<p>Hey, what you guys think of Knox College? ( Academically, campus, Reputation)</p>
<p>It is a solid school academically. Has a great pre-med program with Rush College of Medicine in Chicago that lets you apply there at the end of your sophomore year of college. Very strong creative writing and english programs as well. Appears to have a decent rep in the midwest, little known outside of there but its national rep is growing, as are those of many of the midwestern colleges. My sense is that if Knox were located in the northeast, it would be much harder to get into and have a more national rep. They usually provide good merit awards to their best students. I'll be visiting at the end of March and will post a trip report in the parents board at the start of April.</p>
<p>Knox is a relatively unknown gem of a school. I sort of forced my S to visit just to get him to look at a small liberal arts school. He ended up liking the school better than just about all he visited. We went to Vandy, Northwestern, UIUC, Purdue, Bradley, WUStL, St Ambrose and Augustana. He liked the grounds at WUStL and Vandy and nothing compared to the dorms at St Ambrose, but he said it just 'felt' like a place you could learn. Knox didn't offer the program he decided to go with or I think he may have gone there. </p>
<p>The football field is one of the best places to watch a small college game, IMHO. It's located down in a bowl and the students have a really great time. Old Main is also the last remaining site of the Lincoln- Douglass debates. Lots of history. </p>
<p>carolyn, be sure to ask about 'flunk day' while you're there.</p>
<p>I am a bit biased about Knox as I grew up in one of the houses now owned by the school. If you have any questions about Galesburg or the surrounding area, feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Mac, Daughter already has heard about flunk day --- I think that is one of the reasons Knox has stayed on her list. :) Recently, she found out that they have Peace Corps prep program - one of only three schools in the country that do - which is something she would like to do after college. If you have any recommendations on local lodgings, please PM me. Thanks!</p>
<p>what is galesburg like compare to New York City?</p>
<p>Can you say, "night and day"?</p>
<p>Icemaker LOL! NYC, Galesburg is a small midwestern town - the city closest to NY in size is Chicago which is at least 3 hours drive away from Galesburg. The nearest airport is 45 minutes away from what I can figure. </p>
<p>By the way, Icemaker, my daughter still has Beloit and Earlham on her list - right now she's leaning towards Earlham but we'll see after we visit both later this month. Keep your fingers crossed!</p>
<p>Mac,</p>
<p>I "sort of forced" my daughter to look and apply to Knox for the same reason. She has always said she wanted to go to a big school but I wanted her to at least apply to a couple of smaller LACs just in case she changed her mind. Well, she has been accepted to Knox with merit aid and they are "winning" in terms of calls, letters, etc. so I think it has finally peaked her interest. One of her major concerns is that there won't be anything to do "out in the middle of nowhere." I would appreciate any info you can gave me on the surrounding area that I could pass on to her.</p>
<p>Carolyn --</p>
<p>Your response typifies your important role on this board (you provide cogent, useful information -- while I simply provide a smart a** comment). </p>
<p>I read about your upcoming Tour de Midwest. I hope that the trip provides you and your daughter with some useful insights. It is good to hear that both Bel-wah and Earlham are still in the running (as they are the two school closest to my heart). In my humble opinion, you have chosen a nice mix of schools to visit (if I remember correctly, Earlham, Beloit, Knox and Lake Forest).</p>
<p>Knox is one school that doesn't really seem to come across with a strong personality on paper but that I suspect may be a good fit for my daughter if she visits. Her main turn off to Knox is the presence of frats/sororities (has been a deal-breaker for quite a few schools so far) so if anyone (Mac?) has any sense of the role they play in the social scene, that would be good info. for her. </p>
<p>Icemaker, it's funny but my son got a hold of the course catalog for Beloit and was literally chomping at the bit at some of the classes. Of course, this was a turn off for my daughter who decided that any school that has classes that would appeal to her brainiac brother isn't going to be right for her. Maybe we will end up like your family - with one kid at Beloit and one at Earlham. Who knows?</p>
<p>I'm kind of on the run so I'll answer the frat question now and the area question when I can go into more depth.</p>
