<p>Who's applying? Fang Jr. pushed the submit button Wednesday.</p>
<p>I got an email a week or so ago that my application is complete :)
Now I just have to hear back...</p>
<p>(Fang Jr and I seem to be applying to all the same schools, haha)</p>
<p>I'm applying. I have my supplement open in another tab right now.</p>
<p>hey magnetic and pseudo, are you from Michigan?</p>
<p>i'm from illinois, actually</p>
<p>so you guys are applying Ed, right ? is kalamazoo a generous school ? :D</p>
<p>K College was very generous with my son's scholarship and merit aid. He applied ED last year and is a current student.</p>
<p>Good luck to all ED applicants. Only three weeks to go!</p>
<p>Well, I applied EA, not ED. If that makes a difference.</p>
<p>I really like K, but the only thing keeping me from applying is that I feel it's too bland--as in the school doesn't have much of a feel or personality..</p>
<p>I am I correct in thinking this, or no?</p>
<p>I don't think so... the K Plan's pretty distinctive.</p>
<p>And if you really like it, why not just apply anyway? The school's feel (or lack thereof) could be a factor in deciding where you want to go, but it doesn't have to stop you from applying. :)</p>
<p>Paul09, visiting K, staying overnight with a student and visiting a few classes might help you decide whether it's too bland.</p>
<p>My view is that K has a quiet, introverted, studious feel. That's not the same as blandness.</p>
<p>i'm late in replying, but yeah i'm from michigan. i missed the EA deadline :(</p>
<p>Fang Jr just slipped his application in on the EA deadline.</p>
<p>good luck to him! is kalamazoo his first choice?</p>
<p>Kalamazoo hadn't been his first choice, but I believe that after his visit, it is. If he hears good news around December 20, he might decide he's done with applications.</p>
<p>Son hasn't had a chance to visit Kalamazoo yet, but applied EA because the school just 'looks right' (whatever that means!). What did those of you who applied like best about Kalamazoo? My s is the type of person who will be happy in many different situations, as long as there are smart, engaged folks around to talk about 'stuff' and to play an occasional game of ultimate. His list includes huge schools like UM-Twin Cities and UW-Madison and smaller schools like Denison, Kalamazoo, and Macalester. All very different, but all a 'fit' in one way or another.</p>
<p>Fang Jr. had a Sunday overnight with a student at K. The next morning he sat in on two classes, met with a third professor and went on a tour. He reported that the professors were interesting and the students engaged, two key criteria for him. The professor he met with, who teaches history, gave him syllabi for three of her courses. In all three, students were required to do 30-50 pages of writing a quarter. It sounded like a lot to me, but Fang Jr said he'd welcome that challenge.</p>
<p>Of all the campuses he has visited (Haverford, Drew, Macalester, Carleton, Pitzer, Stanford, Beloit, Grinnell) he liked the physical campus at Kalamazoo best. Bear in mind, he likes red brick Georgian buildings and tree-filled campuses; your student's mileage may and probably will vary. </p>
<p>I too liked Kalamazoo's campus, though it is small. They recently renovated their library and their student center, and in both cases, the architect created inviting, welcoming, warm, light-filled public spaces. In a climate like Kalamazoo's, students will spend a lot of time indoors, so it matters that Kalamazoo was so successful with the design of the interiors. (For an example of a school that got it wrong, see Grinnell's uncomfortable, cavernous, out of scale admissions building. The architect who designed that should be drummed out of the profession.)</p>
<p>Thank you, Cardinal Fang! Kalamazoo sounds very nice. Since we're from Wisconsin, winter weather is something we've adapted to. I think that it would be interesting to experience the 'lake effect' from the other side of Lake Michigan.</p>
<p>I don't think that son has a strong preference for the feel of a campus, other than he does not like major streets running through the center of things. That eliminated Marquette University here in Milwaukee, and put Madison near the bottom of his list. I wish that we had visited more last fall, but circumstances just didn't permit it. </p>
<p>I'm not certain whether son will be happy in a small LAC, so hopefully he will have the time to spend some time at one or two in the spring. He invested lots of time looking at Carleton (interview, really nice admissions session in a home of a current parent, etc) and then decided not to apply because 'everyone seemed too happy'.... Huh?</p>
<p>When my son went to one of those Carleton admissions sessions at the home of a current parent, the admissions officer said, "Carleton students idle on high." This made me a bit nervous about my son going there, because Fang Jr definitely doesn't idle on high, or even on medium. Kalamazoo students, it seemed to me, were somewhat more laid back.</p>