Dickinson College, in central Pennsylvania, has a cool trivia claim to fame: It was the first college founded in the newly established United States of America after the Revolutionary War. Today, the college offers 36 different majors and a baker’s dozen of foreign languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Latin and Portuguese.

Dickinson is known as a leader in international education, offering study abroad programs in over 30 countries, as well as sustainability issues, which are covered in classrooms and practiced across campus.

Students can get involved in more than 140 student-run clubs, including an archaeology club, a fencing team, a swing dance club, a gaming club and an Ultimate Frisbee team. Dickinson also has a handful of small, selective honor societies with names like Raven's Claw (for men) and Wheel and Chain (for women) that date back more than a century.

To get off campus, students can take a jaunt to a brewery or antique shop in neighboring Carlisle.

Despite its steep price tag, the college helps ease affordability concerns by granting financial aid to the majority of its students. (For the class that started in 2021, over 90% of students received grants or scholarships from Dickinson.)