<p>I've been accepted to Earlham and Kalamazoo. However, I'm really having trouble deciding between the two.</p>
<p>I havn't visited Earlham college but from reading other people's comments, I feel this is the envirionment I would enjoy most. I come from a small town, home to Depauw University where my dad is a professor, and contrary to most students, would feel more comfortable in a small town where I can ride my bike safely and walk to the store etc.</p>
<p>I'm also very into languages though. I speak German fluently and am in my fourth year of French. Kalamazoo is known for it's study abroad program and I'm very interested in learning some more interesting languages such as Chinese, Russian, or Arabic. I'm not sure if a small school like Earlham could offer me such courses. At Kalamazoo, if they didn't have the course I could ask to take one at Michigan State.</p>
<p>If anyone has any knowledge of any of these two schools that could help me with my decision it would be greatly appreciated. I'm terribly shy (though exceptionally quirky) and am anxious to find a good fit. Hopefully I will be able to visit Earlham before I make a decision.</p>
<p>My son will be attending Kalamazoo this fall. I assume you've visited already since you mentioned not having visited Earlham yet? If so, you probably noticed that the college is an easy walk/bike ride into town? Although not considered a small town, Kalamazoo is a nice-sized, safe city that's easily navigated and offers a variety of amenities.</p>
<p>You touched on the study-abroad component of the K-Plan curriculum. A vast majority of students take advantage of this opportunity. It is not offered simply as an option, but is a well-established and highly-developed program that is strongly encouraged and easily integrated into a student's four-year plan.</p>
<p>As far as the availability of additional language courses, there's really no need to travel to Michigan State/East Lansing. Kalamazoo College is located in the same town and directly next door to Western Michigan University (walk/bike/bus), and the schools even have some reciprocal arrangements that you could ask about. WMU's language department offers Arabic, Chinese, Latin, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Russian: <a href="http://www.wmich.edu/languages/%5B/url%5D">http://www.wmich.edu/languages/</a> </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!!</p>