berea college personal essay

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Berea College’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts

Diversity short response.

Berea College was created 168 years ago and became the first interracial and coeducational college in the South. Please tell us in 168-ish words or less, how this is meaningful for you in context of your personal experience.

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Berea College: Acceptance Rate and Admissions Statistics

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Berea College is a private liberal arts college with an acceptance rate of 38%. Located in Berea, Kentucky, and founded in 1855, Berea College is one of nine Work Colleges in the U.S. Students pay no tuition, and all students receive significant financial aid for all four years of attendance. Most Berea students are first generation students from the Appalachia area. Accepted students work 10 to 15 hours a week on campus or in the community as part of Berea's Labor Program. Since its founding, Berea has had a non-sectarian Christian identity. Berea is a member of the Work Colleges Consortium.

Considering applying to Berea College? Here are the admissions statistics you should know, including average SAT/ACT scores and GPAs of admitted students.

Acceptance Rate

During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, Berea College had an acceptance rate of 38%. This means that for every 100 students who applied, 38 students were admitted, making Berea's admissions process competitive.

SAT Scores and Requirements

Berea College requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 16% of admitted students submitted SAT scores.

This admissions data tells us that most of Berea's admitted students fall within the top 35% nationally on the SAT. For the evidence-based reading and writing section, 50% of students admitted to Berea scored between 520 and 590, while 25% scored below 520 and 25% scored above 590. On the math section, 50% of admitted students scored between 510 and 623, while 25% scored below 510 and 25% scored above 623. Applicants with a composite SAT score of 1210 or higher will have particularly competitive chances at Berea.

Requirements

Berea College does not require the optional SAT essay section. Note that Berea participates in the scorechoice program, which means that the admissions office will consider your highest score from each individual section across all SAT test dates.

ACT Scores and Requirements

Berea College requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 83% of admitted students submitted ACT scores.

This admissions data tells us that most of Berea's admitted students fall within the top 36% nationally on the ACT. The middle 50% of students admitted to Berea received a composite ACT score between 22 and 27, while 25% scored above 27 and 25% scored below 22.

Berea does not require the optional ACT writing section. Unlike many universities, Berea superscores ACT results; your highest subscores from multiple ACT sittings will be considered.

Berea College indicates that most admitted students have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in college preparatory level coursework. This data suggests that most successful applicants to Berea College have primarily B grades.

Self-Reported GPA/SAT/ACT Graph

The admissions data in the graph is self-reported by applicants to Berea College. GPAs are unweighted. Find out how you compare to accepted students, see the real-time graph, and calculate your chances of getting in with a free Cappex account.

Admissions Chances

Berea College has a competitive admissions process with a low acceptance rate due to the college's unique mission of providing a nearly free education to students with significant financial need. However, Berea also has  holistic admissions  process involving factors such as "community service, character and personal qualities, social maturity and demonstrated interest in the College." Each application is considered based on transcripts, test scores, financial eligibility, letters of recommendation , and personal interviews . Students with strong academic potential and financial need from Appalachia receive preference at Berea.

In the scattergram above, note that most successful applicants to Berea tend to have GPA's of B+ or better, SAT scores (ERW+M) of 1000 or higher, and ACT composite scores of 20 or better. However, test scores are only one part of the admissions requirements for Berea.

All admissions data has been sourced from the National Center for Education Statistics and Berea College Undergraduate Admissions Office .

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The Great Commitments: Essay

Essay for gstr210 by mr. shannon wilson, the great commitments at berea college - gstr 210.

Since the earliest days of Berea College, the institution has attempted to summarize its essential values and mission. Early publicity literature recounted the many adversities overcome by the founding generation to build up a school that would be open to all persons, offering labor as a means of support, and operating under “an influence strictly Christian.” E. Henry Fairchild, Berea’s first president (1869-1889), noted in his inaugural address that Berea College welcomed all persons, regardless of race or gender. He further observed that Berea was “a school for the poor,” declaring that “All possible pains will be taken to make expenses low, and to furnish the means of self-support.” The college would also strive to be “thoroughly religious” while avoiding sectarianism. Students could also expect lively teaching and instruction. “The most perfectly free discussion will be encouraged on all important subjects, but the teachers will feel under no obligation to be neutral on any subject.” 1 During the administration of Berea President William Goodell Frost (1892-1920), professors, teachers, and other workers were invited to sign a commission which outlined the purposes of the college as well as the duties of the staff member. Among these intentions were “to place spiritual life above everything else” and declaring that the college had “undertaken a distinctive work for those who are most in need of Christian education.” Teachers were encouraged to exhibit loyalty to the institution by understanding the rules of the college and being faithful in their academic preparations. Teachers were also reminded that “the personal influence and example of workers is even more important than their classroom or technical work.” Yet for all these declarations, years would pass before Berea offered a summary set of principles defining the college’s mission.

