Kalamazoo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much coin did they offer? It's an expensive school. Mostly rich Midwestern kids.

"Rich" Midwestern kids? You talking about the car dealer owners, McDonalds franchise owners, and plumbing company owners??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a different school in the ACM and toured Kalamazoo; I have friends who atttended. My understanding of its reputation is that it’s strong, and if your child is at all interested in studying abroad, it’s very well known for that.

Otherwise, all of these ACM schools will be an excellent choice for someone who wants to go to graduate school since they emphasise student research with faculty, which is hugely important.

If the $ looks good, I’d go for it. I loved my college experience and have no regrets not choosing be more prestigious colleges I got into.

What is ACM? Is that an athletic conference?

Associated Colleges of the Midwest. But K-zoo is not in it.

Whoops. Well, it’s similar to a lot of them, at least.

[Anonymous]

I went to WMU and lived very close to Kalamazoo College. It's a really small campus and used to border a crappy neighborhood, but that was a long time ago. Kalamazoo is a cool city and you aren't far from lake Michigan, which is beautiful in the summer. The College had the reputation of being a school for rich kids and hippies. If it's a good fit and the price is right, don't let that disuade you.

[Anonymous]

conservative and religious
Just want to add .. a poster said "conservative and religious". IMO, not Kalamazoo College, not Kalamazoo, not Western Michigan U (public) with 23,000 students also in Kalamazoo. Grand Rapids is a bit though

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the info! We'll have to visit.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend in DC who went there. She's very successful and speaks fondly of it on FB, for what it's worth...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:conservative and religious

Just want to add .. a poster said "conservative and religious". IMO, not Kalamazoo College, not Kalamazoo, not Western Michigan U (public) with 23,000 students also in Kalamazoo. Grand Rapids is a bit though

Absolutely! Kalamazoo is a fantastic school -- small but internationally focused and vastly underrated, like several good liberal arts schools in the Michigan-Ohio area. I attended a competitor college in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), which has a rich tradition (at one time included Michigan State) and now stretches beyond the Michigan border but keeps the MIAA name. Kalamazoo is small, wealthy for the MW and leans liberal, in a conservative West Michigan (although not necessarily the city of Kalamazoo itself). K-College, as its called, exists in the shadow of Western Michigan University, which may be a good or a bad thing. Hope College in Holland (one hour to the NW and home of Kirk Cousins) is a bit larger and more conservative but similar in terms of sociodemographics and wealth. Hope has the best chemistry department outside of perhaps Swarthmore among small liberal arts colleges and its campus is stunningly beautiful. The facilities at Hope (Dow Chemical, Herman Miller furniture money) are on par with Duke University's, and I'm not kidding. Calvin College in Grand Rapids is bigger (~4000; Amway and DeVos money) is the namesake of John Calvin, and is religious, but not conservative -- it is ground zero for The Christian Left (despite Betsy DeVos being a graduate). Other schools in the MIAA are in the middle or east side of the state and include Alma, Adrian, Albion, Olivet, etc. However, Kalamazoo, Hope and Calvin are the cream of the MIAA crop -- academically, athletically and socially. Enjoy your visit to K-College; you will be impressed. I would encourage you to check out Hope College as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:conservative and religious

Just want to add .. a poster said "conservative and religious". IMO, not Kalamazoo College, not Kalamazoo, not Western Michigan U (public) with 23,000 students also in Kalamazoo. Grand Rapids is a bit though

For what it's worth, the county in which Kalamazoo resides was the only county in West or Central Michigan that went majority Clinton over Trump in the November 2016 presidential election.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much coin did they offer? It's an expensive school. Mostly rich Midwestern kids.

"Rich" Midwestern kids? You talking about the car dealer owners, McDonalds franchise owners, and plumbing company owners??

