The best thing about Knox is the size. I am at Arizona State right now and 55,000 people is very intimidating. I have classes of 200 people, and many classes I want or have to take are online and I hate them. At Knox, the professors are full-time faculty and your classes are always small discussion size. The one thing I often got frustrated about was the variety of classes offered, but once I got to a large university I found out that it is a problem there too. Most people when I told them I go to Knox they would have no idea what I was talking about. I spent most of my time in the theatre where I had a student work study in the costume shop or in the library. I never really left campus, and so I wouldn't really consider Galesburg a college town. There is plenty of stuff to do on campus, so I really only ventured out to the train station or grocery store. Knox's administration was always helpful and I knew many deans personally, who were willing to go out of their way to help me. The biggest controversy when I was on campus was a male Ginko tree that smelled really bad. Half of the people wanted to cut it down, half of the people fought to keep the tree. It was rather rediculous and silly in my opinion, but I am glad that that was the only major controversy we had to deal with. There is not much school pride, most of the sports teams were not very good, but basketball games were always packed and a lot of fun. The two major problems I had with Knox were the poor on campus housing conditions and extremely subjective grading. If you didn't like a professor in your department you didn't have the option to not take classes with them and thus I really think my grades suffered because of this. But the pros of a small campus might outway this issue to you, because at large universities you are graded by bubblesheets and often people who are not good test takers have much poorer grades there. It is important to assess your personal learning style and needs when picking the size of college you would want to attend.

Your professors always know your name, and you will see them frequently around campus and in the town. Once a year one of my professors (and I know many other who would do this) would have a pizza party at his house. My favorite class was Constitutional Law with Lane Sunderland. There were 12 kids in my class and it was taught just like it is at a law school. The way he led discussions really helped us digest the material, and his stories are always interesting and he is a wonderful professor at engaging the students. My least favorite class was Comparative Politics. The professor would curve everyone who got below a 70% on exams up to a 70%. So if you are fine getting a c- you could get literally a 20% on your exam and he would give you a c-. He really didn't try to teach anything, and discussions were awful and painful- and in a classroom of 20 kids you cannot avoid them. He made us do numerous irrelevant group projects and forced everyone to eat international food to earn our class participation points. Probably the most rediculous class I have ever taken. Students always have intellectual conversations outside of class, and study groups are common. There really isn't any sort of competative pressure, everyone is treated pretty equally. The most unique class I took was Politics and Elections. The entire class you just followed a senate campaign and studied up on your assigned candidates and so the class completely focused on real intuative skills you would use in any public policy or political fields. You had to write a paper in past tense about who won the race but turn it in at 7am on election day so you wouldn't actually know who won! It was stressful but exciting. I think having the structure of a liberal arts education is vital in today's job market. Knox focuses on learning for its own sake, but also has job placement and viable marketing techniques to make sure regardless of your major you have numerous opportunities upon graduation.

There are hundreds of clubs that are very open and engaging to all students, and no one would ever feel out of place at Knox. The number of international students is huge, and student networks are very strong. Most students wear jeans and t's or even their pjs to class, but those two girls that wore heels and mini's in november and the guys that would show up dressed for business meetings were well known as well. All different types of students interact and there is not a major clique division. In the dining hall there were never four tables of people I would not feel confortable sitting with. Everyone would know at least one person at every single table. Knox is great with providing financial aid, but since it is a private school, there were many wealthy kids from the Chicago area as well. Students are very politically aware and active, two recent commencement speakers include Barak Obama and Stephen Colbert (who even made a joke on his show about his emeritus diploma, and said he was going to burn it, so Knox responded to it by sending him a metal copy). No one talks about how much they'll earn one day, there isn't that kind of competitveness. Most people focus on what they are learning and doing today, and there isn't much worry about finding a job after graduation.

Most popular groups on campus are fraturnities and sororities, performing arts, and student senate. I was involved in all three of the above. Students will leave their bedroom doors opened, but for safety reasons, all dorm doors are locked regularly, and only propped open on rare occasions. Athletic events are not too crazy, but the basketball team was really good when I was there and so the stadium was always packed. Guest speakers were also very exciting and I would go to them often. Knox also would have comedians and musicans come in too. There was always a theatre performance going on. Students even in their freshman year commonly direct their own small performances, and they are very popular with the student body. The dating scene is really just like highschool. As silly as it sounds, with 1200 people, everyone knew everyone elses business! I met my closest friends at orientation, in the dorms, in the cafeteria, and in theatrical productions. If I was awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I was definately cramming for a test. Knox is fun, but their academics are tough and challenging. The biggest tradition is Flunk Day, where the admin surprises students by calling off classes one morning and has a beer garden, a petting zoo, a mud pit, and other outrageous activities throughout the day. People party every weekend, with typically multiple activities during the week, like going to see the jazz band at a local bar or just hanging out having a Lost marathon in your dorm. Fraturnities and sororities are very important but you don't have to be in one to be welcome to all of their events and parties. I was friends with girls not in my sorority and had many friends at all of the fraturnities. I felt safe going to a frat house on saturday night by myself, for I always knew 90% of the people there and everyone was very welcoming. There are always plenty of activites without drinking; and many parties did not emphasize drinking, but dancing. There were always costume and dance parties that were totally fun and there was no pressure to drink. There is also a coffee shop off campus that would have open mike nights and student groups would have activities and BBQ's that didn't have alcohol. I went off campus twice my entire time at Knox, once for a concert, and once for a movie, because there was always something to do, and my homework definately kept me busy.

That they are extremely liberal

to some extent; for every crazy liberal there is a crazy conservative, but the majority of the student body are non-judgemental progressives, in the sense they are opened minded, but lean toward supporting more civil and human rights than the conservatives in office do.