Reply to Question for Michigan residents - how do in-state people view the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you want to attend an LAC in Michigan, Hillsdale is the best -- both in terms of its financials and its academics.

But you have to be willing to take a lot of required courses, and the coursework is very demanding.  Grading is tough.  A straight A student is a rarity.

Some kids won't want to take the science courses in Hillsdale's core, but biology, chemistry, and physics are all required.

And some kids will think that some of the courses are out of fashion -- e.g., the required survey courses in Western civilization, and American history.  (Few colleges in America offer these courses anymore -- even as electives.)

Plus there are courses in political economy, and logic.  And a two-semester sequence in the great works of Western literature.

Also the required political theory course on the U.S. Constitution.

It's not for everyone. But the school is prospering, and for the 1500 who embrace the challenge of a true liberal arts education, it's a life-altering, character-building and spiritually-uplifting experience. [/quote]

Hillsdale students are studious and work hard, but it's got a very narrow conservative bent and produces a whole lot of econ majors who think in one narrow way.  It's not a bad school, and I think a conservative school is important for those seeking that environment.  But that's its main claim--which has attracted it a bit more money and reputation than the quality of its faculty.  Kalamazoo is stronger among MI LAC schools in my opinion--the highest PhD producers in the natural sciences in the state, and in the top 50 in the country.  All students demonstrate must demonstrate competency in a foreign language and nearly all study abroad and do internships.  But both Hillsdale and Kalamazoo are above the others listed in terms of strong comprehensive education.  If they were two states eastward they would be far more popular and highly ranked than they currently are nationally.   [/quote]

I believe both Hillsdale and Kalamazoo are profiled in the book "Colleges that Change Lives."

One interesting aspect to the supposed "conservative bent" of Hillsdale College:  when it was founded in the 1840s it was considered a radical place.  Now it's considered a conservative place.  [b]But, as a factual matter, it's been doing the same thing all along.[/b][/quote]

I hope not. That would be really problematic to be doing the same education since the 1840s!  Those students really aren't ready for the world then.[/quote]

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