Calvin College

Date: Nov 11 2004
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
I loved Calvin. After doing graduate work at two other universities in other states, I can honestly say that, in comparison, my education at Calvin was the best. When I was at Calvin, I didn't realize how privileged I was to have excellent teachers who cared about their students and were also successful in their fields. At other institutions, I have had experience with good scholars who are bad teachers, but at Calvin, all my professors were very good teachers. Furthermore, my professors actually cared about me as a human being, and worked with me to help me succeed.

The one critique I have of Calvin is that, back in the late '80s when I graduated, the English Department was behind the curve when it came to teaching postmodernism and deconstruction. I understand that many of the faculty probably didn't ascribe to those views, but when I went off to an Ivy League grad school, I was totally unprepared to engage in the "conversation" about those subjects. (As a result, I ended up dropping out and have just recently gone back to grad school to try one more time to get that MA/PhD.) From what I understand, however, the department has remedied that deficiency; I've been impressed by the accomplishments of the current faculty. I'd be interested to hear what more recent English grads have to say.

Calvin is a great place. I highly recommend it to anyone.