Reasons for choosing K

Analyzing the factors that lead students to choose Kalamazoo was an interesting yet eventful process. There are several different aspects that have to go into formulating survey questions for students to answer, yet a lot of those questions were not the correct ones. After countless hours of research, pinpointing some of the main factors that caused students to choose K as well as comparable factors that most students shared, the process was still a little blurry.

However, most students did share a few different characteristics across the board: high test scores. As could be expected, most students who go to K likely scored high on their ACT/SAT as well as had a high GPA. We were unsure as to how high those numbers would be after 22 of our 38 surveys were completed by athletes. Yet, Kalamazoo students still had terrific numbers, with an average ACT score of 28.6 (out of 36) and an average H.S. GPA of 3.74 (on a 4.0 scale). Those numbers were even higher than we might have expected.

Another aspect that we took a look at and expected to have a number over zero was the amount of students from the same high school that also attended K. The average K student has an average of 2.5 people from their high school attend K. This was a number we expected to be around this area, and most people are prone to follow their friends to high school.

Another number we expected to be high was parental influence. On a 1-10 scale, the average K student said their parents influenced them on a 4.7 basis. We expected this number to be a little higher, but after thinking about it, parental influence was likely to be greater on students whose parents attended K.

In any event, Kalamazoo students scored very high on tests, had high GPAs, and had students from their same high school attend K with them.