You’re going to attend a university to get a degree, but most of us will agree that there’s more to college than academics. Some might say that more than others, but that’s another topic. But the fact is that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy (or a compulsive worker, but on the bright side it probably gives him an outstanding GPA), and student life on campus reflects that. There are more opportunities to enjoy oneself on campus than I care to count, and the truth is that I don’t actually know all of them.
We’ve got around 270 student clubs and organizations on campus, and that number keeps climbing (I’m waiting until there are 299 clubs and then making a Gerard Butler appreciation club). If we don’t have the club that you’re looking for, you only need four students and faculty approval to make a club. We don’t have a paper airplane club, you say? Well, find three friends and you’re the president of it. And that’s not to mention student government or intramural sports. If you don’t know about any of the campus clubs, you won’t have to worry about it; the first or second week of class, we have “Campus Life Night,” where all of the clubs cram themselves into the arena of the field house and advertise themselves to students.
If you’re looking for sports, GVSU hosts seventeen Division II varsity sports (counting men’s and women’s), as well as cheerleading. In addition to that we have three seasons on intramurals, with fourteen Fall, thirteen Winter, and four Spring sports. But if you’re like me, and have the hand-eye coordination of a blind sloth, there are great work out facilities for independent exercising, and all of the varsity events at home are free for students to attend.
But don’t think that you absolutely have to be a part of a club or sport on campus. We encourage students to get involved with student life, but if you’re outgoing and independent, you can still meet people and enjoy your time here through your own channels. We just happen to offer a vast array of opportunities.
-Kyle
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Visit Choices
Presumably a majority of readers of this blog are high school students, parents of students, or potential transfer students (if you’re a current student reading this, don’t take any offense, but you could probably find a better source of information). Which means that one thing most of you will want to do relatively soon is come up and visit our campus. That’s right, this post won’t even be about the campus itself, just the visits, so if you’ve already had a tour you can go ahead and skip this entry.
You’ve got three main choices for dropping by the campus. You can take a tour of the Allendale Campus, which is what most visitors do. This tour covers dining, housing, academics, the whole nine yards, and normally includes two to four families. When you visit is completely up to you, just realize that there aren’t a lot of students on campus during the summer (despite having summer classes), and a majority of dining is closed down during that period. Summer tours do have one advantage, though, in that they have the opportunity to see more of housing, while school year tours can only see the apartment style dorm. The second option is to have a counselor appointment, which can be done individually or in conjunction with a tour. This is a chance to sit down, more or less “one-on-one” with an admissions counselor to talk about admissions, costs, the application process, etc. Keep in mind that this isn’t the same as an academic advisor; the counselors won’t be able to tell you what classes to schedule. The third option is a Preview, which is a group visit that is similar to an appointment in that the same basic information is covered, but in a much more structured format. Approximately 10 families meet in one of our conference rooms, and an admissions counselor walks through all of the basics of the school. In all of the situations there is the opportunity for the same information, it’s just presented in different formats.
One alternative to all of these is to come on one of our student visitation days, which occur periodically throughout the school year. These are the largest visits that we offer, with the tour groups breaking down to between ten and fifteen families. On the plus side, we have presentations by financial aid, housing, admissions, as well as representation by some of the faculty on campus, so there are lots of opportunities for info on these days.
If you’re interested in any of these options, call us at either (616) 331-2025 or 1-800-748-0246. You can also schedule online, but the available dates on our web site tend to be more restrictive over the phone, just due to the fact that as the online times start to fill up they’re taken off the calendar, but there are still some openings. Don’t forget you can post questions.
-Kyle
One thing I forgot to mention when I published this entry, but it would help if you check out a date about 2 weeks in advance, just for the sake of organization.
You’ve got three main choices for dropping by the campus. You can take a tour of the Allendale Campus, which is what most visitors do. This tour covers dining, housing, academics, the whole nine yards, and normally includes two to four families. When you visit is completely up to you, just realize that there aren’t a lot of students on campus during the summer (despite having summer classes), and a majority of dining is closed down during that period. Summer tours do have one advantage, though, in that they have the opportunity to see more of housing, while school year tours can only see the apartment style dorm. The second option is to have a counselor appointment, which can be done individually or in conjunction with a tour. This is a chance to sit down, more or less “one-on-one” with an admissions counselor to talk about admissions, costs, the application process, etc. Keep in mind that this isn’t the same as an academic advisor; the counselors won’t be able to tell you what classes to schedule. The third option is a Preview, which is a group visit that is similar to an appointment in that the same basic information is covered, but in a much more structured format. Approximately 10 families meet in one of our conference rooms, and an admissions counselor walks through all of the basics of the school. In all of the situations there is the opportunity for the same information, it’s just presented in different formats.
