Kalamazoo College

1200 Academy St, Kalamazoo, MI

Last updated 8/27/2026

Kalamazoo College, founded in 1833, built its national reputation around the "K-Plan," a curriculum requiring every student to complete a study-abroad term, an extended career internship, and an independent senior thesis project as graduation requirements rather than optional enrichment activities. The college's study-abroad participation rate is among the highest of any American undergraduate institution, with a large majority of students completing at least one term overseas, a level of mandatory international experience baked directly into the degree requirements that few peer liberal arts colleges match in scale. Kalamazoo's small size, around 1,400 undergraduates, and its quarter-based academic calendar, unusual among liberal arts colleges that typically run on semesters, give the college a distinctive academic rhythm that supports the K-Plan's emphasis on discrete, focused terms spent on internships or study abroad. The college's consistently strong record of graduates completing doctoral degrees relative to its size, combined with its distinctive mandatory experiential curriculum, has made Kalamazoo a frequently cited model among liberal arts colleges seeking to build career-relevant experience directly into an otherwise traditional liberal arts degree.

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