<p>Knox has frats/sororities on campus and they do play a major role in campus life. I think you'll find that to be the case at a lot of small LACs. While they're there, it's not as big a deal as at a DePauw. I know people that went independent and were perfectly happy. The two co-exist pretty well as size kind of dictates they do. I wouldn't let it be a deal breaker.</p>
<p>What a small world! My husband wen't to Knox. Did you go to St. Joseph's Academy?</p>
<p>lol! Why yes I did. I had so many family members at St. Joes that there was at least one of us in each grade (1-8) for over 8 years running. There were 3-4 in some grades. The funny thing is that I live in Terre Haute, IN now. That's where the nuns that ran St. Joes, IHM and Costa order, the Sisters of Providence, is based. I'm also a graduate of Knox College Kindergarten! I was Owen Muelders paperboy too!</p>
<p>I have two families in mind that might be yours. I wen't to St. Joe's too. Where do your children go to school?</p>
<p>I live in Terre Haute, IN now, but I have two brothers left at home and one in AZ. The ones in the 'Burg have kids at Steele, Churchill and GHS. They've graduated to the north side. I'm getting ready to send my son to Bradley in the fall, unless something drastic happens with Northwestern or VA Tech in the financial aid department. He was actually looking at the 3/2 engineering program Knox has with UIUC so he could get aid at Knox and establish residency in IL before he went to UIUC. He decided that he could be well on his way to a ME in 5 years instead of 2 bachelors degrees. Our checkbook thinks that's a good move.</p>
<p>I'll always have fond memories of St. Joes. My W is the exec dir of a domestic violence agency here and when she started on the job she had a nun as a vol. The nun told her she would remember her name because there was a very nice family in her hometown by the same name. W asked where she was from and she said Galesburg. My wife laughed and told her it was the same family. Her other two sisters are Sisters too! Their mom was my 2nd grade teacher. </p>
<p>Were you one of the girls that thought they'd go to St Mary of the Woods when they got older?</p>
<p>About the area: The city and the college are both rich in history and their past is inextricably intertwined. George Washington Gale had already founded the Oneida Institute in NY as a manual labor school. Graduates of his school would later move on and found Lane Theological and Oberlin. A graduate of Knox Academy (the college prep school), Hiram Revels, would go on to become the first African-American United States Senator and later found Alcorn State College. Knox also conferred President Lincoln his first honorary doctorate. In those days, Knox maintained a mens college and a womens seminary. During the civil war, so many men left to fight that they had to merge the men and women together. After the war, the head of the womens seminary resigns in protest of the efforts to maintain the separate schools. The students boycott the President, he resigns, the schools are merged, and the former seminary head goes on to become the first president of Wellesley. The father and three brothers of author Harriet Beecher-Stowe were presidents and/or professors at Knox, as was George Ferris, who migrated west to settle in Carson, NV. He is responsible for much of the landscaping of Carson City. In 1876 he planted the blue spruce that is the official NV state Christmas tree. His son grew up to invent the Ferris wheel.</p>
<p>Galesburg was also a very important industrial city. It is the home of the Central Military Tract Railroad that grew into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. This later became the Burlington Northern and is now the BNSF. The yards in Galesburg were once the largest in the world, with 225 miles of trackage within the city. Chicago was busiest, but Galesburg was biggest. The yards come within a stones throw of the college campus. Purington brickyard, once the largest brickyard in the world was also located there. As a result of this late 19th/early 20th century industrial base, you will see what is probably the finest collection of Victorian-style homes in a city of that size anywhere. Many of them are Queen Anne with the accompanying turrets, spindles, etc. </p>
<p>Before I get off of the history of the Burg I have to mention that it is also the birthplace of Carl Sandburg, the poet and Lincoln biographer. </p>
<p>If youre interested in more early history, a book titled They Broke the Prairie by Ernest Elmo Caulkins (sp?) is an excellent read. Living in Indiana, I particularly enjoy his definition of Hoosier. ;)</p>
<p>Enough history. On to modern Galesburg.</p>
