@lisabees
Absolutely! I felt a strong sense of community at K. It is a small school and people support one another and attend their friends’ performance/events. When I was a student, the school was open year round — most juniors and seniors took classes in the summer— and almost everyone lived on campus when they weren’t studying abroad or doing internships. I’m kind of sad about the change to be honest, because I liked summer classes, but I’m not overly concerned about a lack of community. It seemed to me that most people established a core group of friends during freshmen and sophomore years through res life, classes and activities and, junior year, the majority of students study abroad. I met up with some of my best friends over breaks/the winter holiday during our study abroad and we traveled together which was a blast and strengthened our already close friendships. I think this is a pretty common practice for those who are studying abroad in the same region. The fluidity is part of K’s culture and friends who travel for study abroad, internships, etc, are welcomed back into the fold when they return.
At any rate, I suspect that living off campus with established friends, at the end of junior/during senior year, wouldn’t be a huge problem in terms of community. I do worry about this year’s freshmen who are currently doing school virtually from home (and hoping to start on campus in the winter which is iffy.) It is not an ideal situation but that is true for most right now. I am hopeful that by next fall, things will begin to return closer to normal.
Academically, Kalamazoo can be intense. I think this can be especially true in the sciences but other areas as well. K is known for having a great reputation for med school and graduate school acceptances with good reason. I think my year 1/3 of the class started off as biology majors 
and the first semester bio class was a definite weeder. Overall, the trimester system is wonderful for bright, motivated students who like to engage with and go in depth with their coursework. I much preferred taking 3 classes to the 7-8 I had in high school. Like all LACs, the professors are there to teach and genuinely care about their students.
It certainly is not Philly but Kalamazoo is a small city with lots of artistic, social work/justice and scientific opportunities. Nearby Portage is the manufacturing headquarters of Pfizer and where they will be producing the Covid vaccine. Kalamazoo College campus is lovely and secluded but is a quick 15 minute walk from Western Michigan University (if you are looking for a larger sports/party scene) and a 15 minute walk to downtown where there is a museum, theater, public library, shops and restaurants. If you have a car or take a bus/Uber, you have fairly easy access to the typical popular retail and restaurant outlets. I also had friends who volunteered for Tillers International http://www.tillersinternational.org/ during college and joined the Peace Corp after college/before grad school. Kalamazoo is about 30 minutes from the Michigan beaches and 2-2:30 hours from Chicago and Detroit … We are from a popular college town area where there is a lot to do and, though my daughter is an introvert and a bit of a homebody, she likes to have options and feels like she would go stir crazy if a place is too remote. When we toured K, she said that it felt like it had enough of a balance to meet her needs.
Sending best wishes to your daughter in the coming weeks/months. It is challenging to make these decisions without being able to see the full picture in person. D21 is hoping that there will be admitted student opportunities, if only virtual, for K and Beloit coming up.
D21 is looking forward to a fresh start and meeting some kindred spirits. To be fair, I’m a lot like D21. I hated high school too and I thrived at Kalamazoo, socially and academically. I worked hard but made wonderful friends, had a lot of fun and never found it to be beyond my capacity.