I recently visited Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I toured campus and spoke with the admissions office about the latest trends in admissions. Here are some takeaways from my visit:

· Once the all-women’s sister college to Davidson, Queens is now a co-ed, undergraduate-focused university of 1,317 undergraduates and growing. Queens has the feel of liberal arts college, with small, discussion-based classes, highly supportive faculty, and students living on campus for four years in a very tight-knit community. Unlike many liberal arts colleges, however, it offers the benefits of being located in one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing cities, and the university supports students in taking advantage of Charlotte’s extensive professional opportunities.

· While a traditional liberal arts institution, Queens integrates career preparation into its curriculum. Students are required to complete one-to-two internships for credit, as well as a course in career preparation, taught by local HR and early talent recruiting professionals from local companies like Bank of America, that helps students find the best internship opportunities and hit the ground running when on the job. Global opportunities are also woven into the curriculum.

· Charlotte is the second-largest banking city in the US, and the business school (where many faculty also work in industry) has close connections with local companies like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, PwC and Deloitte. There are also extensive clinical opportunities for nursing and premed students in Charlotte. The city is also rich in cultural institutions, including over 17 live music venues and at least 29 museums.

· Although there are sororities, there are no fraternities at Queens and Greek life is not a big feature on campus. The university fields only club teams, but they compete with other colleges’ DI varsity teams. There is no football on campus, although there is rugby and sports are popular overall (50% of students are athletes).

· Service is very popular among students, and the university’s official motto is “not to be served, but to serve.”

· Despite being located in a large city, Queens has its own enclosed campus, located in the beautiful and affluent Myers Park neighborhood of Charlotte around a ten-minute drive from downtown. Queens students are racially, culturally and economically diverse. 10% are international and 13% come from the Northeast, with the majority of remaining students coming from the South.

· Distinctive majors include music therapy, health communication, data analytics, conservation biology, gallery and museum practices, interior architecture and design and exercise and sport science. There is no computer science major.