Kalamazoo College
Location: Kalamazoo, MI (suburban, small city)
Size: 1,467 students
Avg percent need-met: 94%
Acceptance rate: 76%
Middle 50% ACT: 25-31 **test optional**
Middle 50% SAT: 1170-1370 **test optional**
Kalamazoo takes a personalized approach to education with a flexible open curriculum, where students design a course of study that includes real world experience, service learning, and study abroad. Classes are tough and professors demand a lot, but the school is nationally recognized and fosters relationships between students and staff. Students are liberal and quirky, and the campus is truly run by and for the students.
Popular majors / known for: Biology/Bio-Med, Psychology, Foreign Languages, Literature, Linguistics, Physics/Chemistry
Academic approach:
Liberal arts with an emphasis on flexibility and experiential education through the K-Plan. An open curriculum allows students to customize their curriculum. About ⅔ of students participate in service learning projects, and all students complete an independent senior project.
Strong emphasis on experiential learning -- 71% of students participate in programs offered by the career center such as internships and externships, and 70% of students study abroad.
Campus traditions:
Day of Gracious Living - a day of no-class and encouraged community engagement on K’s campus that is not formally known to the students until the morning it is announced. Students wake to bells from the Stetson Chapel on campus to announce the day. (sounds so joyous!)
At Monte Carlo night, the campus community gathers to play casino games with ‘Monte Carlo money’ for prizes!
Check out campus photos here!
Quirky Aspects
As one K-zoo student notes: “Everybody here has a certain amount of weirdness to them, and we all love each other for it.” (The Fiske Guide)
Wide variety of clubs; unusual examples include the kalamazoo college coven, for exploring pagan spiritualism; the star trek club; and cirque du k, a circus performance organization
No general education requirements, meaning students can customize their academic experience with support from faculty to fit their individual interests.
Independent senior project can truly be what you make of it! Past examples include a discussion of a student’s original work of fantasy writing; a proposal for planting trees on kalamazoo campus; an original screenplay; and a case study of decolonization law in puerto rico.
Application Details
Test Optional
RD deadline: January 15th
Early Action deadline: November 1st
Supplemental essays: Yes
Application fee: $0
On Common App: Yes
CSS profile: N/A
Interviews: Considered
School also featured in: Great Likely Schools