Information about Grand Valley State University (Michigan)

Parents Forum
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<p>Some more news about Grand Valley State University. Governor Rick Snyder just approved $30 million in funding for GVSU’s new $55 million science building. Another name for GVSU could be Construction Central because they currently are building a $70 million library, and a $40 million new business college. The library and business college are set to open during the Fall 2013 semester. The science building is set to open during the Fall 2015 semester. </p>

<p>In a couple of weeks Grand Valley State University will announce the new tuition rates for Fall 2012 and Winter 2013. Currently, it is $9716 for in state students and $14,030 for out of state students per year.</p>

22

<p>Some more news from Grand Valley State University. GVSU increased their tuition by $362 a year or 3.7%. This makes the tuition for a Michigan in state resident $10,078, and an out of state resident $14,568. That is a difference of $4490 per year, or about $18,000 over four years at Grand Valley State University. To compare, the out of state tuition at Michigan State University is $31,692 and the difference between in state and out of state tuition at MSU is $18,870 or $75,480 over four years.</p>

<p>Also, Grand Valley State University increased their general fund by $7.2 million, or about a 2.6% increase. Salaries for professors and other staff at GVSU are increasing by less than 3%.</p>

23

<p>Well it has been a while since I posted here on the GVSU thread but today is the 1st day of school for GVSU students (and MAcc students at the University of Tennessee). Since I am a graduate student now my updates will be fairly sporadic to say the least. Anyway, according to the Grand Valley Lanthorn, there are so many 2012 freshmen at GVSU that they have overflowed from traditional north campus freshmen housing into upperclassmen apartments like South Apartments and the Ravines. There was an increase in 1st year students, more interest in living on campus, and more students from the east side of the state and out of state who need on campus housing (I’ve been saying for years that GVSU needs more Detroit area kids and out of state kids). Roughly 84 percent or higher have decided to live on campus, but when you add freshmen that live on the edge of campus in apartments, probably around 90 percent of freshmen live in the Allendale/GVSU area. </p>

<p>In my personal opinion GVSU accepted too many freshmen students, and that is why there is a housing crunch. Also, I know the University of Michigan usually has housing problems so that’s not exactly bad company. Hopefully GVSU will cut the freshmen class size next year (2013/2017 graduating class). The moral of the story is if you are applying to any popular college APPLY/RESERVE HOUSING EARLY!!!</p>

24

<p>I just saw the campus for the first time yesterday. Son and husband have been up there twice. I loved all the buildings and trees, but the campus seems oddly shaped, long and narrow. It looks like various housing runs all along the back side of the campus, for well over a mile. I do like the fact that there are no high rise dorms. The library looks like it won’t be ready for a while, but we never found the business building. Maybe it’s been completed, as I didn’t see any other construction. Thanks for the warning about housing.</p>

25

<p>The business building is on the downtown Grand Rapids campus toledo. If you didn’t know, GVSU has two main campuses. As for the library, I’m pretty sure it will be ready by summer 2013 semester and definitely by Fall 2013 semester. I’ve never heard complaints about the campus shape, but it is kind of accurate. A lot of academic buildings except for art are kind of grouped in the middle of campus.</p>

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<p>I am a huge fan of GVSU, and am quite impressed by its growth since I visited back in 1984! The facilities are beautiful, as is the campus, in my opinion. My DD and I attended a “Juniors Day” in April and it was very well-attended by many students from both West and East Michigan. For those outside of Michigan, GVSU is about a 20-minute drive to beautiful Lake Michigan, an added bonus for those beach-lovers!
I would love to see a page on CC for GVSU, as well! Keep posting!</p>

27

<p>

Just a minor detail business-major son and husband forgot to tell me. It wouldn’t have been on a campus tour, then, would it? Why did they build it downtown? There is so much land that appears to available on the Allendale campus. I thought only the health sciences were downtown. Are health sciences and business together or are they separted, too?</p>

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<p>No the business college is not on a normal tour, but I think you can make arrangements to go see it if you would like. While there is a lot of room on the Allendale campus, it was a really good idea to put the business college in downtown Grand Rapids. It helps with jobs and internships, and helps GVSU have a different “feel” than Allendale. Business and engineering are near each other, but health sciences is near the Medical Mile.</p>

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<p>Here’s a GVSU Grand Rapids campus map. </p>

<p><a href=“Maps & Directions - Grand Valley State University”>Maps & Directions - Grand Valley State University;

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<p>“Why did they build it downtown?”</p>

<p>It makes a lot of sense to me to build a business school where business is conducted. Students can do internships, local businesspeople can come to lunch events – it facilitates more contact with the business community in general.</p>

31

<p>Some new stats at Grand Valley State University. Like another school in the state (Michigan State University), GVSU had the largest freshmen class in their history. GVSU had 4,005 freshmen in the Class of 2016, which is a 2% increase from last year. However due to space constraints and enrollment, I don’t think Grand Valley State University could handle more than 4,000 freshmen. </p>

<p>The freshmen class had an average 3.50 GPA and 24 ACT. Another interesting stat, GVSU has 1,143 freshmen from the West Michigan region (Kent, Ottawa, Allegan, and Muskegon counties) or the 3 cities and suburbs of Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Holland. On the other hand, Grand Valley State University had 1,036 freshmen from the Metro Detroit area (Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb counties). So, when people say that Grand Valley has too many students from the local area, that is not quite the case anymore. </p>