The Commitments have appeared in various forms with commentary in the Self-Study Reports of 1962-63, 1972-73, and 1983-84. The “Whom Shall We Serve” Committee (1980) reviewed aspects of the Commitments in relation to low-income student admissions standards and extending Berea’s admissions territory. In 1983-84, the Self-Study Committee conducted a survey of Bereans—students, alumni, faculty/staff, and trustees—in order to examine the College’s effectiveness in fulfilling the Commitments. The survey revealed concerns about potential conflict within and among the Commitments. Weatherford expressed the view that the Commitments had an essential unity.

“The Appalachian and interracial commitments both represent service to groups of special need,” Weatherford observed, “The interracial commitment grows out of Christ’s view of persons as children of God. Liberal learning and learning through work experience are complementary avenues of educating the whole person. Liberal learning affirms the importance of values for noble living and Christian education gives direction to the search for values, but, as practiced at Berea, leaves freedom for rational inquiry.” Weatherford again used the Commitments to organize his final president’s report in 1984. 3

During the administration of John B. Stephenson (1984-94), a review of the general education curriculum in 1991-92 prompted a review of the Great Commitments. David Swanson, chairman of Berea’s Board of Trustees; President Stephenson, and members of the General faculty, staff, and students—twenty-one people in all—formed the Committee to Review the Commitments (CRC), which began its review in September 1992. The CRC conducted surveys, held public forums, and reviewed historical documents in order to identify new ways for articulating Berea’s mission. 4

Two significant changes in the text of the Great Commitments resulted from the CRC’s work. In considering the broader implications of Berea’s interracial mission, the CRC acknowledged the educational needs of Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans in the Appalachian region.

The committee affirmed the “kinship of all peoples,” yet concluded that Berea’s history and location demanded a continued emphasis on promoting understanding between white and African-American students. “We believe that whatever we can do to improve relationships between any groups of people,” the CRC declared, “will encourage greater respect for and appreciation of all peoples and cultures.” Acknowledging the unity of Berea’s mission, the CRC changed the wording of the first commitment, “To provide an educational opportunity primarily for students from Appalachia, who have great promise and limited economic resources” to read “To provide an educational opportunity for students from Appalachia, black and white, who have great promise and limited economic resources.” 5

The second important change reflected the committee’s concern that the college’s long history of educating women remained hidden. Educating women on an equal basis with men reflected the college’s historic commitment to equality and democracy, yet there was no obvious affirmation of this history in earlier versions of the Great Commitments. Fee and other founders were committed to coeducation and gender equality, an affirmation of human dignity and a rejection of social structures that promoted caste. Accordingly, the CRC used inclusive language to replace terms such as “brotherhood” and “mankind” with “kinship of all peoples” and “others.” The CRC boldly suggested an additional commitment, “To create a democratic environment dedicated to education and equality for women and men.” Since Berea had always asserted the education of women on an equal basis with men, the CRC observed, “To confront and challenge gender stereotypes requires a commitment that focuses on inclusion and understanding of women.” The CRC’s final report and the revised version of the Great Commitments were accepted by the Faculty and the Board of Trustees in 1993. 6

The Great Commitments continue to inform Berea’s mission. The strategic planning process inaugurated by President Larry Shinn has sought new ways to carry on the work articulated in the Commitments into the 21st Century. The Commitments themselves remain open to new interpretations and innovative enterprise. “Throughout its long history, Berea College has been one persistent experiment in education and service,” Shinn observed in his inaugural address, “Though faithful to its venerable traditions, Berea has always been open to the future and its requirements.” 7

1 E. H. Fairchild, “Inaugural Address,” in Inauguration of Rev. E. H. Fairchild, President of Berea College, Kentucky (Cincinnati: Elm Street Printing, 1870), 14.

