Academics
Students with an interest in business or STEM subjects will be pleased with the offerings of Kettering University, which has a focus not just on those disciplines, but in fostering the next generation of industry leaders. Students attribute some of their success to the institution’s “awesome” co-op program, which is “unparalleled in preparing students.” The way co-op works is by splitting the academic calendar into four approximately 11-week terms, two of which are for school, and two of which are for work. This means that from their first year on, undergrads “get to make money during school while also getting experience and making industry connections.”
A word of warning from students, though: this type of scheduling is quite demanding. “Course loads are high and there is often a lot of homework.” This can be compounded by what current enrollees feel is an all-or-nothing split between instructor styles: some “care deeply about the subject and the students” and others who are just plain prickly, or as one puts it, “I have had many professors gladly tell me how many students have failed their class.” There are plenty of students who share happy stories of faculty members who are “available almost whenever you need them” or who are “very understanding” and “always willing to help,” but “there isn’t really an in-between.”
Student Body
The “very bright” students at Kettering, despite sometimes feeling “overworked, stressed out, and sleep deprived,” overall find themselves “bonded by our struggles in our rigorous coursework.” Students stay in good humor and find the silver lining in every experience, or as one colorfully puts it, “We are all...caffeine-fueled sarcasm machines that pump out math and science equations at the drop of a hat.” The “personable” atmosphere of this “relatively small” school may help to liven everyone’s mood. “Even if you do not know someone’s name, you recognize a face in the hallway or in a lecture that you can share a smile with.” More importantly, students say that their classmates are “very helpful” and note that “it is easy to join a group who is studying and get to know them.” Easy, at least, if you’re male—the “vast majority is white male engineering students,” and some find that to create “a culture of masculinity” that sometimes offers “very little support for the women.” Then again, other enrollees dispute this, suggesting that Kettering is “a very inclusive school” where students “accept and accommodate each other’s differences.” At the end of the day, all undergrads are “technically minded people” who “want to push boundaries and go further than anyone else,” and one notes that “if you love cars, engineering, and the automotive industry, there probably is no better school.”
Campus Life
Kettering may have an unconventional calendar, and some busy students may quip that “We’re all engineers, so we’re studying all the time,” and yet we heard at length about all the fun activities that students found time to squeeze in. “There is a club for anything and everyone,” shares one student, and that doesn’t seem to be an exaggeration. In addition to the school’s SAE teams, which are among “the best in the country,” interest-driven activities like the Financial Club, and popular options like the student-run newspaper or radio station, there’s even a blacksmithing club. Students also list a variety of intramural sports like flag football and basketball as a great way to escape academic stress. “We may go out bowling, to play top golf, to catch a movie, [to go] skiing or off-roading.” Nearby Detroit and Ann Arbor offer even more events, as does the university itself. Undergrads also share that “Greek life is very popular,” although here, too, note that some describe the Greek scene as “completely different at Kettering than it is at other campuses.”
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