Elmira College

Elmira College was the first college in the world to award baccalaureate degrees to women equivalent to those awarded to men. It started out as a college for women in 1855, making it one of America’s oldest still-operating higher education institutions. It became coeducational in 1969.

Around 35 different majors and minors are offered at Elmira. As a liberal arts college, students take a core curriculum weaving together arts, sciences and humanities, along with character and skill-building internships, volunteering and study abroad options.

Students with a career in health or law in mind can study for a pre-professional programme in preparation for professional school.

Elmira is one of less than 300 universities in the United States to have a Phi Beta Kappa honour society charter.

The famous American writer Mark Twain, real name Samuel Clemens, spent much of his life at Elmira, where his wife and editor Olivia Langdon studied. The Mark Twain Study and Quarry Farm, where Twain’s family spent summers, was given to Elmira College by the Langdon family. Today, the college’s Center for Mark Twain Studies is hosted at Quarry Farm, and runs research fellowships and workshops on the author’s works.

There are more than 100 student organisations at Elmira College, from the American Chemical society to Silent Voices sign language. There are several professional networking groups in fields including law, nursing and fire.

The city of Elmira lies to the south of New York State, just above the Pennsylvania State Line. It’s known as the hometown of the sport of gliding in America.