In Fall 2023, Knox had a total enrollment of 1,001 students, with 197 being international.

By May 2024, 190 international students had already made deposits to join the Knox Class of 2028. This was already over triple the number of incoming international students from the previous year. This increase more than doubled the total number of international students at Knox College.

Alex Pia, Director of International Student Services at Knox College, said that there was more emphasis on recruiting international students this past year.

“This is the first full year that the staff that’s currently in place has been recruiting students together. So they brought us a big class this year,” Pia said.

Pia believes that the larger number of international students will significantly impact campus life.

“It’s going to have a big impact because when you take a certain group of international students and then that we currently have on campus and double that, you’re going to see more international students involved in club activities,” Pia said.

Pia highlighted that Knox has always been generous with scholarships, and incoming students receive personal care. This year they were given gift boxes to say, “Welcome, you’ve been accepted to Knox College,”.

Archi Nokrek ‘24, an alumni from Bangladesh, was particularly interested in Knox’s Creative writing program and was drawn by the generous scholarship she received.

Nokrek appreciated Knox sending her a handwritten note and mentioning her essay in the Common App, a popular online college application program.

“I remember the acceptance letter that came from Knox. It was a handwritten note and it referred to my common app essay so I was like: “Okay, this is somewhere where me as a person is going to be valued,” Nokrek said.

While in Galesburg, Nokrek enjoyed the familiar and personal feeling she got from town.

“When I go to, like, small restaurants here, people know me. People know what I like and stuff like that, it’s very personal,” Nokrek said.

Diya Goyal, a fifth-year at Knox College from India, shared similar experiences with Nokrek during her time in Galesburg.

“It’s just great, you know, like to go somewhere and immediately know the place, be familiar with it, and have people know you and know your orders,” Goyal said. “You can understand that it’s a small community, but it’s such a tight-knit community.”

Several international alumni also described having positive experiences with the college.

Madhuri Mansukhani, an alumni from India who graduated in International Relations, said that out of all the colleges she applied to, Knox provided her with the most financial aid.

“I randomly applied to the ones [colleges] that said, yes, we give financial aid and scholarships to international students. Knox gave me the most money,” Mansukhani said. “So I came to Knox, but I always tell people this, knowing everything that I know today, if I had to do this all over again, I’d still want to go to Knox.”

Shuchita Poddar, from India, graduated from Knox in 2022, majoring in Creative Writing. When looking for a college, Poddar searched for small schools in the United States, particularly those that had a creative writing program. She chose Knox because she was interested in what the college had to offer in that area.

“I found out that the Knox program, the creative writing program, was actually started by an alum who went to the writer’s workshop in Iowa, which is the top Creative Writing program. So that just piqued my interest even more. And I applied, I got in, and I was like, okay, here I am.”

Hardikah Shah, from India, graduated from Knox College in Computer Science in 1992. Shah discovered the concept of liberal arts education at Knox College and fell in love with the variety of subjects she could explore.

“I discovered that there’s this whole thing called liberal arts education, which in India, you have to be very straight line. You go into engineering or, you know, architecture, or medicine and I loved the idea of being able to explore many things,” said Shah, “I’ve enjoyed every moment of being on campus doing everything from psychology to performing arts to world history to computer science.”

Before coming to Knox College, Poddar did not know anything about Galesburg. However, after coming, she enjoyed the small-town experience, thinking of it as refreshing after city life in India.

“Honestly, I had no idea what Galesburg was. I just knew it was three hours away from Chicago. That’s all I’ve ever known. But when I did get to Galesburg, I liked it. It was so small and I think it was just what I needed because, all my life, in all the locations I’ve lived in India, it’s just been big cities and I was kind of sick of it,” Poddar said.

Shah recalled her experience with the international student host family program that used to be popular in Galesburg. She felt like her host family was very welcoming and has fond memories of their time together.

“There was a great international student host family program that allowed us to experience, quote-on-quote, what American life was, and I had a phenomenal host family that was 10 minutes walking distance from campus,” Shah said. “They just took me in. They had a student from every year. So it was like big family gatherings every weekend, going out there, cooking, and just sitting around the table and enjoying each other’s company. I have great memories of that.”

Mansukhani expressed that while she didn’t find anything particularly appealing about Galesburg itself, she developed strong emotional ties and love for returning to Knox.

“Um, Galesburg, there was nothing I liked about it, and I’ve been back to Galesburg several times in the past couple of years. I still have no affinity, but I have a lot of emotion and trust and memories and love coming back to campus,” Mansukhani said.

Mansukhani was surprised by the deep connection she was able to form with her professors in Knox.

“The professors were a big part of my life and coming from India, I didn’t realize that you could have the kind of relationship and equation that you have with your teachers, how invested they are in you as a person. I mean, that was just fantastic. It was surprising,” Mansukhani said.

Poddar emphasized the importance of Knox’s staff in providing support and resources to help students achieve their goals.

“I think it’s the people that made [Knox] the best, and not just students, but also staff. They were genuinely interested in what you were doing and they cared for where you wanted to go, where you wanted to be in life, they would provide you with resources,” Poddar said.

Shah said that the small college allowed her to get to know a lot of people from diverse backgrounds and nationalities.

“That’s what made it special because those are the connections that will last your lifetime, as opposed to maybe other things you might have been able to do in a bigger city,” Shah said.

Currently, Mansukhani is a Partner at IBM in New York City. Shah is the Founder and CEO of Kinara Capital, living in India. Poddar is a Social Media Strategist/Communications Coordinator, currently living in Iowa City.

Mansukhani said that the content she learned in computer science is not directly applicable to her day-to-day work. She emphasized that it was the problem-solving skills she developed that have been most valuable in her post-graduate life. She said that it is in extracurriculars and social interaction that students do most of their learning in Knox.

“Being a residential college, having so many activities and clubs and the interaction and the tight, tight-knit community, that’s where you’re doing 80 percent of your learning. And that’s what’s going to carry you through life,” Mansukhani said.