Carthage college Reviews

The student body is made up of 95% mute individuals (based on repeated observations of the systemic lack in in-class engagement and participation). Okay maybe they're not actually mute, but seriously, this college has a severe problem with its student body. I cannot in good conscious recommend this college to anyone attending college primarily for an education. A significant portion of learning in college comes from one's interaction with their peers, so it is essential to make sure the student body (in addition to the courses) challenges and inspires you.
The faculty are forced by economic necessity to dumb down their classes so enough students can pass to sustain the college's finances (based on off-the-record conversations with over a dozen faculty members from a number of departments). A number of the classes are complete jokes, total blowoff classes (most likely to increase GPAs). Some, usually the smaller niche ones, are fantastic. If you do go here, befriending the professors is key.

The faculty are friendly, accessible, and highly qualified even if some don't know how to make decent PowerPoint presentations. Class sizes are rarely above 20 students.

The campus is strikingly beautiful, but the interiors of some older buildings are quite underwhelming. The college doesn't skimp on landscaping.

The campus is also designed to isolate itself from the surrounding community. I see this as a negative, though certain kinds of parents might see this as a positive. The campus's walkability with Kenosha is properly poor. If you plan on frequenting the downtown, a bike or skateboard is a must.

The buildings aren't open 24/7 which is incredibly annoying.

Also it gets seriously cold in the winters. Bring a jacket.

It's a welcoming college for the politically conservative. It's not so good if you want a diverse student body.

I'd give it 40%.
Could try harder.

Beautiful campus on the shores of Lake Michigan. It's sandwiched between Chicago and Milwaukee. Traffic is a challenge on the interstates at times delaying travel time to and from campus. Carthage is one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation. Awesome college to attend!

It's a nice college, beautiful views, and well maintained facilities. Went there for undergraduate and graduate studies.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. Only go here if you want to be treated like a wallet and nothing else. I will give a lot of backstory so you can properly understand why I have such an opinion.

Coming in my Freshman year I was informed by my Freshman Advisor, Alejandro Medellin, that I had tested high enough in my Spanish proficiency test to not have to take any Spanish classes. The way it sounds, he told every Freshman he could that they could just not take the Spanish. I only found out my Junior year of college, while being a part of a completely optional group (peer coaching) during an optional meeting that what he informed us was actually wrong, and that we did need Spanish credits. Following that incident I took a 4000 level Carthage Symposium class that counted towards both Spanish and Humanities with the understanding that Carthage Symposium classes are capable of counting toward either of the subjects it was under. My senior year, after meeting with my advisor, I had been informed that this information, provided to me via 2 years of peer coaching and 1 year of freshmen advising, was actually wrong and that there needed to be very specific qualifications for it to count. I was lucky and was able to beg and send various emails to get my Spanish requirement waived during the Fall of my Senior Year.

My Freshman year I also took an introductory computer science class, taught by Perry Kivolowitz. The class had 2 imbedded tutors for it, and they made sure to show up to as many classes and were as available as possible. They made sure to let us know early on that the assignments we were doing were above the level of an introductory computer science class. They also had some issues as the assignments got more and more challenging as they were not provided any sort of assistance from the professor. They were having to figure out solutions that matched our knowledge on the fly, which meant they were typically only capable of figuring out 1 solution in general. Our tutoring sessions usually had about 10-15 students in them, all struggling to understand how to even begin the assignments. Our tutors would try to walk us through the assignments as best they could, but as they only knew of one way to solve them we were only able to get one type of solution. This became a problem when Professor Kivolowitz started to take off 15% from our homework grades if we had visited the tutors. So if you visited the tutors, then chances are you had working code that was similar to other people as there were only 2 tutors that had other responsibilities as well. On the flip-side of this Professor Kivolowitz was handing out 100% to anyone who had original code, even if it didn't work at all. So you could turn in an assignment with minimal coding, not even working, and still receive a 100% for the course overall. The tutors and students were upset about this, but the tutors also tried to discuss why this grading was wrong. He would not listen and stuck to taking 15% from any assignment if you had visited tutors.

My Sophomore year was pretty much the only good year I had at Carthage and I have to say "good" lightly at that.

In between my Sophomore and Junior year my dad got into a motorcycle accident and became paralyzed from the chest down. This comes into play when I include that he was the main income for my household and that the Carthage is insanely expensive so he was able to take some of the pressure away from paying the outrageous prices. I had appealed to the Carthage Financial Aide Office to get some sort of "emergency financial aid" as this was an unexpected event in our lives. Carthage decided that my dad being paralyzed from the chest down and being hospitalized from June 2019 - February 2020 was worth $2,000 of their time, which doesn't even cover a day in the hospital.

This was just in my first 2 years, I have more but I've hit my character limit so I will include it on a separate review.

A small four year college that allows you to bond with professors and learn much about our world.

Beautiful campus and impressive athletic facilities.

Our daughter's sophomore year just started, and she loves Carthage! This year she is happy to have a beautiful view, too

It's a beautiful campus with mach care for nature. The quality of education has always been held high. The one challenge with the location can be the colder temperatures and the flooding that often occures around the campus. Carthage stays active in creating a better atmosphere and offers a lot to get students involved.

Please do Not go to Carthage college for the Accelerated Certification in Teaching. A) The ACT program in Carthage College isn't Nationally accredited, so none of the credits taken here can be transferred to another University because there was no practicum/observation hours attached to the classes. This is something most universities do for documentation purposes. B) The classes you'll learn here aren't foundational courses, even for Special Ed., i.e, "Methods of Structured English, Methods of Teaching Math, Methods of Teaching Language Arts, etc". Instead you'll take courses with no text books required or read books like "For White Folks Who Teach in The Hood", which is no where comparable to learning from actual teaching text books. You'll mostly write about your opinions and experiences in teaching for these classes which may or may not have validity. C) You'll have to find your own job for the internship portion and you'll be evaluated by two mentors (one from Carthage and one from the job site). This is difficult. I didn't learn the basic foundations from Carthage college, and neither will you. When talking to the program director about required foundational classes, I was told "to go back to undergrad" to learn it. D) The ACT program itself isn't graduate school, it only leads to a Master's later on, so it uses all the undergrad funding from the federal loan. I was told that the ACT program is $16,500 approx., but upon enrollment, I had to pay an additional $8,000+ out of pocket, so the total for the program is around 24,000+. , not worth it for a program that isn't nationally accredited or teaching basic foundational courses. E) The ACT program isn't consistent. Initially, students were able to be placed in an internship per needed, now students have to find a job on their own, which is more difficult when you're not licensed. Financially, they say one thing (cost 16,500 approx.) then turn around and say something else (cost 24,000+). Universities, usually give students a copy of the breakdown of finances beforehand, and this is something concise and consistent year after year. Most universities place students in internships and prepare them yearly. So, beware. This is only my experience here. Please go somewhere reputable, nationally accredited, and consistent.

Lovely campus right on Lake Michigan. Looks like a great place to attend college