Westmont College

This is really relative to so many things--but I think that Westmont is one of the very best colleges in the US. Compare it to the undergrad programs at places like Stanford or Harvard. Those colleges keep their professors based on how many articles they write or how much publicity they give. So even if you are lucky enough to get a class taught by an actual teacher and not an aid, they don't nessisarily have to be good teachers! Stanford profs. tried to pass a rule allowing you to either get the college lots of publicity *or* be a really good teacher, and it was rejected.

Go to Westmont, and get an education by top intellectuals who actually teach the classes, who actually can teach, and who actually care about you as a student. One of the best things about Westmont, besides academics and all that, is the community. You'll never find a better group of people anywhere.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2006

Education Quality: A+, Surrounding City: C+

C was quite literaly what I would expect to be average on my above grading scale. I feel this campus does an excellent job with making sure the faculty are here for the students, and here as part of the community (not merely using it to pay the bills while they go for research projects and shoot for tenure). The campus is beautiful (its like living in a flipping garden) and the weather is all you could ask for. If you don't like the beach you're going to have fewer reasons to go off campus because, aside from shopping or just hanging out in Santa Barbara, the beach is about the only off campus thing thats always available (and it is available year round, the weather is that good). So the social life is largely dorm based, but there's always stuff to do there. It may be sort of impromptu, but its still good times. People do normal stuff around the dorms - watch movies, play poker (well, the guys do anyway), play frisbee, have intense discussions about religion, theology, politics, etc etc... ok so not so normal on that last point...

The workload can seem a bit unnecessary at times, but some people benefit from it (I tend to learn the material without needing some of the busy work). Still, there's a marked decrease in busy work from high school to Westmont (or most college for that matter), I just wish there wasn't any at all. Profs can tell when you don't attend class (because the average class is only 15 students or so) but that's also a good thing because the profs have TIME to pay attention to each and every student, and most classes are discussion oriented, at least in the humanities. Even the sciences will have discussions or debates or tough issues presented by their disciplines, and the liberal arts side of the college means most students are equipped to speak intelligently on a variety of issues, cross applying stuff from Literature, Philosophy, Theology, Politics, Sociology, etc etc...

The only real negatives - some people here are a bit ignorant in their beliefs, coming out of high school believing in Christianity and not knowing why precisely... or simply following it because it was "the thing to do." A lot of maturing goes on here (though) as is evidenced by the maturity of the senior and junior classes. People grow here, so I guess this negative turns into a positive. There's also something of a wet blanket thrown on dating on this campus for some reason (why dating is a rare thing here is something of a debate on campus... the guys have their theories, the girls have theirs, and both are probably wrong). *Shrug* I date anyway, asking girls out when I like em and not when I don't... nice and simple. The saying is at Westmont you're either single or engaged (it seems like relationships are formed before dating and then once the dating relationship starts *poof* engaged). Again I defy that, but it is still the norm.

Chapel is required 3 times a week, you can miss 12 in a semester (that's just less than once a week), but if you are a follower of Christ Chapel is a wonderful experience. The worship team rocks and the speakers are, 99% of the time, high quality. There's a real sense of Christian community here that makes this place special. It isn't just affiliated with Christianity, it IS a Christian community. The honesty and integrity (the fact that the supposed campus values actually more or less match up to the values of the students and faculty) is refreshing.

Discussion is encouraged on campus, our newspaper prints intentionally controversial and important issues and then has a full two pages (about 33% of the paper) devoted to student and faculty responses. Its great. We've gotten issues like homosexuality in the church, pacifism, political idiology, world missions, welfare, etc etc all in the paper and all being discussed respectfully and freely. All good stuff.I love this place, I would never go anywhere else, though I had the grades and SAT scores to have a shot at getting in just about anywhere - this place is perfect if you want a serious academic community of christians who are concerned about life and truth, and who love the sun... :-D

2nd Year Male -- Class 2006

Faculty Accessibility: A+, Extracurricular Activities: C