Champlain College

With only 1,700 undergraduates, Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont may be small, but it thinks—and teaches—on a grand scale. During my visit, I heard directly from President Alex Hernandez, whose energy and clarity of vision set the tone for the whole campus. His message was simple but powerful: Champlain’s mission is to graduate students who are truly career-ready—not just with degrees, but with portfolios, experience, and confidence to step right into the workforce. The “Upside-Down Curriculum”: Learn What You Love Now, Not Later Most colleges make students wait until sophomore or junior year to dive into their major. Not Champlain. [...]