Letter from King's College student

My name is Stephen Wesley, and I’m a sophomore at The King’s College, originally from Orlando, Florida. Two years ago I spent a lot of my time in thought and prayer about which college to attend before I finally chose King’s. Here were my top ten reasons:

1. The Education. I remember my AP English teacher telling my senior class how the most important aspect of her liberal arts education was that she learned how to think critically, rather than simply learning a list of facts. King’s degrees are focused around a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics core, part of a degree that Oxford created in the 1920s as a modern version of the Great Books. Few universities and colleges are able to offer this degree, but the list of successful PP&E degree-holders was enough to convince me: US Presidents, UN under-secretary generals, members of Parliament, governors, WSJ columnists, poets, Nobel prize winners, and so on.

2. The City. There’s very little not to love about New York City. It’s probably the greatest or at least most glorified city in America—arguably in the world.

3. The Christian Focus. Christianity pervades both coursework and student life. No truly educated person could look into history, literature, philosophy, economic theory, ethics, or a host of other disciplines, and neglect the influence of the Bible. And similarly, no Christian who bases his or her life on Biblical truth should look for a college that doesn’t encourage students to plant themselves in a home church. King’s encourages each student to go out in the City, find a home church out of the many great ones here, and take active participation in it, rather than offering insulated, mandatory chapels.

4. The Vision. Certain other colleges and universities are distinctively Christian, yet rigorous and demanding. None others, however, have planted themselves in the middle of Manhattan (“the belly of the beast,” as my mother says) for the purpose of preparing students for lives of influence in the world’s strategic institutions.

5. The Opportunities. I came to King’s with a vague desire to do something with writing. I couldn’t quite pin down my exact interest, but by the end of my first year I’d befriended a New York Times-contracted writer and held an internship reading manuscripts for a literary agency in Brooklyn. And I’m not alone in this. My big sister went through local state college without a single internship; my friend John Wagner graduated King’s with five under his belt, including NBC and ABC.

6. The Class Sizes. Harvard’s average class size is 37. King’s class sizes probably average twenty to twenty five, with writing classes even smaller, and the smallest classroom at two students! This sort of intimacy means that I never get lost in the crowd, and much is demanded of me because my professors notice when I’m not there, and they also notice the quality of my presence (and whether I slept the night before).

7. The Students. King’s attracts a very particular sort of student. Perhaps there haven’t been this many type-A personalities in one place since the Treaty of Versailles. Still, King’s is full of some of the most surprising, impressive, upstanding, talented, charismatic, and kind men and women I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. That’s why they’re not governed by a host of rules, but by an Honor Code that demands honesty and civility. It’s a rare pleasure to be able to leave an expensive laptop or cell phone or iPod in our student café in the middle of the Empire State Building and not have even the slightest worry that it will be stolen while I’m gone.

8. The Faculty. My first day at King’s, we pulled up on the north side of 36th street to unload my things, and a gentleman who looked a little old to be a student approached our car to help carry my bags inside. Turns out, that gentleman was Professor Ethan Campbell, one of our College Writing professors. My father was absolutely floored that a professor helped me move my things into my apartment. You see, my dad holds two terminal degrees, a master’s, and a Ph.D. In his ten years of college he only became close with one professor, but never to the point where the prof. would deign to help him move in. Moreover, the professors here are personable, down-to-earth, and nonetheless brilliant. Many are Ivy Leaguers—some even taught at Ivies.

9. The House System. The House system is set up to be a small community of support for students: spiritually, academically, even socially. My friend Holly described it to a stranger as “a little bit Harry Potter, a little bit fraternity.” The thought of moving to New York City and knowing no one was slightly terrifying, but once I connected with my House, the House of Winston Churchill, I realized I was going to very quickly become part of a family. During the year, our House goes on retreats, takes girls’ Houses on date nights, watches all ten discs of Band of Brothers, explores the City, wears the signature Churchill bowtie every Tuesday (we’re getting quite good at tying our bowtie knots), and generally has a good time.

10. The Pioneer Spirit. As established, thought-out, and structured as King’s appears, it is still a relatively young college. For some, this isn’t an exciting prospect: most college students are there to get a piece of paper. For King’s students, however, the entrepreneurial, pioneering spirit is exciting: we’re the ones who will make the name “The King’s College” well known in America, and possibly in the world.

I hope these explanations help you understand what King’s is like. I wish you good luck with your own college decision and urge you to seriously consider enrolling at King’s.