One alternative to all of these is to come on one of our student visitation days, which occur periodically throughout the school year. These are the largest visits that we offer, with the tour groups breaking down to between ten and fifteen families. On the plus side, we have presentations by financial aid, housing, admissions, as well as representation by some of the faculty on campus, so there are lots of opportunities for info on these days.
If you’re interested in any of these options, call us at either (616) 331-2025 or 1-800-748-0246. You can also schedule online, but the available dates on our web site tend to be more restrictive over the phone, just due to the fact that as the online times start to fill up they’re taken off the calendar, but there are still some openings. Don’t forget you can post questions.
-Kyle
One thing I forgot to mention when I published this entry, but it would help if you check out a date about 2 weeks in advance, just for the sake of organization.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Apology for last time
Well, I was looking at my last post and realized that it’s pretty bad. So to make up for my aimless, messageless writing, I’m going to cover something that most everyone is interested: housing, or at least as much as I can get to in one post. It’s a pretty big subject, so I’ll just start with freshmen housing and see where we get to.
Before getting to any of the styles, just realize that freshmen are allowed to do whatever floats their boat for housing, there really aren’t any restrictions. It’s just more difficult to get some options (such as on campus apartments) than others (such as the living centers). In general, you’re better off applying early for housing, as the freshman living centers are first-come-first-serve.
GVSU offers three styles of freshman living centers. That’s actually a complete lie, we offer four, but just choose to count two of them as the same style. Those styles are traditional, suite, and apartment styles (not to be confused with on campus apartments), all of which house two students per room. The traditional style buildings are some of the oldest structures on campus, and they’re pretty standard as far as dorms go. They’re smaller, and have a public restroom. Anyone who just read that last sentence has probably already decided that they don’t want to live there, but it isn’t what you think. Traditional style is the only housing in which the bathrooms are cleaned for you. So if you don’t want to live there, buy a toilet brush and have fun. The bathrooms are also what we call “semi-private,” meaning that the showers all have doors and locks on them, rather than just curtains or wide open spaces.
Suite style is a step up from traditional style in terms of both space and privacy. In this style, two rooms share a single, adjoining bathroom. Apartment style is very similar to suite in that it has close to the same volume of space, but has a private bathroom as well as a kitchenette set. Apartment style is the choice that offers two different versions, those being one and two bedroom, but both versions house two students. Everyone kind of assumes that the version with the individual bedrooms is the best, and I’m not really here to make housing suggestions, but you should realize that there are unseen advantages and disadvantages to each style. Two bedroom apartment, for instance, tends to be a very cloistered, secluded community, while traditional is far more social (just as a rule of thumb). That being said, you should pick the style that fits your living habits best.
This post is already way longer than I had wanted it to be, so I’m going to finish here and get to upper classmen apartments some other time. One last note, all of the freshmen dorms come with the same furnishings, all of which are fully loftable, and each has all the pre-requisite outlets for studying/relaxing.
-Kyle
Before getting to any of the styles, just realize that freshmen are allowed to do whatever floats their boat for housing, there really aren’t any restrictions. It’s just more difficult to get some options (such as on campus apartments) than others (such as the living centers). In general, you’re better off applying early for housing, as the freshman living centers are first-come-first-serve.
GVSU offers three styles of freshman living centers. That’s actually a complete lie, we offer four, but just choose to count two of them as the same style. Those styles are traditional, suite, and apartment styles (not to be confused with on campus apartments), all of which house two students per room. The traditional style buildings are some of the oldest structures on campus, and they’re pretty standard as far as dorms go. They’re smaller, and have a public restroom. Anyone who just read that last sentence has probably already decided that they don’t want to live there, but it isn’t what you think. Traditional style is the only housing in which the bathrooms are cleaned for you. So if you don’t want to live there, buy a toilet brush and have fun. The bathrooms are also what we call “semi-private,” meaning that the showers all have doors and locks on them, rather than just curtains or wide open spaces.
