and staff of Sewanee’s Integrated Program in the Environment to make the Domain a national center of environmental research, writing, artistic impressions, and philosophical musings.

Be a part of wildlife management sampling methods, get in on sustainable agriculture on the University Farm, or visit cutting-edge wastewater treatment projects while you achieve professional certification and gain experience applying conservation management tools. You’ll find demonstration opportunities all over the Domain.

We take recreation seriously at Sewanee, and the Domain is seriously fun. Hike, bike, run, swim, climb, cave, camp, and much more. Get started by stopping by the Sewanee Outing Program.

If you’re like Professor David Haskell (author of Pulitzer Prize finalist The Forest Unseen), you'll see more in the forest than science. The Domain offers an unparalleled chance for you to explore the possibility of transforming our communities and relationships with the natural world.

Career Prep

Whether your immediate postgraduate goal is graduate school or a career, the Office of Career and Leadership Development is here to give you a hand from the very beginning.

Starting your freshman year, the Career and Leadership Development staff will encourage you to look into summer internships. Then, they’ll tell you all about the endowed internship funds that provide over $600,000 to Sewanee students pursuing otherwise-unpaid internships and research opportunities each summer.

Career and Leadership Development also works with our students after graduation to see how they’re faring in the “real world.” Here’s what they found out about the Class of 2017 seven months after graduation: 

• 96% of graduates were employed, in graduate/professional school, or pursuing internships or fellowships
• 67% were employed
• 15% were in graduate or professional school

Our dynamic Outcomes Infographic can show you even more about the fields that Sewanee’s academic programs prepare you for. If you really like a lot of information, check out where graduates have landed since 2010. It's sorted by academic major. 

The Sewanee Pledge  

Sewanee has taken a leading role in making a first-rate education more accessible, making scheduling and advising more personal, and making honor central to life on the Domain. Now, we have deepened our commitment by adding new guarantees for new students.

• We pledge—to help Sewanee graduates secure good jobs and spots at top graduate programs by providing funding for a summer internship or research fellowship.
• We pledge—to help Sewanee graduates find their place in an increasingly interconnected world by providing you with access to a semester-long study-abroad program at no additional tuition cost.
• We pledge—that you will graduate in four consecutive years (with one major). If you do not, Sewanee will provide up to one additional year of study tuition-free.

Of course, you will have to do your part, too. But if you meet Sewanee’s academic and social expectations, we pledge—we guarantee—to make these opportunities available to you.

Business+Liberal Arts

• The Business Minor: Sewanee's approach to business curriculum complements a student’s education in the liberal arts. Students in any major may choose to minor in business. To meet the requirements of the business minor, students complete four core courses—in economics, finance, accounting, and ethics—and choose two electives from one of three tracks: managerial, finance, or international business.
• Learning From Leaders: The Babson Center for Global Commerce, a key component of the Wm. Polk Carey Pre-Business Program, supports Sewanee students aiming for careers in business with skills training, co-curricular and experiential learning opportunities, internships, the Beecken Bridge Scholarships which support Sewanee students for summer programs at some of the nation’s leading business schools, and a varied program of lectures and discussions which brings leaders in global commerce to the University campus.
• Business Honors: Students seeking a more intensive pre-business experience may apply to become Carey Fellows, Sewanee's business honors program. Carey Fellows complete requirements beyond the normal coursework—such as a semester-long, paid internship—that prepare them for leadership positions in business, consulting, and finance.

Civic Engagement

Civic engagement brings people together to participate in collaborative, transformational learning that is life enriching and socially beneficial. Together, we cultivate knowledge, resources, and relationships to advance the well-being of communities atop the South Cumberland Plateau and beyond.

• Academics: Civic engagement is integrated across the curriculum through the Community Engaged Learning program (CEL), and the Certificate in Civic and Global Leadership.
• Internships: Civic engagement interns invest in communities while deepening their leadership and professional skills.
• Outreach Trips: These experiential learning and service opportunities send groups of students and staff to destinations across the globe during Fall, Winter, and Spring Breaks.
• Intentional Community: The “CoHo” hosts events and conversations that promote a seamless community among residents of the surrounding area, University students, staff, and faculty.

Study Away

At Sewanee, we pledge to offer each student an opportunity to study abroad. And at Sewanee, we keep our promises. Travel, learn, and cultivate your knowledge by communicating across cultures and acquiring a sensitivity to other ways of life. Apply social scientific methodologies to various frameworks. Learn to formulate solutions to global problems and apply those theories at home in a local context. Oh, don't forget to send pictures!