About Hope

Hope graduates are educated to think about life’s most important issues with clarity, wisdom, and a deep understanding of the foundational commitments of the historic Christian faith. They are agents of Hope who live faithfully into their vocations.

At this distinguished four-year liberal arts college, academic excellence and vibrant Christian faith join to strengthen each other in a supportive and welcoming community. While historically affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, Hope is ecumenically diverse and values open discussion of matters of faith and respect for the opinions of others.

The students and faculty we spoke with confirm that the school walks its talk; Hope College is both academically serious and theologically earnest.

Quality of teaching
Hope students find a faculty of professionally distinguished scholars who have a genuine concern for the total development of each student.  

Hope is one of only 10 church-related colleges and universities nationwide highlighted in the book Putting Students First: How Colleges Develop Students Purposefully. Our student: faculty ratio is 13:1.

Hope is among 50 colleges recommended by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in its guide All-American Colleges: Top Schools for Conservatives, Old-Fashioned Liberals and People of Faith, which notes that “The students and faculty we spoke with confirm that the school walks its talk; Hope College is both academically serious and theologically earnest.”

Academic programs
Our 87 majors and minors in liberal arts and pre-professional fields provide unusual flexibility for students to combine their interests. Known as a powerhouse in the sciences, Hope is also the only private, liberal arts college to have national accreditation in art, dance, music and theatre.

Ranked 4th in the U.S. for research and creative activity
National leadership in collaborative faculty/student research and creative activity. Hope is consistently awarded more National Science Foundation grants for undergraduate research than any other liberal arts college in the country and was ranked fourth behind the University of Michigan, Stanford and MIT for undergraduate research and creative activity in the initial rankings by US News & World Report.

Diverse and accomplished students
During 2011-12 Hope enrolled 3,343 students from 44 states and territories and 35 different countries. We are a leading college for Fulbright Scholars, and our students can look forward to attending their first choice of graduate and professional schools.

Hope College was ranked as one of a Best Value among liberal arts colleges by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine in the December 2011 issue.

Hope College is one of only 280 colleges and universities in the country and eight in Michigan to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest scholastic honorary society. Hope's chapter was chartered in 1971.

Global perspective
Hope students choose to study abroad in more than 200 programs in over 60 countries. More than 1,800 internships are available locally, through off-campus centers in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, and other locations.

Community service
Recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for initiatives that engage students with communities here and abroad, Hope offers many options to connect.

Athletics
Hope has received the Commissioner's Cup of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association for an unprecedented 12 consecutive years through the 2011-12 school year. Hope also sponsors several club sport opportunities and has an active intramural program.