Suite style is a step up from traditional style in terms of both space and privacy. In this style, two rooms share a single, adjoining bathroom. Apartment style is very similar to suite in that it has close to the same volume of space, but has a private bathroom as well as a kitchenette set. Apartment style is the choice that offers two different versions, those being one and two bedroom, but both versions house two students. Everyone kind of assumes that the version with the individual bedrooms is the best, and I’m not really here to make housing suggestions, but you should realize that there are unseen advantages and disadvantages to each style. Two bedroom apartment, for instance, tends to be a very cloistered, secluded community, while traditional is far more social (just as a rule of thumb). That being said, you should pick the style that fits your living habits best.
This post is already way longer than I had wanted it to be, so I’m going to finish here and get to upper classmen apartments some other time. One last note, all of the freshmen dorms come with the same furnishings, all of which are fully loftable, and each has all the pre-requisite outlets for studying/relaxing.
-Kyle
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Holiday weekend coming up
Well, I was going to spend this time talking about campus housing, but then I realized that I’m dead tired, and decided not to. I actually had something else in mind, but again, I refer you to the line earlier about being remarkably sleepy, so as I’m typing right now I have no idea what I’ll be talking about by the end of this post. It would be exciting, if I didn’t have the alertness of a lazy tabby cat.
The weather most definitely does not feel like July, but the Fourth is this weekend, and I just realized earlier today that admissions is closed tomorrow, and while I love my job, my lack of sleep this last week makes that fact feel like sailing to India and finding America. Speaking of Independence Day (and I don’t mean movies starring the Fresh Prince), I would plan on sleeping in that day, but I’m pretty sure that a couple of guys and girls that I run with every Wednesday are going to convince me to run a race that morning. Of course if I skip it, I’ll feel guilty for mentioning it.
So I’ve pretty much written a paragraph and a half of nothing, and have no clue what this great subject that I had in mind was, so I guess I’ll just end here. For any High School students thinking about coming up for a visit, remember that we are still open during the summer. Summer visitors don’t get to see very much of campus dining, since it’s mostly closed, but it is the one time of year that we can show all three styles of Freshmen Housing. So let us know if you’re thinking about visiting, and ask any questions you’ve got on your mind.
-Kyle
The weather most definitely does not feel like July, but the Fourth is this weekend, and I just realized earlier today that admissions is closed tomorrow, and while I love my job, my lack of sleep this last week makes that fact feel like sailing to India and finding America. Speaking of Independence Day (and I don’t mean movies starring the Fresh Prince), I would plan on sleeping in that day, but I’m pretty sure that a couple of guys and girls that I run with every Wednesday are going to convince me to run a race that morning. Of course if I skip it, I’ll feel guilty for mentioning it.
So I’ve pretty much written a paragraph and a half of nothing, and have no clue what this great subject that I had in mind was, so I guess I’ll just end here. For any High School students thinking about coming up for a visit, remember that we are still open during the summer. Summer visitors don’t get to see very much of campus dining, since it’s mostly closed, but it is the one time of year that we can show all three styles of Freshmen Housing. So let us know if you’re thinking about visiting, and ask any questions you’ve got on your mind.
-Kyle
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Meal Plans
Okay, I decided to just make this a two-parter. It worked for Quantum of Solace, right?
Meal plans always seem to be the most confusing to incoming students, but after you’ve used it for a week, there isn’t much more to learn about it. The only details I haven’t figured out are some of the secret meal exchanges (there’s probably a way to get coffee, a bagel, and some fruit for a meal, I’m just not a morning person). Ultimately the meal plan boils down to two halves: meals and dining debit dollars.
The debit dollars are something everyone is probably pretty familiar with. They act about the same as a gift debit card, or a bank’s ATM card would. If you want to buy something, the cashier just scans the total off of your ID card. And that’s about it. Really, I’m not joking, there isn’t anything else to it. Any dining location on campus will accept your debit dollars, as well as cash.
Meals are I little more complex, but they’re easy to figure out if you have a really good memory. In elementary school, we had meal tickets, and we would hand these in at the cafeteria in exchange for lunch. That’s how the meals off of a meal plan work, depending on where you spend them. At any cafeteria style location, like Kleiner Marketplace, FUEL, or River Landing, spending one meal will let you pick any combination of entrée, side, or drink, with a couple variations. Check the dining website for a list of different meal combos. Your other option is to spend your meals at Fresh Foods Company, which is a buffet style dining hall. So you spend a meal up front and can just go nuts (figuratively speaking).
