midwest - College Admission Counseling

Kalamazoo College – Great Value for Money

Jared Hobson — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:28:26 +0000

Kalamazoo College provides great value for money. Mark was able to spend some time on this campus, poking around and learning about what special characteristics Kalamazoo has to offer.
Watch this video to know more about what makes this Midwest college a good choice for students. Beyond the beautiful campus and great facilities, Kalamazoo offers a very strong liberal arts education.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
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You may read the transcription below:
I am here today on the campus of Kalamazoo College, which is in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It’s a medium sized city of about 225,000 people. It’s actually a big college town because Western Michigan University is also here. The Kalamazoo College is a small Liberal Arts college and if you look around, you know, you feel, it’s a surprise. That’s one of the things about the Midwest. It’s really a surprise to see this beautiful quad, the columns, the architecture. I mean you could swear you were on a New England campus somewhere, but here we are in the Midwest, excellent college.
Kalamazoo is know for a couple of things, one, its excellent teaching. It is one of the 40 Colleges That Change Lives, and it really focuses on undergraduate education, always has since it was founded in the early 1800s, and the second thing that really sets Kalamazoo apart is its International Studies Program. Like a few other colleges, University of Denver, Dartmouth, even Northwestern, it has a trimester schedule, so that makes it possible for students to take say ten to twelve weeks off of campus, and about 80% of the students here at Kalamazoo College spend some time overseas. So, the international focus of this school is really palpable.
It doesn’t have a really, really strong and diverse community although for a Midwestern Liberal Arts college it is more diverse than many, but certainly the attitude here is expansive and looking outward into the world. That’s always been one of the hallmarks of this college. It’s a beautiful, beautiful campus and brand new student center right here to my right, and we have also walked in the library, beautiful facility. Really this would be a wonderful place to go to college for someone who is serious about academics, who really wanted to spend their time learning in an undergraduate college and who had that desire to study abroad and to be among people who have that international attitude.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

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Drake University Revolutionizes The Way Languages Are Taught

Jared Hobson — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:14:39 +0000

Many students are seeking a medium-sized university in an urban area. Drake University really fills that bill. But one of the most interesting aspects of Drake University is its innovative foreign language program that focuses on proficiency in the language–rather upon the number of hours you sit in a classroom.

So if learning a language in college is one of your primary goals, then you might want to take a good, long look at Drake. (Besides, my grandfather graduated from Drake!).

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I am here right now on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and one of the things that a lot of the students are looking for is a medium-sized university in an urban area. Drake really fits that bill. It’s a beautiful campus right in the center of Des Moines – of course, Des Moines is not a huge urban area, but it’s a very attractive city, and medium sized, especially for students who want to get a taste of the mid-west, Drake would be an excellent option. One of the things that is interesting about Drake, I think as a former foreign language teacher, is that the method of teaching foreign language at Drake is much different from any other university. They have basically abolished the foreign language department as their usually constructed, at most universities, tend to focus on literature, and they have really focused on skills building. The idea is that anyone can learn a language as long as they do the work and go through different stages. So, they’ve done things with computer-based learning, and different milestones that every student must meet, and then they also have tutorials that are taught by native speakers in small groups, and this has allowed Drake to offer myriad languages that other universities are unable to offer, because it’s not about the faculty teaching about specific kinds of literature or history to a very narrow sub-specialty, but rather it’s about learning the language and being able to use it in everyday life, is what separates the Drake methodology from any other university.

Anyway, this is a great medium-sized university in a very solid mid-western city, and surprising in many regards. We just left the Des Moines Art Center; a really great center for contemporary art. So, don’t pass this one up if you’re looking for that medium-sized university in a city, you might want to take a look at Drake.

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