2 Shannon H. Wilson, Berea College: An Illustrated History (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006), 174-75. (On-campus full-text access via NetLibrary .) Also 378.769 W753b 2006 .

3 General Faculty Minutes, April 21, 1969 and September 8, 1969, General Faculty Records, Record Group (hereafter RG) 5.01, Berea College Archives (hereafter BCA).

4 General and College Faculty Minutes, March 9, 1995, RG 6.01, College Faculty Records, BCA; Wilson, Berea College , 195. (On-campus full-text access via NetLibrary .) Also 378.769 W753b 2006 .

5 “ Recommendations from the General Faculty and Report of the Committee to Review the Commitments to the Board of Trustees, March 1993 ,” 9, 12-14, Committee to Review the Commitments files, RG 10, BCA (hereafter CRC Report); Wilson, Berea College , 197. (On-campus full-text access via NetLibrary .) Also 378.769 W753b 2006 .

6 CRC Report, 9-10, 15; Wilson, Berea College , 197-98.(on-campus full-text access via NetLibrary ) Also 378.769 W753b 2006 .

7 Larry D. Shinn, “The Challenge of Deep Learning,” Berea Alumnus 66 (1995): 12. See also Wilson, Berea College , 203-09. (On-campus full-text access via NetLibrary .) Also 378.769 W753b 2006 .

Shannon Wilson, Former Head of Special Collections & Archives

Shannon Wilson

Shannon Wilson, former Head of Special Collections & Archives and Berea College Archivist.

PDF of this essay

• The Great Commitments (pdf) This essay explores the history of The Great Commitments of Berea College. Shannon Wilson, currently Head of Special Collections & Archives, served as Berea College Archivist from 1985 to 2007.

Additional Resources

• The Great Commitments Digital resources available on the Berea College Great Commitments.
• The Day Law
• The Lincoln Institute
• The Appalachian Commitment
• William Goodell Frost
• Last Updated: Dec 8, 2017 12:50 PM
• URL: https://libraryguides.berea.edu/commitmentsessay

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ESSAY; Moscow's China Card

By William Safire

• Sept. 8, 1986

Every decade or so, China undergoes a political convulsion. In 1948-49, the Communists threw out the Kuomintang; in 1956, Mao's ''Great Leap Forward'' plunged the country into a depression; in 1966, the Cultural Revolution to purify the party brought on a new Dark Ages; in 1976-78, we saw Mao's would-be radical successors, the ''Gang of Four,'' replaced by pragmatic Deng Xiaoping.

Now we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the death of Mao, and some Pekingologists would have us believe that this decade's upheaval will not come.

Mr. Deng, at 82, has provided for his succession, we are assured: it's all set for Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang to succeed him, with Hu Qili of the next generation right behind. Not to worry, goes the current Edgar Snow-job: China's new era of ''commutalism,'' communism with a capitalist face, will march undisturbed into the next millennium.

I wonder. Maybe the conventional wisdom will prove right for once. But for argument's sake, let's look at what is happening in China through a different set of glasses, seeking truth from facts.

Fact number one is that a wave of materialism is sweeping across the billion people of China. After a generation of repression, good ol' greed is back in the saddle, and an I'm-all right-Deng attitude permeates the new entrepreneurs.

As a longtime expositor of the virtue of greed in powering the engine of social progress, I cannot cluck-cluck at this. But there is a difference between the materialism of the Chinese on Taiwan, who are accustomed to free enterprise, and the lust for the good life of available goods on the mainland, where a terrible thirst has been a-building.

Let us assume that the outburst of materialism in China leads to some reaction: that some spoilsport faction emerges to summon up the ghost of Mao's ideological purity, and that this new gang of fortyish Outs finds its way back in. It is at least a possibility.

I think that shrewd old Deng is well aware of this possibility. That is why, despite his ostentatious rejection of personal cultdom, he is preparing his most dramatic assault on the memory of Mao. That father of the revolution startled the world by breaking with the Soviet Union; Mr. Deng, playing a revisionist Lenin to Mao's Marx, wants to startle the world and overwhelm internal opposition by a rapprochement with Moscow.

