Hope College

Date: Dec 20 2002
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
I could say a lot of things about Hope College, but I will not deny that the surrounding city of Holland is incredibly conservative, and the College definitely leans that way as well. However, I have found that with just a little effort, you can find people with all sorts of ideas and beliefs. Yes, the college is largely Caucasian and Christian, although many people are definitely doing what they can to help (note - I would highly recommend the Phelps scholars program to any incoming freshman, it is incredibly eye opening and lets you see issues of diversity in a whole new light).

I found the Christian dimension of the college to be very strong. Hope has an excellent Chapel program, I highly recommend going at least a couple times. However, there is room for a lot of personal growth as well, and the current services are fairly non-denominational, although I know that they weren’t necessarily so in the past.

The professors are nothing short of excellent. The English department is superb, and all of the professors I have had so far have taken a real interest in me and are very open to letting me do things outside of the box. I learned a lot in the classroom, but more importantly, my professors were available outside the classroom for discussion about academic and non-academic topics. There are, of course, exceptions, but I've had wonderful experiences with 90% of my professors. I also am a Computer Science student, and I would warn people against going to Hope strictly for CS. The professors are very good, but the department itself is very small, so the course offerings are way too limited. Still, it works well for a minor or secondary major, and the undergrad research opportunities are great.

The student body is probably the worst part - they are fairly homogeneous and both conservative and liberal students can often be close-minded. There are, however, quite a few people who are genuinely friendly and interested in dialogue on issues, even if they hold fast to their own opinions. If you take some time, it isn’t too hard to find people who are strong Christians but very open to different ideas.

So far, at least, I am very happy with my choice of Hope College, and I would recommend it for people going into the humanities, arts, and some of the sciences (the math, CS, and engineering depts. are all a little small). If you are someone who really wants a liberal group of students and teachers or a fairly large, liberal community, Hope is probably not for you, but if you don’t mind having both strong conservative and liberal elements on the campus, Hope is a good place to go.