The Philosophy

Founded 1823
African American President lives on campus, visible presence on campus (first POC, female president)
President holds weekly office hours
Combination of traditional and liberal arts with creative forward thinking programs. First to have major in Human Rights and full Engineering program
Student Profile - Highly engaged in their learning, consistently pushing themselves to learn more. Upward trend in grades
Who are you, want do you value, how do you engage with the world around you. Comm App essay - tell a story that adds dimension. Trinity essay allows students to express what they think about Trinity's values

The Classes

Average class size 18, max class size 60
9:1 student to faculty ratio

The Path

Financial Aid Priority Feb 1
Financial Aid March 1, notified April 1

Interviews are strongly encouraged!
Test score optional
Want teacher recommendations to address ability to write
Gateway Programs
January start program allows a gap semester
GLOBAL start program -First semester abroad in Costa Rica with other Trinity students
First generation students have application fee waived
Holistic admission process
First generation specific orientation
PRIDE orientation
Activities fair at the beginning of semester - first years can be part of club leadership
First year seminar, 40 to choose from - discussion based, critical thinking, held by first year advisors
First year students involved in research. One student published paper in first year and presented at conference
Distribution requirements: arts, humanities, natural science, numeric and symbolic reasoning,  social science
49 majors
Encouraged to design own major
Cross school majors (Popular majors: History, English, Biology, Neuroscience)
Thesis/capstone project
5 yr master program - American studies, political science, neuroscience,  look up others

The People

10% Greek life
90% live on campus, singles and doubles
50% of students participate in college or club sports
35% students of color
23% faculty of color
50% female faculty

The Aid

Aid travels away and abroad
Meet 100% of financial need. FAFSA & CSS. They do offer merit scholarships without any additional application, automatically considered

Long known both for its quality academics and its well-to-do students, Trinity is shaking up its admissions practices and emerging as a national leader in efforts to diversify its student body. Abundant community-based learning and service opportunities take imaginative advantage of the school’s troubled urban setting. Trinity joins Lafayette, Smith, Swarthmore, and Union as a small liberal arts college that offers engineering.

For students at Trinity College, the learning experience doesn’t stop at the campus borders. At first glance, the small liberal arts college and the large, gritty city of Hartford, Connecticut, seem like an uneasy match. But instead of insulating itself from outside problems, Trinity takes advantage of its surroundings by using Hartford as its classroom. As part of its recent community revitalization efforts, Trinity partnered with Hartford Public Schools in 2011 to create a public middle/high school designed to prepare students for college-level work. In 2018, Trinity opened its downtown Liberal Arts Action Lab, where community partners team up with students and faculty to research and propose solutions to problems facing the city. On campus, academic standards continue to rise, and students graduate with a strong liberal arts background. “Students are the priority here,” says one senior.

Trinity was founded in 1823 by Connecticut Episcopalians to offer an alternative to Congregationalist Yale. Splendid Gothic-style stone buildings behind wrought-iron fences decorate Trinity’s 100-acre campus. The large, grassy quadrangle is home to pickup games of hackeysack and lazy relaxation on warm spring and fall afternoons. Along with revitalizing the neighborhood that surrounds it, Trinity’s campus is undergoing its own revitalization. Newer facilities include the Gruss Music Center, the Crescent Center for Arts and Neuroscience, and several athletic fields. Classroom facilities in some of the college’s original buildings have recently been renovated, and the Crescent Street Townhouses provide accommodations for 340 upperclassmen.

Trinity’s general education requirements include distribution courses across the liberal arts and sciences, as well as demonstrated proficiency in writing, mathematics, and a foreign language. The First-Year Seminar emphasizes writing, speaking, and critical thinking; the seminar instructor serves as students’ academic advisor. Five Gateway programs give selected freshmen a chance to study in-depth topics from interdisciplinary perspectives through a three-semester sequence of courses. Offerings include InterArts, Interdisciplinary Science, Community Action, Humanities: European Cultures, and Cities, which one student calls “phenomenal-very challenging and rewarding.” A global engagement requirement can be completed by coursework or study abroad.

Popular majors at Trinity include economics, political science, psychology, biology, and modern languages. Human rights studies is notable, and students say the school’s small but accredited engineering program is strong. That department sponsors the Fire-Fighting Home Robot Contest, the largest public robotics competition in the U.S., open to entrants of any age, ability, and experience. Accelerated bachelor’s/master’s degree programs are available in American studies and neuroscience. Through the BEACON program, biomedical engineering students can take courses at UConn, the UConn Health Center, and the University of Hartford while conducting research at three area health centers. Trinity’s close ties to the community also are apparent in the curriculum; students can take courses on urban development and the history of the city of Hartford, or choose from service-learning courses that incorporate opportunities to work with more than 80 local community service organizations.