You would be surprised. It is the polar opposite of inside the Beltway rat race. Cost of living and labor is so low there that professionals or persons with graduate degrees or who own businesses accumulate wealth hand over fist. Professors at colleges like Kalamazoo earn well under $100k per year but live in spacious craftsman homes that would fetch $1.5M in Woodley Park, Palisades or Chevy Chase. Most physicians, lawyers and MBAs practicing in that area own second or third vacation homes on Lake Michigan or in Fort Myers by the time they are 45 yrs old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Absolutely! Kalamazoo is a fantastic school -- small but internationally focused and vastly underrated, like several good liberal arts schools in the Michigan-Ohio area. I attended a competitor college in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), which has a rich tradition (at one time included Michigan State) and now stretches beyond the Michigan border but keeps the MIAA name. Kalamazoo is small, wealthy for the MW and leans liberal, in a conservative West Michigan (although not necessarily the city of Kalamazoo itself). K-College, as its called, exists in the shadow of Western Michigan University, which may be a good or a bad thing. Hope College in Holland (one hour to the NW and home of Kirk Cousins) is a bit larger and more conservative but similar in terms of sociodemographics and wealth. Hope has the best chemistry department outside of perhaps Swarthmore among small liberal arts colleges and its campus is stunningly beautiful. The facilities at Hope (Dow Chemical, Herman Miller furniture money) are on par with Duke University's, and I'm not kidding. Calvin College in Grand Rapids is bigger (~4000; Amway and DeVos money) is the namesake of John Calvin, and is religious, but not conservative -- it is ground zero for The Christian Left (despite Betsy DeVos being a graduate). Other schools in the MIAA are in the middle or east side of the state and include Alma, Adrian, Albion, Olivet, etc. However, Kalamazoo, Hope and Calvin are the cream of the MIAA crop -- academically, athletically and socially. Enjoy your visit to K-College; you will be impressed. I would encourage you to check out Hope College as well.

Thanks for the positive report on Calvin and Hope. We are Christians with a DD interested in Chemistry. Calvin, Hope and K are the only Michigan schools on her list. No big football schools with huge lectures and TAs teaching classes, please! K and Hope are probably tied with Calvin a third Michigan option, especially if she decides to go non-science.

[Anonymous]

OP - it costs $57,407 to attend not including travel expenses. Our DC were offered big dollar scholarships for schools that you had never heard of because they wanted their high ACT scores. But when we looked at the numbers, it was still less expensive to go to in-state flagship. Do you have that option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much coin did they offer? It's an expensive school. Mostly rich Midwestern kids.

"Rich" Midwestern kids? You talking about the car dealer owners, McDonalds franchise owners, and plumbing company owners??

Or CEOs of auto-related (big 3, suppliers, etc.) companies. A kid in my small town Michigan high school school did an around-the-world trip on the concord with his family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Absolutely! Kalamazoo is a fantastic school -- small but internationally focused and vastly underrated, like several good liberal arts schools in the Michigan-Ohio area. I attended a competitor college in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), which has a rich tradition (at one time included Michigan State) and now stretches beyond the Michigan border but keeps the MIAA name. Kalamazoo is small, wealthy for the MW and leans liberal, in a conservative West Michigan (although not necessarily the city of Kalamazoo itself). K-College, as its called, exists in the shadow of Western Michigan University, which may be a good or a bad thing. Hope College in Holland (one hour to the NW and home of Kirk Cousins) is a bit larger and more conservative but similar in terms of sociodemographics and wealth. Hope has the best chemistry department outside of perhaps Swarthmore among small liberal arts colleges and its campus is stunningly beautiful. The facilities at Hope (Dow Chemical, Herman Miller furniture money) are on par with Duke University's, and I'm not kidding. Calvin College in Grand Rapids is bigger (~4000; Amway and DeVos money) is the namesake of John Calvin, and is religious, but not conservative -- it is ground zero for The Christian Left (despite Betsy DeVos being a graduate). Other schools in the MIAA are in the middle or east side of the state and include Alma, Adrian, Albion, Olivet, etc. However, Kalamazoo, Hope and Calvin are the cream of the MIAA crop -- academically, athletically and socially. Enjoy your visit to K-College; you will be impressed. I would encourage you to check out Hope College as well.

Thanks for the positive report on Calvin and Hope. We are Christians with a DD interested in Chemistry. Calvin, Hope and K are the only Michigan schools on her list. No big football schools with huge lectures and TAs teaching classes, please! K and Hope are probably tied with Calvin a third Michigan option, especially if she decides to go non-science.

Calvin is also strong in the sciences and very good for pre-med, but if your DD is particularly interested in chemistry (perhaps PhD one day), Kalamazoo and Hope get the edge. Hope may be the best option, as you would get a world-class chemistry department and a Christian orientation, although not as strong as one at Calvin. If you haven't already visited the campuses, do so. Calvin doesn't even have a football team or a Greek system, which is a plus in my mind. Hope is more athletic than either Calvin or Kalamazoo. Hope has both football and a Greek system, although only one (a fraternity) is national. The Hope-Calvin basketball rivalry is legendary and has been featured in Sports Illustrated more than one once and in the NYTimes, as well. Both schools have a fantastic student life -- safe and healthy for young women, in particular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much coin did they offer? It's an expensive school. Mostly rich Midwestern kids.

"Rich" Midwestern kids? You talking about the car dealer owners, McDonalds franchise owners, and plumbing company owners??