<p>Also, 9.16% of Grand Valley State University were from out of state or international students. Just two years ago there were about 5% out of state students in the freshmen class. The most popular state excluding Michigan for the 2016 GVSU Class was Illinois, with 214 students (an increase of over 9% from the Fall 2011 freshmen class). Indiana had a 34% increase of freshmen students at GVSU from Fall 2011 to Fall 2012.</p>

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<p>Made our appointment to come visit the school. Looking forward to seeing it in person.</p>

33

<p>Some more news from Grand Valley State University. GVSU was ranked as the #7 best public regional university in the Midwest. Personally, I think that ranking is low and an accurate ranking would be about #3 or #4 which is the University of Northern Iowa and University of Wisconsin La Crosse. Also, it was surprising that Grand Valley State University was not ranked as an “Up and Coming college” like previous years. Still, the ranking should go up as professor’s salaries increase and the graduation rate increases. Also, I think that GVSU’s alumni giving is too low and if that was improved they would improve in the U.S. News rankings.</p>

34

<p>Well…we went and visited yesterday. My S who is currently a junior thought it was awesome. I had never been to Grand Rapids, and was looking forward to seeing the major city on that side of the state. I was a bit surprised how isolated the campus was from restaurants, shops etc w/in walking distance, but I guess w/ the frequent shuttles to downtown, it isn’t a major concern. The dorms looked very nice as did all of the dining options (my S was very excited about these). The new library looks like it will be beautiful, and we were told it is scheduled to open in the spring.</p>

<p>Overall, it was a great visit, and my S plans on applying in the fall. I think it would be a great option for him. His GPA is low from a very competitive high school in suburban Detroit, but I anticipate that his ACT scores will be higher than the avr, so hopefully they will balance out to an acceptance.</p>

35

<p>It appears this thread is a surrogate for a GVSU marketing campaign.</p>

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<p>It has become a very popular college for kids in my area (metro Detroit). It has a better reputation than the directional state schools, it seems, just behind Michigan and Michigan State.</p>

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<p>^ I think that’s very regional and variable. In my region of metro Detroit, it is definitely seen as on the same level or even slightly under Eastern. </p>

<p>And I’d definitely say it’s a fair distance behind MSU and well behind U of M in terms of reputation.</p>

38

<p>Based purely on entering class stats, I’d say Grand Valley State U is the 4th-strongest public university in Michigan, after the University of Michigan, Michigan Tech, and Michigan State, in that order. Michigan just blows the doors off the others; Michigan Tech barely edges out MSU for second, and MSU is a definite notch above Grand Valley for third. The “directionals,” Wayne State, Oakland, etc. are another notch back.</p>

<p>Some relevant stats:</p>

<p>Acceptance rate: Michigan 40.6%, EMU 58.9%, Oakland 67.6%, CMU 68.5%, NMU 72.2%, MSU 72.9%, MTU 75.2%, Wayne State 75.5%, Ferris State 77.5%, Saginaw Valley State 79.9%, GVSU 83.1%, WMU 83.2%, Lake Superior State 91.2%</p>

<p>Percent of freshmen in top 10% of HS class: Michigan 95%, MTU 30%, MSU 28%, Wayne State 23%, GVSU 20%, Oakland 15%, CMU 14%, Lake Superior State 14%, Saginaw Valley State 14%, EMU 13%, WMU 11%, NMU 10%, Ferris State n/a</p>

<p>Average HS GPA: Michigan 3.8, MTU 3.6, MSU 3.6, GVSU 3.5, CMU 3.3, Oakland 3.3, Wayne State 3.3, WMU 3.3, Ferris State 3.2, EMU 3.1, NMU 3.1, Lake Superior State n/a, Saginaw Valley State n/a</p>

<p>Middle 50% ACT: Michigan 28-32, MTU 24-29, MSU 23-28, GVSU 21-26, CMU 20-25, WMU 20-25, Lake Superior State 20-24, Oakland 19-25, NMU 19-25, Ferris State 19-24, Wayne State 18-25, EMU 18-24, Saginaw Valley State 18-24</p>

<p>Despite one of the highest acceptance rates, Grand Valley State’s entering class stats are definitely stronger than most public colleges and universities in Michigan. Michigan Tech is a school that doesn’t get a lot of love on CC, but it’s worth a look, especially for engineering.</p>

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<p>Another measure is **6-year graduation rate:
**
University of Michigan 90%
MSU 77%
Michigan Tech 65%
GVSU 60%
WMU 56%
CMU 54%
NMU 49%
Ferris State 48%
Oakland 40%
EMU 39%
Saginaw Valley State 38%
Lake Superior State 33%
Wayne State 26%</p>

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<p>Actually bclintonk GVSU has a 63.3% graduation rate which is #4 in the state. In the next couple years GVSU will surpass Michigan Tech to have the #3 graduation rate in Michigan. Really the best way to compare colleges is 6 year graduation rates and GVSU is soon to be #3 in Michigan in graduation rates. </p>

<p>As for romani, it is laughable to say that Eastern Michigan is better than Grand Valley State University. The “people” who see it as the same level are either misinformed or ignorant or most likely both. Comparing Eastern to Grand Valley is like comparing the Toledo Mud Hens to the New York Yankees. I would say GVSU is at least the #3 public in Michigan, and some could make the argument for #2 in Michigan. Michigan Tech is a good school but their numbers are affected by all the prospective engineers that want to go Tech instead of MSU. Outside of engineering, Michigan Tech is average.</p>