Hope College

Holland, Michigan

Hope College header photo

Welcoming and Transformational

Liberal arts curriculum. Graduate-level research. Hands-on opportunities. Challenging collaboration. The highest standards. These are the elements that help Hope College students from every discipline succeed — in school and in life.

Grounded in a values-based, general liberal arts education, Hope offers specialized study in more than 90 majors, minors and pre-professional programs. Hope students learn through experience in more than 300 study abroad programs and countless internships available locally and throughout the U.S. Plus, they collaborate with masterful teachers and researchers in every field of study.

Learn more at www.hope.edu.

Top 100

Included in U.S. News & World Report’s listing of top 100 best liberal arts colleges in the nation.

94%

Of students participate in experiential learning opportunities, such as internships, off-campus study, and collaborative student-faculty research

13th in the nation

Hope ranks 13th in the nation for CPA exam pass rates among 294 comparable institutions.

Programs in High-Demand Fields 

Biosciences
Biology
Biochemistry
Chemistry
Molecular biology

Engineering
Biomedical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Business and Economics
Finance

Allied Health/Healthcare
Kinesiology
Neuroscience and neuro-research
Nursing
Psychology

Power Skills

  • Collaborative research
  • Leadership
  • Interdisciplinary/liberal arts mindset
  • Critical thinking
  • Ethical and values-driven reflection
  • Committed to service in a global society

Boerigter Center for Calling and Career provides mentoring and assistance with major and career exploration, and internship, career, and graduate school searches.

Phelps Scholars offers a learning community for student who are passionate about the diversity of the world around them and who are committed to high academic standards and to the exploration of an important social issues

Significant Partnerships

Hope’s Center for Leadership Consulting engages about 14 companies each semester including:

  • Gordon Food Service
  • Herman Miller
  • Perrigo
  • Wolverine Worldwide
  • Request Foods
  • Koops
  • Stryker Corporation
  • DP Fox Ventures
  • Accenture
  • Douglas Dynamics
  • Kids Hope USA
  • Holland Free Health Clinic

Centers of Excellence and Research

Global Water Research Institute (GWRI) 
Founded in 2020 as an interdisciplinary faculty and student research initiative, GWRI provides improved understanding of water and equips communities to make data-driven decisions about their water use.

Frost Center for Data and Research
Hope conducts community research consulting for local non-profit, for-profit, and governmental organizations. The Frost Center provides institutional research opportunities, data management, and assesses student learning outcomes.

Center for Leadership
Focuses on empowering students to discover their strengths, develop their skills, and become servant leaders. The Center for Leadership offers coursework, experiential learning opportunities, and mentoring programs.

Boerigter Center for Calling and Career
The Center advises, coaches, and connects students to opportunities for professional development, including career discernment, interview preparation, and hands-on experiences in and outside of the classroom

Hope-Western Prison Education Program
Undergraduate degree-granting collaboration between Hope College, Western Theological Seminary and the Michigan Department of Corrections. Campus location is the Muskegon Correctional Facility.

Dr. Aaron Best, Genetics, microbiology and microbial evolution

Dr. Erika Calvo-Ochoa, Biology, neuroscience, and brain plasticity 

Dr. Chad Carlson, Kinesiology

Dr. Leah Chase, Biochemistry and molecular biology

Dr. Alyssa Cheadle, Health psychology

Dr. Sarah Estelle, Economics, labor, public economics

Dr. Marcus Fila, Business organizational management, human resource management

Dr. Andrew Gall, Behavioral neuroscience

Dr. Gerald Griffin, Neuroscientist and virologist, Hope College Provost

Dr. Lauren Berkshire Hearit, Economics, strategic and organizational communication

Dr. Stacy Jackson, Business strategy, organizational behavior, department chair

Dr. David Myers, Social psychologist, preeminent author of several textbooks on the topic

Dr. Brooke Odle, Biomechanics, rehabilitation engineering, spinal cord injury, computational modeling leadership

Dr. Olufemi Oluyedun, Kinesiology

Dr. Brian Ryder, Kinesiology, sports medicine

Dr. Daryl Van Tongeren, Social psychology

Dr. Charlotte V.O. Witvliet, Psychology and mental health

At Hope College, we are empowered and flourish when we invest in and value one another in our inclusive learning community where all members are grounded in dignity, engaged in diversity, and invited by Christ’s love.

