Knox Creative Writing Major

That Knox students are rich, white Chicago suburbanites who are pretentious as hell; that Knox is a really difficult school; that everyone is liberal.

The stereotypes about the students are really accurate; but the stereotypes about the school tend to give it a better image than it deserves. Knox isn't hard to get into or hard to succeed in.

The best thing about Knox has got to be the cultural diversity; there are students from all over the world. Having conversations with my peers was often times more educational than classroom experiences. However, there really isn't much to do here. There will be a couple of performing arts events per term, perhaps an art show here and there, but that's about it. Knox pulls in one "big" act per year, but they usually get some second-rate comedian or a magician - only recently has the school caught on that students would much rather have a live music act than something of that sort. Knox was just the right size when I began my first year in 2004 - right around 1200 students. Now, we're approaching 1400 and it's bad news. We're running out of places for students to live (they've resorted to building cramped dorm rooms in the basements of pre-existing residential buildings) and the relationships between students and faculty have suffered a lot. 3 years ago, Knox made the submission of standardized test scores optional on the application, and it clearly wasn't the best choice. I completely agree that the SAT and ACT are corrupt and inaccurate measures of intelligence and academic ability, but the classes that have entered Knox since the test-optional policy was instated are visibly less-intelligent than their predecessors. Knox is in Galesburg, IL - a town in which I've lived for ten years now. Galesburg is a relatively small town which has been plagued with economic plight for the past 6-7 years. Several large factories outsourced to other countries, leaving thousands of blue-collar workers unemployed. Stores began closing left and right, and people left Galesburg in search of new opportunities. Now, we have a mall with more vacant space than stores and no real opportunity for recreation. There are nice spots here and there - coffee shops, Lake Storey, Standish Park Arboretum, and nice restaurants downtown - but mostly, you're left wondering what to do with yourself in your downtime. So, Knox students devised their own solution to this problem: ALCOHOL! If you don't go out drinking 3-5 nights a week, you probably won't have many friends and you will probably hate Knox, and you will probably transfer. So it goes. The administration are money-grubbing appeasers, who have no problem lying to students to stop big problems from developing. The faculty are largely very intelligent, passionate, caring, and kind - although there is some anti-Greek sentiment here and there. Visiting faculty are almost always disappointing. The Greek system is big, with close to 10 organizations encompassing over 30% of the student population. Despite its size, the Greek system is largely a positive presence on campus and is not elitist.

Most classes are discussion-oriented, to make sure that students can apply what they're learning. Students and professors are nearly always on a first-name basis, and it's not uncommon to hold class at a professor's house or a restaurant from time to time. On average, I probably spent 15-20 hours a week studying, though I once pulled 17 all-nighters in one ten-week term. The Knox education is founded upon the fundamentals of liberal arts - that a truly educated person should have an understanding a many subjects. The goal is to turn students into world citizens who are conscious of the events taking place around them - so career-oriented education doesn't really have a place at Knox.