<p>Kzoo is my second choice to UM ann arbor, but its such a huge difference. I've looked around and the numbers I'm seeing for the freshman class are less than 400, which is not much larger than my high school class, which I really don't like. Are these the right numbers? I like the small class size and their strong German program but I want a great college experience and I don't know if a class that small will do it for me.</p>
<p>Personally, I think such a small class will make my college experience that much better, but K is at the opposite end of the spectrum from UMich. So if you don't want such a small class, then you might want to reconsider... </p>
<p>I find pro/con lists always help in these situations.</p>
<p>The number is right. If you are sure that you want over a thousand people in your freshman class, then Kalamazoo is not for you.
Like magneticpoet, Fang Jr thinks a small close intellectual community, and plenty of attention from professors, will make the perfect college experience. I'm guessing most of the students at K chose it for just that reason. Different students fit in different colleges. Have you looked at schools with around 5000-6000 undergraduates? That might suit you better.</p>
<p>My S is a freshman at K this year majoring in German. He was about to go to U of M as that is where many of his friends went and he thought K would be too small. After an organized visit to U 0f M, he decided he hated their campus. Study abroad there wasn't much more than a glorified extended spring break (according to our tour guide) and that sealed the deal for going to K. S is not into fraternities or sports. He gets great personal attention and is very happy.</p>
<p>It all depends on specifically why you want a larger class. Academically, what everybody has said remains true. K is a very small school, so it is a tightly-knit but admittedly petite academic community. In virtually all other aspects, however, K is a part of a medium-sized college town due to next-door neighbor Western Michigan University, a school of over 20,000 undergrads. In any case, it's definitely worth visiting to get a better idea, and to get a good idea of the K community you should really check out the whole area.</p>