It would be tough for a freshman to slip through the cracks at William Jewell College. That's because this 1,400-student Baptist liberal-arts school in Liberty, Mo., has caulked up every crevice where a newcomer might stumble. Jewell's mentor program reaches out to incoming students even before they pack their bags. Its introductory freshmen seminar has all the first-year students highlighting their copies of St. Augustine's Confessions on the same night. And the college assigns all newcomers as many as five contacts--two faculty members and three students--to check on their adjustment.
"There are so many people looking out for you here it...