Offices and programs that support students from a diverse or disadvantaged background:

U.S. News & World Report listed Hope in the top 100 best liberal arts colleges in the nation.

Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education US College Rankings placed Hope among the top 100 “Best liberal arts colleges in the United States” in 2022.

In Forbes “America’s Top Colleges”, Hope is included in 2023 list of “Top Colleges” and ranks #54 in the Midwest.

Ranked #23 by US News & World Report for providing outstanding undergraduate research/creative project opportunities alongside Yale, MIT, and Stanford.

Hope has been frequently been recognized by the National Science Foundation, including through financial and merit awards.

Hope College has received several grants from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium to support undergraduate fellowships and seed grants for faculty research.

Hope is recognized nationally and regionally by Money Magazine on its list of Best Colleges, which recognizes 736 colleges for their quality and affordability– “where your tuition (and time) is likely to pay off.”

Record-setting sponsored research at Hope – as of June 30, 2023, Hope received 62 sponsored awards totaling $7,997,015, with 2 recommended awards (now approved) totaling $962,558, and 21 pending awards worth an additional $6,896,420.

Hope was awarded a $7.5 million grant from the State of Michigan to expand wastewater testing initiatives across the state.

A $2.5 million grant was awarded to create a global health program to address water-quality issues, the Center for Global Water Research

Hope is one of 150 institutions that The Princeton Review recommends in its 2024 “Best in the Midwest” listing. Hope is also included in the Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2024 Edition for having exceptional commitment to sustainability.

Hope was the first private, four-year, undergraduate liberal arts college in the country to achieve national accreditation in all four of the arts.

Hope is the only college or university in Michigan where business students can participate in the George F. Baker Scholars Program, which provides a wide range of real-world experiences beyond the classroom. One of only several dozen Baker Scholars Programs in the country.

Hope College is one of only 286 institutions in the U.S. to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest scholastic honorary society.

Max DePree, writer; industrialist; former CEO of Herman Miller furniture

Pete Hoekstra, former U.S. Representative and Ambassador to the Netherlands (2018–2021)

Terri Lynn Land, former Michigan Secretary of State

A. J. Muste, pacifist, labor organizer, and Civil Rights Movement activist

Matthew A. Scogin, 14th president of Hope College

Nancy Torresen, United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maine

Eugene van Tamelen, biochemist at Stanford

Guy Vander Jagt, former U.S. Representative (1966–1993)

Marianne Walck, Chief Research Officer at the Idaho National Laboratory

Theodore O. Yntema, professor of business at the University of Chicago, chairman of Ford Motor Credit Company

Annette Ziegler, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice

Sylvia T. Ceyer, Professor and Chair of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

John Hendrickson, American businessman, the chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Perrigo

James G. Herman, American oncologist at the University of Pittsburgh

Peter J. Maassen, current Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court

John Moolenaar, Representative, Michigan’s 4th congressional district

Craig Morford, former United States Deputy Attorney General

Class of 2023:
Employed within six months of graduation: 77%
In graduate school within six months of graduation: 24%
Satisfied or very satisfied with employment: 82%
Of those employed, graduates working in their field of study: 85%
Accepted to first or second choice graduate school: 92%
Participated in experiential learning while at Hope: 93%

Source: 2023 Graduate Survey; Frost Center, Institutional Research
2022–23 Hope graduates

Based on the contact addresses provided by respondents of our 2022 graduate report, 70.8% resided in Michigan six months after graduation.