Spotlight on Valparaiso University

This week's spotlight takes us to Valparaiso, Indiana, a small city near the shore of lake Michigan and about an hour from Chicago. Valparaiso University, or Valpo, is a small university affiliated with the Lutheran Church. The school provides an unusual mix of small college and large university experiences.

For a university with under 3,000 undergraduates, Valparaiso has remarkable academic breadth. The school's strengths in the liberal arts and sciences earned it a chapter of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. However, Valpo also has a College of Nursing, College of Engineering, and College of Business Administration. All are popular among undergraduates.

In athletics, Valpo is one of the smaller universities to compete in Division I athletics. The Valparaiso Crusaders participate in the NCAA Division I Horizon League for most sports, while football competes in the Pioneer Football League.

Admissions are selective, but not out of reach for most hard working students. Financial aid is generous, and the university offers significant grant aid to the great majority of applicants.

If you'd like to learn more about Valparaiso University and what it takes to get accepted, visit my Valpo Admissions Profile and the university's official website. If you are familiar with Valparaiso, please share your impressions below.

Every week I spotlight a great college that might be off the radar of college applicants. If there's a college you'd like to see featured here, please post your ideas in the College Admissions Forum.