Westmont College

I am all for those who are extremely religious, however what I can't handle is others trying to force religion upon me. I own a bible, I believe in God, I like going to church, but I do not like being forced to believe in anything. That's what Westmont did. Every single class was _____ in the Christian perspective. I feel that in only learning from one perspective a lot of other things were lost. Not to mention I needed 60 units worth of all religious based General Education classes. Oh, and chapel is THREE times a week. MANDATORY. And if you miss x amount you will not be able to register for classes the following semester. And at chapel people are literally on their hands and knees or arms to the sky, praying. If you're into it like that, that's great, if not it can be a little weird. Westmont didn't hide their goal of promoting Christianity at. all. A student even told me ?Oh pretty much everyone that comes here, even if they didn't start off religious, by the time they graduated were completely converted.? Not me. I lasted a whopping 1 semester. It was all VERY CULT LIKE.

This is what really got me. In my sociology class one day towards the end of my semester the subject of homosexuality was brought up. I figured this was a mundane subject and already knew what everyone would say. My teacher asked the class our thoughts on homosexuality were. I raised my hand and was the first to answer. I simply expressed how some of my very best friends were gay, I had no problem with it, I was a firm believer in gay marriage, etc, etc. I figured everyone else would agree. I was completely wrong. Our teacher made every single person and answer and I was the only one in the entire class that thought that way. I was absolutely shocked. Students were openly speaking about how they thought homosexuality was a sin, morally wrong, they couldn't accept someone who was homosexual in there church, etc. It went on, and on and I couldn't believe my ears. Every. Single. Person. They all thought it to be some horrible crime. That shocked me.This school was extremely closed-minded, VERY HOMOPHOBIC, and I ultimately disliked most everything about it. Unless you're very set in your beliefs or want to conform to die hard christianity do NOT go here.

1st Year Female -- Class 2014

Useful Schoolwork: A+, Individual Value: F

I grew up in a Christian household in the Midwest. My parents wanted me to attend this school and I welcomed it thinking it would be a clean and healthy place to be. Sadly, I had the "most" unChristian experience. I was moved into a room to share with three students. I arrived last so had the smallest place to store my things. Neither of my roommates were Christians nor were they there to live a Christian-like lifestyle. They left campus as often as possible, mostly for parties at UCSB. They both had boyfriends who they had in our room at all hours and usually intimidated me to leave the room. In other words, I was rarely welcome in my own dorm room. The RA, Amy, did nothing, yet was aware of the situation. She was never around anyway. Then, there was the RA that was over all the RA's in our complex and I would call her and complain 'cause I continued not to have a place to sleep as I was more or less closed out of my room. She didn't do anything either. One of the girls didn't make it through to second semester as she didn't have good enough grades. The other girl moved in with a different girl, which was a relief. Unfortunate thing was, that I returned from Christmas break to find all of my belongings strewn across the room as the armoire that I was storing my clothes and such was moved out of the room because we were left with just two girls. I had mono and a severe ear ache my first semester, probably due to the duress of not having a healthy living situation. I had good grades getting into college and was clearly capable of doing well. With lack of sleep and a really compromised living situation, my grades that first year of college really suffered. I did not feel as though I had an advocate and did share these things with the staff. Westmont is not an inexpensive school to attend, so sadly this experience came at a high price. So sad. It has not affected my Christian walk, as I understand we cannot expect perfection. Disappointing though that this was my experience at a Christian school I did not attend a Christian school for the last years of my college.

1st Year Female -- Class 1988

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Individual Value: F

The fact that you are required to go to chapel is utterly ridiculous. Many of the professors are very good in the field and the city is great to live in but the people there..ehhh..sooo child-like, the christian system does not allow the students to grow up very much. Do yourself a favor and don't let your parents make you go here. Ben Patterson may get irritating. That is all.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2009

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Social Life: D