# Colleges That Change Lives

Colleges That Change Lives began as a college educational guide first published by Loren Pope in 1996, that went through three editions prior to his death in 2008. The fourth and final edition, revised by Hilary Masell Oswald, was released in 2012.
The current non-profit, 501(c)(3), Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) which was founded in 1998, is based on Pope's books.

## Background
### CTCL: The book

Colleges That Change Lives is a book that explores college admissions in the United States and has four editions. It was first published in 1996, with a second edition in 2000, and a third edition in 2006. The final fourth edition (2013-2014) was published in 2012 after Pope's death, and was revised by Hilary Masell Oswald. A non-profit organization modeled after the book now carries the name.
The fourth edition profiles 40 choices for liberal arts colleges that, "have one primary mission: educate the undergraduate. Each appeals to a slightly different type of teenager, but they all share a mission to raise students' trajectories and develop thinkers, leaders, and moral citizens. The little-known truth is that these colleges have been on the cutting edge of higher education for decades. Many of them have outperformed most of the ranking sweethearts in the percentages of graduates who become America's scientists and scholars."

### CTCL: The non-profit

Following Loren Pope's vision, Colleges That Change Lives, Inc. (CTCL) was founded in 1998, two years after the first edition, and "independent of Mr. Pope (although with his blessing) and his publisher." It is recognized as a non-profit, 501(c)(3). According to the CTCL website:
   Our Mission: Colleges That Change Lives, Inc. (CTCL) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and support of a student-centered college search process. We support the goal of every student finding a college that develops a lifelong love of learning and provides the foundation for a successful and fulfilling life beyond college.
CTCL was established to "as a way to keep Loren Pope's message alive." It is governed by a voluntary board of college counseling professionals. After the publication of the book, the colleges "began working together as a group of like-minded schools." A few years later, the non-profit was founded with Pope's approval. Then in 2012, Pope's family "hired Hilary Masell Oswald to revise the book again. She identified four more schools, and the organization invited them to join CTCL."

## List of schools in the 2013-2014 edition

Northeast
* Allegheny College — Meadville, Pennsylvania
* Clark University — Worcester, Massachusetts
* Juniata College — Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
* Marlboro College — Marlboro, Vermont (now closed)
* Ursinus College — Collegeville, Pennsylvania
Mid-Atlantic
* Emory and Henry University — Emory, Virginia (previously Emory and Henry College)
* Goucher College — Towson, Maryland
* University of Lynchburg — Lynchburg, Virginia (previously Lynchburg College)
* McDaniel College — Westminster, Maryland
* St. John's College — Annapolis, Maryland
South
* Agnes Scott College — Decatur, Georgia
* Birmingham-Southern College — Birmingham, Alabama (now closed)
* Centre College — Danville, Kentucky
* Eckerd College — St. Petersburg, Florida
* Guilford College — Greensboro, North Carolina
* Hendrix College — Conway, Arkansas
* Millsaps College — Jackson, Mississippi
* New College of Florida — Sarasota, Florida (no longer part of the CTCL schools)
* Rhodes College — Memphis, Tennessee
Midwest
* Beloit College — Beloit, Wisconsin
* Cornell College — Mount Vernon, Iowa
* Denison University — Granville, Ohio
* Earlham College — Richmond, Indiana
* Hillsdale College — Hillsdale, Michigan
* Hiram College — Hiram, Ohio
* Hope College — Holland, Michigan
* Kalamazoo College — Kalamazoo, Michigan
* Knox College — Galesburg, Illinois
* Lawrence University — Appleton, Wisconsin
* Ohio Wesleyan University — Delaware, Ohio
* St. Olaf College — Northfield, Minnesota
* Wabash College — Crawfordsville, Indiana
* Wheaton College — Wheaton, Illinois
* The College of Wooster — Wooster, Ohio
Southwest
* Austin College — Sherman, Texas
* St. John's College — Santa Fe, New Mexico
* Southwestern University — Georgetown, Texas
West
* University of Puget Sound — Tacoma, Washington
* Reed College — Portland, Oregon
* Saint Mary's College of California — Moraga, California
* Whitman College — Walla Walla, Washington
* Willamette University — Salem, Oregon

## Current list of CTCL schools

The current CTCL list contains all of the colleges and universities above, except for Marlboro College, which closed in 2020, Birmingham–Southern College, which closed in 2024, and New College of Florida. It also places both branches of St. John's College under one listing. In addition, it restored a few schools that were included in earlier editions of the book: The Evergreen State College, Hampshire College, and Antioch College, which were all included in the 1996, 2000, and 2006 editions, and Bard College, which was in the 1996 edition. In 2024, CTCL added two colleges that were not a part of the original books, DePauw University and Oberlin College and Conservatory.
Northwest
* The Evergreen State College — Olympia, Washington
Northeast
* Bard College — Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
* Hampshire College — Amherst, Massachusetts
Midwest
* Antioch College — Yellow Springs, Ohio
* DePauw University — Greencastle, Indiana
* Oberlin College and Conservatory — Oberlin, Ohio

## Four editions

* Pope, Loren (1996). Colleges That Change Lives:40 Schools You Should Know About Even If You're Not A Straight - A Student. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14023951-0.
* Pope, Loren (2000). Colleges That Change Lives:40 Schools You Should Know About Even If You're Not A Straight - A Student (Revised ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14029616-6.
* Pope, Loren (2006). Colleges That Change Lives:40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges (Fully Revised for 2006-2007). Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143037361.
* Pope, Loren; Oswald, Hilary Masell (2012). Colleges That Change Lives:40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges (2013-2014 ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0143122302.