Carthage College Visit Report by momofthreeboys

Visit Activities:

Information Session: Yes - Informative with more time spent on finaid that we've experienced.

Campus Tour: Yes - Broken into small groups of 3-5. Covered a couple dorms and all of the buildings.

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Campus:

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Students smiled and waved. Nice balance of students in the union, in the gym facility, in the library, in the coffee shops, in the dorms.

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Very accomodating. Our group "bumped into" the college president who took a few minutes to meet and greet and speak abit to our tour group.

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A really pretty campus with new apartment style dorms and an unbelievable gymnasium. One new dorm and a new student union in the plans.

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Everything was neat and tidy and in repair.

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Small rooms, but very nice dorms with traditional bath down the hall and newer apartment/suite style where each student has their own bedroom with a very small common area and suite bathroom.

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Security and maintenance people were high visible. Kenosha is a safe town.

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My youngest loved this place. My middle one who has been accepted, not as much.

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Off-Campus:

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The campus is on Lake Michigan with spectacular views. Kenosha is around 100,000 and then it turns to farm land.

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Everything one needs in terms of big box, pharmacies, etc. plus a couple outlet malls. College runs shuttles and students are allowed to have cars (including freshman).

Campus Visit Notes for Carthage College

Visit Description:

I was happy to take my son to see Carthage. He has applied and been accepted. The campus is quite beautiful. I had seen it when it was first built and I was surprised to see how wonderfully the campus has matured. The architecture is modern, but not, as my son would say "prison architecture." The campus is located right on Lake Michigan so it is quite breathtaking to look out all the windows on the east side of buildings, dorms, etc. and see the water. There are paths and benches on the water side and patios off the major buildings. The college has a Jan plan schedule and many kids use January to do foreign study at least once with many students going two or three times during January. There are an abundance of scholarships as well as automatic merit scholarships based on GPA/Test scores so the price for this private college is quite reasonable. While affiliated with the Lutheran church, students who designated as Lutheran comprise less than 30% of the campus. The athletic facilities are unbelieveable for a college of 2300 and the student body is heavily engaged in athletics both competitive and intramural. As my son says, the student body is almost all jocks and band kids. Pep band is a "paid gig" with pep band members earning $25 each for every game they play at. The campus is dry except for alcohol on major alumni and parent weekends. Most kids here "like" that the campus is dry. Most kids live on campus all four years and a student can only petition to move off for senior year. It is not a suitcase college and seems to have plenty of scheduled activities in addition to the sports teams. Buildings are located on two sides of a narrow drive that runs the length of campus. It is very easy to walk from one end to the other. The business building, theater and science buildings are all connected. The dorms are quite close to the cafeteria. The library is really beautiful and has won awards. There is a coffe shop/food court in the library and even though it was a Friday afternoon, the libray was hopping with studiers. I was impressed.

Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:

We did not stay overnight

Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:

Only ate in the cafeteria

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

Kenosha is the last "metra stop" for trains that go into downtown Chicago. There is also bus service to Milwaukee from the campus.