Albion College

Date: May 06 2005
Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
Albion has been a love/hate thing for me. I transferred in mid-year, and from the get-go I've wanted to leave. Students seemed to be of a homogenous background (rich and spoiled Detroit suburb babies) and not interested in learning much of the world around them. I spent more than a few months comparing Albion, its academics and its aesthetics, to its surrounding Great Lake College Association (GLCA) schools (comparing their aesthetics/strength of academics), being observant of the functioning of the school, and reading up on its history.

I eventually came to a few conclusions:

You MUST tour other schools before you decide on here, or anyone else, or you will berate yourself for months. Even if you would've eventually decided on Albion anyway, you'll feel "robbed" by not realizing you had more choice in the matter of choosing a college then just "MSU/Umich or Albion".

Albion, in comparison to its fellow GLCA schools, seems to have a history of playing catch up every thirty years or so, on the coattails of its peer institutions. Oberlin, Kenyon and Denison, over the past five years, have spent a significant amount of time and money on developing their science centers—with amazing results. Albion, as a consequence, is now too, with a near $40-million campaign devoted exclusively to the renevating and additions upon its aging Norris/Putnam/Palenske groupings. And the results will be awesome. If it weren't for these resources, as a Bio and Neuroscience major, I honestly don't think I would stick around. It'd be nice though for our college to be a bit more trailblazing.

The professors are amazing, and it's hard to imagine attending a bigger school where discussion would be so limited. They're very supportive of independent research, but sometimes in the sciences it feels difficult to do much more than assist upon a professor's individual project—but it is possible. The school has great resources devoted to undergraduate research, so if you express any interest in that, look forward to spend a fun summer or two getting paid $3k over a ten-week period around campus.

The campus is beautiful. Sure, the odd 70's building is a bit of an eyesore, but the Georgian architecture and trees in bloom and large Chapel have a very calming effect.

The town is rundown and depressed as a result of factories closing, yes, but it's visceral and real. Its charm is hard to deny though. Campus/town interaction is low, as a result of a difficult off-campus housing policy, which is a shame, as it'd only increase relations and the economic success of the city.

Your peers. It's quite easy to badmouth and dismiss everyone as dumb and closedminded, but I find myself quite surprised now and then on people's intellects and success. The Elkin-Isaac research symposium highlights this especially.

Social scene: All quite cliquey and greek-driven. Work hard to create your own group, yet if you wish to avoid high school-like distractions, try to bounce around and keep things light. Otherwise your academics will suffer. It also can be a bit discerning to date someone, break up with them, then see them around campus ALL THE TIME. Consider fishing in nearby MSU/WMU/KCollege/Umich's dating pools.

Now, I'm a Biology and Neuroscience major. The former pleases me, but the latter could use work, from what I can discern. It's an interesting mix of biological/philosophical/psychological aspects, but for those looking for a program in "Cognitive Science" (the above with input from the disciplines of AI/Computer Programming/Linguistics) please look elsewhere. Albion does not have this.

Oh—I love Albion now. Yet I still ponder leaving in the Winter for Umich/another small school. Try not to do this. I'm sure you'll have more fun if you don't.