Bethel College

Location and Contact Information

The campus is in a town not particularly near any major cities.

Overview

Bethel College North Newtown is a private liberal arts college that is affiliated with the Mennonite Church USA. The campus is located in North Newtown, Kansas, which is 28 miles from Wichita, Kansas, and is spread across an area of 90 acres. It was established in 1887. The college offers degrees and certificates in a wide range of disciplines including business administration, history, psychology, communication arts, and athletic training. In addition, it also offers pre-professional courses including pre-medical studies and pre-engineering.

The college has been distinguished by being the only Kansas private college to be included in Forbes.com’s listing of “America’s Best Colleges” for 2009 and one of only two Kansas colleges included in Colleges of Distinction 2008-09.

Bethel College has several on-campus functioning affiliate organizations such as Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Bethel College Academy of Performing Arts, the student-run radio station – KBCU-FM, and Bethel College Women’s Association. The school notes that there over 50 clubs and organizations on campus.

Students at Bethel College actively participate in sports including football, volleyball, soccer, cross country, basketball, tennis, golf, and track. The school mascot is a Thresher (a wheat harvesting device used by the early Russian Mennonite settlers who brought winter wheat to Kansas) and the colors are maroon and gray. The college is also a member of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Highlights (vs. Other Schools)

• Other Religion religious affiliation.
• Many students concentrating in mathematics and music.
• Unusually high availability of athletic financial aid.
• Number of dorm rooms for students.
• Large number of programs of study offered.
• Good faculty-to-student ratio.
• Superior share of faculty on tenure track.
• High SAT scores (combined Verbal and Math).
• High male/female ratio.
• High percentage of students are from out-of-state.

School characteristics:

• The school is private, not-for-profit.
• Academic calender: 4-1-4 plan.
• Carnegie classification: Baccalaureate Colleges, General.

Features of note:

• The school offers a faculty tenure system.
• There are one or more libraries on-campus.
• Campus housing is available.
• Students have meal (board) plans.
• Students may study abroad.
• Part-time classes are available.
• Athlete financial aid is awarded.

Similar Schools

Based on proprietary BrainTrack computer comparisons against all other US colleges, these schools appear to be most similar to Bethel:

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Degrees Awarded (in 2009-2010)

Faculty

Tenure (2009-2010):

Students

Student enrollment was 500 in 2009-2010 (486 full-time equivalent).

About 55% of the freshmen class in 2009-2010 was male and women were 45% of the class.

Undergrads are 100% of enrolled students.

Students under 25 years old represent 91% of the student body. About 1% of the school is at least 40 years of age.

Admissions Summary (2009-2010)

SAT Test Scores:

Room and Board

Bethel provides on-campus housing for 456 of its 486 (full-time) students (as of 2009-2010). The school requires freshmen to live on campus.

Students may purchase a meal plan which includes 20 meals weekly.

Athletics

School sports include football, basketball, baseball, and track. The school is in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference for major sports.

The school offers financial aid for athletes. Of students receiving athletic financial aid, 164 male students received the aid (men were 75% of those receiving aid) and 55 women were awarded financial aid based on athletics (representing 25% of students receiving such aid) .

Graduate School Focus

The highest degree offered is the Bachelor.

Programs of Study

(Number of degrees in 2009-2010 in parentheses)

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT (15 awarded)

• Business/Commerce

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (2 awarded)

• Computer Science

EDUCATION AND TEACHING (6 awarded)

• Elementary Education and Teaching
• Physical Education Teaching and Coaching

FAMILY AND SOCIAL WORK (6 awarded)

• Social Work

FINE ARTS (2 awarded)

• Fine/Studio Arts

LIBERAL ARTS (9 awarded)

• English Language and Literature
• Germanic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• History
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Spanish Language and Literature

MATHEMATICS (3 awarded)

• Mathematics

MEDIA (5 awarded)

• Mass Communication/Media Studies

MUSIC (3 awarded)

• Music

NURSING AND EMERGENCY MEDICINE (48 awarded)

• Nursing/Registered Nurse (RN, ASN, BSN, MSN)

NUTRITION AND EXERCISE THERAPY (6 awarded)

• Athletic Training/Trainer
• Health and Physical Education

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY (3 awarded)

• Religion/Religious Studies
• Youth Ministry

SCIENCE (10 awarded)

• Biology/Biological Sciences
• Chemistry
• Natural Sciences
• Neurobiology and Neurophysiology
• Physics

THERAPY AND COUNSELING (5 awarded)

• Counseling Psychology
• Psychology