<p>Galesburg is the typical midwestern small town struggling to survive in a declining American manufacturing environment. One of the areas largest employers, Maytag, recently moved production to Mexico. I think this leaves the BNSF as the largest employer. There are several smaller companies scattered around town, mostly in distribution. The campus is located in the older part of town and the south and west sides of campus border a not so great area. Knox has been doing an excellent job in buying up the houses bordering the campus to act as a buffer though. Nearly all of the off-campus activities will be to the north of campus in the downtown area. The Seminary Street area, with the Calico Cat, Cook and Co., Stray Cat Art, Landmark Café and Creperie, Chez Willys, Uncle Billys Bakery, Cornucopias Vegetarian Deli, and the Innkeeper coffee house are popular places. Cherry Street Brewing Company has a Jazz and Blues night too. Pizza House, Alfanos, and Audis fulfill the pizza fix. The usual suspects also have delivery. New China, Hammers, and Cherry Street also have decent food within walking distance. There is a small mall on the far North side of town that is served by the bus line. It has the usual food court and is surrounded by chains. You might drop into the Rib Shack for a change. Its been years, but I always enjoyed their rib tips. Jaliscos probably has the most authentic Mexican food, as the Burg has a sizeable Hispanic population. If your D goes to Knox, and you get real adventurous, you might try Johns Taco Hideout. Its a way out of the way place that has a small, but fervent, following. There is even a Maid-Rite sandwich shop that serves the original loose-meat sandwich.</p>
<p>OK. I need to take a bit of a break now. Feel free to ask more questions.</p>
<p>Mac,</p>
<p>Wow...thank you SO much for all the info. I really do appreciate your time. I am printing this out to give to my daughter. The history of the college is fascinating. They called again last night but my daughter missed the call. She has a list of questions she wants to ask them and I'm hoping they call back tonight. By the way, my sister and her husband lived in Ft. Wayne for the past 2 years and had to move to Florida recently for a career move and she really misses Indiana. She said the people were really down to earth like the ones we grew up with in Michigan. Thanks again, Mac.</p>
<p>Mac, Thanks from me as well - I also am printing it out for my Daughter - she will like hearing about the restaurants and stores. One of her concerns with a school in a small town is having somewhere (anywhere) to get off campus once in a while. </p>
<p>By the way, what's Bradley like? We will be passing Peoria on our way between Richmond Ind. and Galesburg and thought we might do a quick drive by if we have time - they have a social work major, something of interest to my daughter. But, I don't know much about Bradley so any info. you could provide would be terrific.</p>
<p>Bradley is a well respected school. It is mid-sized - about 5k in undergrads. No football, good soccer, and a rich basketball history. It is known for engineering and business. As with many other established schools, it has the same issues with location in a mature, evolving neighborhood. The campus is large enough to provide a good buffer though. Very Chicago-centric. The campus is pretty nice, although it is showing some age. Peoria is the largest metro area in Illinois outside of Chicago. My son really felt it was a good fit between the massive engineering schools like UIUC and Purdue, smaller ones like Rose-Hulman and minute upstarts like Olin. We've done two of the visit days and one unofficial visit and we were treated very well both time. I think you'll get more personal attention than the biggers schools but not as much as Knox.</p>
<p>Is this an auto road-trip or are you flying out? If you're flying, you might consider visiting the Quad-Cities and looking at St. Ambrose for an afternoon. Even a drive would put you on I80 for a straight shot back east. I know they have a MSW program, although I'm not sure about undergrad. It's a very nice school and, being a Catholic school, no frats. You'll be hard pressed to find better living arrangements anywhere else. Big rooms, private restrooms and semi-private baths - they even clean the rooms twice a week! We went to check out their IE program and we were pretty impressed with everything we saw - the students, faculty, even the President came by to talk with the group. One of the deciding factors was the size of the IE program. There were only 12 grads/yr. The chair is a grad of both Bradley and Purdue, so he gave us some honest insight into the pros and cons of all three programs. His comments are probably what tipped the scales in Bradleys favor with my S.</p>
<p>It's an auto trip. We'll be flying to Dayton, visiting Earlham then driving to Galesburg before going on to Beloit and Lake Forest. I was thinking about a drive by of Augustana in the Quad cities as well - I'll have to gather some info. on St. Ambrose, it's one that is not on my radar. I will check to see about the SW under grad major.</p>