<p>I'm an asian international student. Got admitted by Earlham, Kalamazoo, Knox, Hope and James Madison U. Plan to go to graduate school after four years as a student major in biology. Well, weather and location won't matter in my decision. What I really care about is how good the biology departmant is and how nice the people there are. So, any help appreciated!</p>
<p>Anyone help?</p>
<p>Hey there! I’m also an international student so I don’t know first-hand how friendly these colleges are or how good their bio department is, but from what I’ve read they all have strong bio departments and Knox is known for being an extremely friendly campus. Now don’t take my word for it, because I’m also an international student.</p>
<p>Thanks. And don’t worry about your words. I just want to hear some voice about these LACs from different people.</p>
<p>Although those three schools (Earlham, Kalamazoo, Knox) are all a little different, they share many characteristics, and one of them is that they are “midwestern nice.” I’m sure Hope in Michigan is the same way. I don’t know much about James Madison, but Virginia is not in the midwest.</p>
<p>My son goes to Kalamazoo and loves it. We also visited Knox and were impressed. The science building at Kalamazoo is very attractive and modern. The facility at Knox is somewhat older. I don’t know about the other schools. I believe Kalamazoo, Knox and Earlham all have large numbers of biology majors who go on to graduate school or medical school, and their undergraduate programs are very well regarded.</p>
<p>Kalamazoo has a very active overseas study program, with the very large majority of its students studying abroad during their junior year. Therefore it has relatively fewer international students than many other colleges, if that’s important to you.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>That helps a lot! Thank you so much. </p>
<p>And, is anyone familiar with Earlham?</p>
<p>IMO they are all top schools. I like Knox the best, but it is probably equal to Kalamazoo. It depends on fit really.</p>
<p>^ My D knows quite a few students at Earlham and they universally love it. It’s a strongly academics-oriented school, faithful to the Quaker ethos of community, egalitarianism, mutual respect, personal integrity, valuing diversity and the innate worth of all persons, commitment to peace and non-violent resolution of conflicts, etc. In that respect and in its commitment to academic excellence it’s akin to other Quaker-founded schools like Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr, though at each of them the underlying Quaker principles take contemporary life in slightly different forms. Like the other Quaker schools, that also makes it very “liberal” in the American political spectrum, and Earlham tends to see itself, and to be seen, as an island of liberal and progressive values in a surrounding sea of rural and small-town Midwestern conservatism (which in Indiana can be quite conservative). Unlike Swat, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr, however, Earlham has a relatively high acceptance rate, which is one reason my D who is very much attracted to the Philadelphia-area Quaker schools is considering Earlham as a “safety.” Earlham also differs from its sister Quaker schools in that it offers relatively generous merit-based financial aid; the others are purely need-based.</p>
<p>I don’t want to go overboard with the Quakerism, though. Quakers make up a rather small fraction of the student body at all these schools, and the Quaker values that persist are shared or admired by many progressive-minded young people outside the Quaker faith (like my D). I think if you’re liberal to very liberal, politically active, and you’re looking for a genuine sense of community and a rigorous liberal arts education in a relatively laid back environment that would tend to stress cooperation over competition. Earlham might be a good fit. But it’s probably not for everyone.</p>
<p>When my son and I visited Kalamazoo, a professor invited us to sit in on her Bio lab for part of the class. I walked out very pleased with what I observed. A professor who was the premed adviser saw us and asked if we had a question. She said if we had 5 minutes to come into her office and she would talk to us. In the office she proceeded to spend 45 minutes answering our questions and telling us about Kalamazoo, the premed program at the time, and the sciences. She was exceptionally informative and had outstanding credentials. A year later I had a question so I called her. She spent 10 minutes alleviating a concern I had about the admissions director leaving the college. This professor was wonderful and incredibly helpful. The sciences at K are strong and challenging.</p>
<p>WOW, bclintonk, thanks for the point of view of Earlham’s Quake environment and SoCaDad’s experience about K College. </p>
<p>Actually, I am narrowing down my option to Earlham, Kalamazoo and Knox. Meanwhile, I did some search in the internet. The usnews rankings of Earlham and Kalamazoo are almost equal and that of Knox is far behind them. I know that the ranking of LACs is doubtable and untrusting. So, I am trying to find some comments and asking a few people. It is said that Earlham, Kalamazoo and Knox are all some nice LACs (like MilwDad’s “Midwestern nice”) and Earlham has great atmosphere due to Quake and Kalamazoo can offer good opportunity to study abroad and Knox also has some solid academy. Further, I check ranking of future biological PH.DS. And Earlham and Kalamazoo are once again almost equal. So, at the point, I am somewhat confused because after all I know so little about these colleges and they all seems similar.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>My daughter goes to Knox and loves the place. It is small and she knows her professors, her advisers and other staff members. The school is very friendly with many kinds of people. She is not a biology major but her roommate is and she is very happy with the program. Knox has relationships with Rush Medical and George Washington University. These agreements allow early selection and admission into their medical programs. If you go to the Knox site and search Rush, you can read more. If field biology is what you are looking for, Knox has a biological field station called Green Oaks. This is a 700 acre research area which includes the second oldest tall grass prairie in North America. You can even spend a term out there. My daughter has visited kids there and says that it is beautiful. </p>
<p>If you have any other questions, I will try to answer them.</p>
<p>One thing that confuses me about Knox is that they seem to have very high entering freshman sat scores, but still rank lower (88) in the USNWR tables than other scholos with lower scores.Why is that?</p>
<p>^ HBS,
If you do a 3-way statistical comparison of Kalamazoo, Earlham, and Knox in the online edition of the US News rankings, they come out virtually tied in every category but one: the Peer Assessment ¶ rating. This reflects a survey of college presidents, provosts, and chief admissions officers, who are asked to assess the overall academic quality of the institution. Subjective, to be sure. But among its peers, Earlham (3.4 PA rating) is rated significantly higher than the other two schools (Kalamazoo = 3.2, Knox = 2.9). Take it for what it’s worth. Some on CC want to disregard PA entirely, arguing it’s ill-informed garbage. My own view is that academics are among those best qualified to assess the academic standing of their peers, and that although the US News rating PA rating is a flawed proxy for a true “peer assessment” (because it asks only top administrators and not the academics who would be most familiar with work in their own field), it nonetheless represents the only effort top measure any aspect of faculty quality anywhere in the US News ranking system. And because I believe the quality of the faculty is, always has been, and always will be the foundation of a college or university’s strength, I do give some credence to the US News PA score, understanding it only as a crude proxy for what it purports to measure.</p>
<p>In any event, I think the answer to the question as to why Knox doesn’t rank higher in US News is that its faculty is less well regarded among academic professionals than other schools that have similar resources and manage to attract similar students.</p>