Self-designed major

At COA you hold in your own hands the freedom, and responsibility, of building your educational path. Each student designs their own course of study in human ecology—an exploration of the relationships between humans and their natural, cultural, and built environments. Even though we all have the same major, no two students have ever taken the same set of classes. And you don’t have to choose just one area of study; in fact, we hope you’ll pull together different disciplines and get excited about the surprising connections between them.

Purpose-driven, engaged education

A COA education isn’t just about learning—it’s also about transforming thought into action to make a difference in the world, starting now. We believe that tomorrow’s problem-solvers will need to work across multiple disciplines, collaborate, innovate, and think far outside the box.

A (really) small community of scholars

With just 350 students, 35 faculty, and 70 staff members, you’ll soon recognize all of the faces on campus. We believe this kind of close-knit, supportive community is an ideal environment for fostering creative collaboration and intellectual risk-taking.

We run the college together

Every Wednesday at the student-moderated All College Meeting (ACM), COA students, staff, and faculty come together to shape the policies and practices that guide the college’s operations. We learn engaged citizenship by putting it into practice—in all its inspiring, frustrating, empowering, mundane, and messy glory.

On an island, in the middle of a national park

Pink granite mountains, spruce forests, island-studded bays, and miles of rugged coastline: the landscape of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island has inspired awe in artists, vacationers, and local residents for centuries. But COA’s location surrounded by Acadia National Park and the Atlantic Ocean isn’t just a spectacular place to live and visit; it’s a rich and multi-faceted laboratory for learning in the field.