How religious is Calvin College? [international]

CalvinAlum2013
Mon, 19 Dec 2016 03:27:42 +0000

Mundanewarrior–Great questions. I am a pretty fresh Calvin graduate and would be happy to help you out. Grand Rapids is a great urban location. It is a really fun town, with a lot of artsy places, bars, and restaurants. Also, it has great residential options for when you choose to live off-campus.

Yes, Calvin is a christian liberal arts college. It is not merely christian on the surface or in name only. The curriculum included 2-3 religious course while I was there. Even my roommate, who was an atheist, enjoyed taking them. The student body is diverse in christian denominations, but still mainly christian. The college is based in the reformed tradition so few students are hardcore catholics (you will learn more about the difference if you choose to attend).

The restrictions are not nearly as strict as fundamentalist colleges (e.g., Bob Jones, Liberty). The only “rule” I can think of is some limited dorm hours. To the above poster referring to coffee–haha–all students chug coffee. It is a very dutch college and people drink more coffee than water. They also have smoke pits on campus for cigarettes, cigars, or pipes for the philosophy majors (many Canadians attend Calvin and they smoke quite a bit). Parties are very common, even though the college has no greek life active.

Lastly, to you (but not me), the college has a pretty heavy international presence. All of the international friends I had were very happy with their choice to attend. I hope you reach out to the Calvin admissions office. They can give you more specific information.

Any more questions?