We offer three different standard meal plans: 7 meals/week with $575 in debit, 14 meals/week with $275 in debit, and 21 meals/week plus $175. We do have a couple other meal plan options available, but these are the usual three. One last note to make, the meals on these three will not roll over from week to week, so if any of you wind up on one of my tours, I might suggest to you that the 14 meal plan is the most flexible, but whatever floats your boat. Say something if you’ve got questions,
-Kyle
Meal plans always seem to be the most confusing to incoming students, but after you’ve used it for a week, there isn’t much more to learn about it. The only details I haven’t figured out are some of the secret meal exchanges (there’s probably a way to get coffee, a bagel, and some fruit for a meal, I’m just not a morning person). Ultimately the meal plan boils down to two halves: meals and dining debit dollars.
The debit dollars are something everyone is probably pretty familiar with. They act about the same as a gift debit card, or a bank’s ATM card would. If you want to buy something, the cashier just scans the total off of your ID card. And that’s about it. Really, I’m not joking, there isn’t anything else to it. Any dining location on campus will accept your debit dollars, as well as cash.
Meals are I little more complex, but they’re easy to figure out if you have a really good memory. In elementary school, we had meal tickets, and we would hand these in at the cafeteria in exchange for lunch. That’s how the meals off of a meal plan work, depending on where you spend them. At any cafeteria style location, like Kleiner Marketplace, FUEL, or River Landing, spending one meal will let you pick any combination of entrée, side, or drink, with a couple variations. Check the dining website for a list of different meal combos. Your other option is to spend your meals at Fresh Foods Company, which is a buffet style dining hall. So you spend a meal up front and can just go nuts (figuratively speaking).
We offer three different standard meal plans: 7 meals/week with $575 in debit, 14 meals/week with $275 in debit, and 21 meals/week plus $175. We do have a couple other meal plan options available, but these are the usual three. One last note to make, the meals on these three will not roll over from week to week, so if any of you wind up on one of my tours, I might suggest to you that the 14 meal plan is the most flexible, but whatever floats your boat. Say something if you’ve got questions,
-Kyle
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Dining Options
Hello everyone, it’s been a little while since my last post. This time though I’m going to just cut through all the formalities: I didn’t have lunch today. So since food is on my mind that means that today’s topic for you lucky readers is campus dining. As a quick note, this entry presupposes some familiarity with the meal plan, so if you aren’t familiar, check out the dining web site. Alternatively, you could just wait a couple months; someone will probably write something about it at some point.
If one word describes GVSU’s dining it’s “variety.” There are a lot of choices on campus, but as of right now, there are three main dining halls: Kleiner Marketplace, River Landing, and the Commons.
River Landing is located in the basement of the Kirkhoff Center (on the south end of campus), and has several university restaurants as well as a Subway. It’s more or less set up like a food court would be, and is a cafeteria style hall, meaning that you pick and choose items. To find out what items mix and match, try checking out the dining web site. Kleiner Marketplace is also cafeteria style and has similar restaurants. As a structure, Kleiner is built around convenience; it’s right in the middle of freshman housing, and not only does it include the Marketplace, but also the C-Store convenience shop and a Java City coffee bar, both of which stay open 24/7. Finally, we have the Commons, which houses Fresh Foods Company and the Lower Commons, (also called FUEL). The Lower Commons is very similar to both River Landing and Kleiner, in that it’s cafeteria style and has a mix of different locations.
Fresh Foods Company is our last main dining hall, and even though it’s probably bad writing structure, I gave it a new paragraph, because it will likely take that much space. It is vastly different from any other dining hall, because it has a dynamic menu and is buffet style dining. Spending a meal up front is your pass through the door and then what you eat is your own business. There are five main locations within Fresh Foods, and each changes its menu every meal period. The hours are also very accommodating, as Fresh Foods is open everyday from 7:30AM to 8:00PM.
But these are just the three main dining halls, there’s still quite a number of other locations. A bagel shop, coffee/smoothie bar, and three lobby shops are spread across campus. There are also options downtown, including a hall similar to Kleiner, a Starbuck’s Café, and a smoothie gazebo.
