I’m considering Earlham College as one of the potential choices for next year application. I know Earlham is religiously affiliated, but how much does religion influence student life and the student body? Is there any religious course required? Does Friends indirectly affect the way the school and the community functions? Thanks a lot!
Similar to Haverford, Earlham is influenced by its Quaker tradition in terms of expectations about tolerance, respect, and a strong sense of community. When my kid went through athletic recruiting there, he understood there was no expectation of religious participation, either academically or socially.
Earlham has its Quaker roots, but it is not at all a religious school. Do religious students exist there? Yes, I’m sure they do, but Earlham’s rep is that it is a very progressive school with a hippie, crunchy, social justice vibe. Comps would be Knox College or Hendrix College or Grinnell.
Does that rep mean that it should be taken as a sweeping generalization of the entire student body? Of course not. Earlham, like most LACs, has a religious affiliation in its founding; that’s all! I do think that the Quaker tradition subtly affects the college, but really Earlham is a high-quality LAC that has much in common with other well-regarded midwestern LACs.
Quakerism guides the values of the College, which are centered around the testimonies of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, Stewardship rather than dogma of any kind.