Faculty/student collaboration is a tradition at Trinity. Two-thirds of students work with professors on research and scholarly papers, and many students join their mentors to present findings at symposia. “The academic climate is rigorous but not overly competitive,” says a senior. Seventy-two percent of classes have fewer than 20 students. Students say that professors have high expectations of them, and most go the extra mile to provide support. “Most professors are distinguished as authorities in their fields,” says a student.

More than half of the students seek internships in government (including the Legislative Internship Program at the state capital), nonprofit organizations, and businesses in Hartford (the insurance capital of the world). Trinity’s study-away program, in which 62 percent of students take part, includes Trinity’s own international program sites in nine cities, ranging from Cape Town to Vienna to Shanghai, as well as more than 90 approved and affiliated programs. Trinity’s Global Start program offers selected first-year students the chance to spend their first semester studying in Costa Rica. Other enticing choices include the Trinity/La MaMa Urban Arts program in New York City and the Washington Semester in D.C.

Trinity has retreated from its erstwhile policy of consistently increasing freshman enrollment, a practice that undermined the academic quality of entering students and strained faculty resources. Although the school has had a reputation for enrolling, in the words of a sophomore, “prep school students from privileged families,” it is moving away from its traditionally heavy recruitment of New England boarding school grads, seeking to diversify the student body. Seventeen percent of Trinity students are Connecticut natives; an increasing number come from California, and 13 percent are international. Asian Americans currently account for 4 percent of the student body, Hispanics 9 percent, African Americans 6 percent, and multiracial students 3 percent. Although no one would mistake the campus for a political hotbed, students remain aware of global issues and local concerns. Athletic scholarships are not available and merit awards are limited, but Trinity does provide special financial packages to replace student loans for students with the most need. The college also guarantees to meet students’ full demonstrated need for four years.

Eighty-six percent of Trinity’s students live in the co-ed dorms. Freshmen are assigned housing based on their First-Year Seminar and grouped into “nests” of 60 to 75 students, aimed at creating a more intimate sense of community. Students report that meals at Mather, Trinity’s dining hall, are adequate, with options for those with special tastes and needs, and the #224; la carte and grab-and-go items at the Bistro and the Cave provide alternatives. “Campus safety officers are always around to make sure our students feel safe,” says a senior.

“The social life revolves around on-campus activity,” a sophomore says. Students praise the Trinity College Activities Council, which brings in comedians and musical performers and organizes parties, study breaks, and community service days. “The campus dances are very popular with the entire student body,” says a senior. The Underground Coffeehouse and the Bistro’s weekly comedy nights are also student favorites. But the action on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights is mostly at the Greek houses (29 percent of the men and 17 percent of the women join up). An effort by the administration to force the single-gender organizations to go co-ed was abandoned after houses failed to attract members of the opposite sex and alumni donors with Greek ties pulled back. Students say alcohol is not hard to come by, but “the campus policies on alcohol are fairly severe on underage drinkers and abusers,” says a student. Spring Weekend brings bands to campus for a three-day party outdoors. Popular road trips include Montreal, Boston, New York City, and the beaches and mountains of Maine.

Trinity’s location in Hartford has been problematic; some students describe the surrounding area as “scary” and “a terrible college town.” In part because the state of Connecticut has not done a good job of investing in its cities, downtown Hartford does not attract visitors from outside the city, and the administration worries about urban problems, such as drugs. Even so, one philosophy major says things are improving: “Hartford has a terrific assortment of restaurants, ranging from cheap but delicious ethnic fare to upscale, parent-friendly places.” A college-sponsored “culture van” takes students downtown to catch a show at the Bushnell or visit the Wadsworth Atheneum, the nation’s oldest public art museum. A new professional soccer team debuted in 2019, and a citywide bike-share program was recently introduced. Many see the city’s troubles as offering “unique opportunities for internships, mentoring, and community service,” according to a sophomore. The Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement helps coordinate such opportunities, and students have created and run organizations that provide housing, tutoring, meals, and other services to youth, families, and senior citizens.

Trinity’s Bantams compete in Division III, and thanks to its international recruits, both men’s and women’s squash are powerhouses (the men’s team has won 17 national titles in the last 21 years). Other solid programs include men’s ice hockey, football, and women’s lacrosse. Homecoming typically brings Wesleyan or Amherst to campus for a football game, which gets underway after Trinity students burn the opposing school’s letter on the quad. Fifty percent of students take part in the intramural and club sports programs.

With its dual emphasis on traditional liberal arts education and civic engagement, Trinity aims to prepare students to be independent thinkers ready to make a difference both locally and globally. And students here have taken their civic responsibility to heart. At Trinity, an English major says, “Students are pushed to reshape the way they think and tackle challenges to make an impact in their community.”

-Fiske Guide