The wild card in all of this is the 2010 additions to campus dining. All I know about is that it will be on the south end of campus, and will include classrooms on the upstairs level. Beyond that, I know next to nothing about it. It could be an Olive Garden for all I know. Not really, but I’m just making a point here. It’s likely to be cafeteria style, and it will be new and shiny. Aside from that, your guess is as good as mine.
Remember that this is a pretty brief overview, if you want more info on dinng, their website is very thorough. So I'll leave most of you now, knowing that if anybody is reading this late at night they will probably walk downstairs and eat a midnight snack.
-Kyle
If one word describes GVSU’s dining it’s “variety.” There are a lot of choices on campus, but as of right now, there are three main dining halls: Kleiner Marketplace, River Landing, and the Commons.
River Landing is located in the basement of the Kirkhoff Center (on the south end of campus), and has several university restaurants as well as a Subway. It’s more or less set up like a food court would be, and is a cafeteria style hall, meaning that you pick and choose items. To find out what items mix and match, try checking out the dining web site. Kleiner Marketplace is also cafeteria style and has similar restaurants. As a structure, Kleiner is built around convenience; it’s right in the middle of freshman housing, and not only does it include the Marketplace, but also the C-Store convenience shop and a Java City coffee bar, both of which stay open 24/7. Finally, we have the Commons, which houses Fresh Foods Company and the Lower Commons, (also called FUEL). The Lower Commons is very similar to both River Landing and Kleiner, in that it’s cafeteria style and has a mix of different locations.
Fresh Foods Company is our last main dining hall, and even though it’s probably bad writing structure, I gave it a new paragraph, because it will likely take that much space. It is vastly different from any other dining hall, because it has a dynamic menu and is buffet style dining. Spending a meal up front is your pass through the door and then what you eat is your own business. There are five main locations within Fresh Foods, and each changes its menu every meal period. The hours are also very accommodating, as Fresh Foods is open everyday from 7:30AM to 8:00PM.
But these are just the three main dining halls, there’s still quite a number of other locations. A bagel shop, coffee/smoothie bar, and three lobby shops are spread across campus. There are also options downtown, including a hall similar to Kleiner, a Starbuck’s Café, and a smoothie gazebo.
The wild card in all of this is the 2010 additions to campus dining. All I know about is that it will be on the south end of campus, and will include classrooms on the upstairs level. Beyond that, I know next to nothing about it. It could be an Olive Garden for all I know. Not really, but I’m just making a point here. It’s likely to be cafeteria style, and it will be new and shiny. Aside from that, your guess is as good as mine.
Remember that this is a pretty brief overview, if you want more info on dinng, their website is very thorough. So I'll leave most of you now, knowing that if anybody is reading this late at night they will probably walk downstairs and eat a midnight snack.
-Kyle
Friday, June 5, 2009
Watching Grass Grow and Paint Dry
As the title would imply, not a whole lot is going on for me right now. While the campus is still busy with classes and summertime activities, I’m not actually doing any of those things. While I still get a chance to exercise on campus, eat up here, and earn some “Benjamins” (read: “Washingtons”), that’s about it for me. On the bright side, it’s finally not May, which I guess is only a bright side if you’re an aging enthusiast. Which I’m not. The weather’s nice though, which makes tours more enjoyable.
So since I don’t have anything to talk about, and can’t think of any GVSU related topics, I wanted to take this chance to ask all of you guys what you’re doing this Summer. I answered my first blog question earlier, so I’m pretty pumped about being informative on stuff that I'm basically paid to know or find out. Are any of the readers planning on visiting us in the near future, or coming up for orientation? Even if you guys want to fill us in on stuff unrelated to college visits, whether it's vacation plans or news on the job front (although arguably "lack of news" is more appropriate). As always, the floor's pretty much wide open to any questions, it's just that right now I'm really bored and want some insight as to what's going on for all of those who are reading this.
-Kyle
So since I don’t have anything to talk about, and can’t think of any GVSU related topics, I wanted to take this chance to ask all of you guys what you’re doing this Summer. I answered my first blog question earlier, so I’m pretty pumped about being informative on stuff that I'm basically paid to know or find out. Are any of the readers planning on visiting us in the near future, or coming up for orientation? Even if you guys want to fill us in on stuff unrelated to college visits, whether it's vacation plans or news on the job front (although arguably "lack of news" is more appropriate). As always, the floor's pretty much wide open to any questions, it's just that right now I'm really bored and want some insight as to what's going on for all of those who are reading this.
-Kyle
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)