Accordingly, fact two: He has abandoned his demand that Russia move back its huge army from the Chinese border, thereby double-crossing his own Army leaders. He has forgotten his requirement that Soviet forces be withdrawn from Afghanistan, thereby double-crossing his Westernish ally, Pakistan.

All Mr. Deng now asks of the Russians is that they try to squeeze their Vietnamese clients to pull out of Cambodia. Of course they'll try - ''best efforts'' is an easy promise - and since the Vietnamese are notoriously independent, Moscow cannot be blamed for not succeeding. Result: Mr. Deng takes the salute from atop the wall in Red Square.

That reestablishes his Communist credentials, defanging hard-left opposition at home. And it is Middle Kingdom orthodoxy; I suspect Chinese agents in the U.S. supply the K.G.B. with intelligence, just as Peking permits our Big Ears on its soil to overhear Kremlin transmissions. Chinese policy has always been to play the barbarians against each other.

This theory would also explain fact three: Mr. Gorbachev's seizure of a U.S. newsman as hostage. It is no coincidence that this particular hostage selection follows China's arrest and expulsion of a reporter for a U.S. newspaper. The Soviet leader, advised by Anatoly Dobrynin, must have known that this slap in the face would jeopardize a summit - and went ahead with his calculated humiliation, similar to Mr. Nixon's mining of Haiphong harbor before his Moscow summit in 1972.

Because the Russians now have the prospect of a pilgrimage to Moscow by Mr. Deng, they can taunt the U.S. President with impunity. As Mr. Dobrynin probably predicted, Mr. Reagan is reduced to begging for the hostage's release, in effect volunteering testimony to a Soviet court, in his eagerness to crown his Presidency with a peacemaking summit.

Now Mr. Gorbachev can hang tough, holding a show trial and thereby delaying negotiations with the U.S. until the Deng visit - or can graciously accede to the Reagan plea, thereby establishing his dominance. And the overconfident Mr. Reagan never suspected, as he sat down to summit poker, that this time the China card was in his opponent's hand.

Yale Class of 1963 - 50th Reunion New Haven, CT    May 30-June 2, 2013

Personal Essay

Immediately following graduation from Yale, I went to law school.  I spent one year as a law clerk in the Federal Court of Appeals in New York, and then went to work for the firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, where I have been ever since.  I have learned a great deal from my clients and from the talented lawyers I have worked with and against.  However, all good things eventually come to an end, and on March 31, 2013, having reached our firm’s mandatory retirement age of 70, I am scheduled to retire from active practice. My first marriage, to Catherine Tolstoy Arapoff, an artist, ended in divorce in 1985.  We have two children, Andrew (a litigation lawyer in Los Angeles) and Cathie (a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School).  Andy’s two children, Elizabeth and Jack, are as yet my only grandchildren. In 1986 I married Marcia Mayo Hill, an interpreter at the United Nations, whose principal career since her retirement in 2004 has been as a master swimmer, swimming competitively at both regional and national levels.  All of you who have seen us together know how much I owe to Marcia, who has made my life anything but ordinary.  We have four children, Frank (a second-year medical student), Guy Jr. (a graduate of SUNY Albany), Beverly (who died at the age of one year following a failed heart operation, and whom we remember constantly), and Elena (whom we adopted in Moscow following Beverly’s death). I am very much in the market for good ideas about what to do in retirement.  For the time being, my principal idea is to go back to what I have always loved to do, namely, learn new things.  Starting the day after retirement, I intend to take the set of textbooks on Anglo-Saxon that my father bought many years ago, and start learning the language. This essay would be incomplete without mentioning how much I have learned from reunions and other activities of our Class over the years.  Perhaps the most educational thing about Yale for me has been the journey we have all taken together since graduation.  I look forward to continuing that journey at our 50th Reunion. The following story will illustrate what I mean.  Ian Robertson is a very good friend, and a stalwart of our 50th Reunion effort.  Our paths did not cross in college.  Recently Ian told me that, during our freshman year, he saw me waiting in line for dinner in Commons, and felt very sorry for me.  As soon as Ian said that, I saw myself then as Ian saw me, an awkward, clueless 16-year-old, and for a moment I felt sorry for myself too.  Then I remembered that the story does not end there, that Ian and I have since gotten to know each other, and that now, half a century later, he and I are fast friends.  That would never have happened but for our continuing involvement with the Class.