Cornell College

Cornell College, a selective liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, attracts a colorful community of diverse, empathetic neighbors—students, faculty, staff, and alumni—who care about each other. Cornellians have been living, learning, and teaching on the block plan, One Course At A Time, since 1978 when it left the semester plan behind. Each 18-day course—as well as research, internships, and service opportunities—can take students and professors off-campus and even out of the country due to the block’s flexibility. That’s one reason Cornell is included in “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges.”