College Entry Essay

Historically, higher education has been an exclusive environment. Throughout my timeline entries, I focused around the themes of increasing access for students and faculty at institutions of higher education. Higher education first expanded access in terms of religion. The colonial colleges—Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale—were all established as “adjuncts of their respective churches,” and labeled as the “Reformation Colleges” (Geiger, 2011, p. 38). These institutions were prestigious, yet exclusive. My first timeline entry focused on The College of New Jersey (Princeton). The College was founded in 1746 and was the first to break trend with the Reformation Colleges. The College of New Jersey had a denomination; yet, it would serve those of other Presbyterian sects. The College of New Jersey was revolutionary in that it established a precedent of “toleration with a preference,” which all other subsequent American colleges created adopted (Geiger, 2011, p. 40). While access was not open to all other religions, the College of New Jersey was the

My second timeline entry focused on the creation of a Normal School, or a teaching school, which were among the first opportunities for women to gain access to higher education, and a key tool for women’s personal advancement. The California State Normal School was founded in 1862. It was the first public university established on the West Coast. This university was dedicated to the training of teachers, which was a lucrative career for women. Although Normal Schools were not always classified as higher education, it was a major step forward for women’s advancement in the educational field. Numerous present-day universities began as Normal Schools, and over time were converted to four-year institutions. The California Normal School was important because it was an institution of higher education that served women when other institutions excluded