Westmont College

It can be pretty conservative sometimes, but lots of progress is being made because of the students. It is a beautiful campus with super nice people who genuinely care about who you are and how you are doing. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Also, they have an amazing study abroad program and interesting professors.

1st Year Female -- Class 1920

Education Quality: A+, Campus Maintenance: B

Westmont College was my first choice. I got in and without thinking too much about it, i immediately accepted. As a student who received averge grades, academics was challenging. I loved the small ratio of students to professors. Professors are very approachable and most want to help and talk to their students. However if you miss class, it is very noticable (which sucked). You have limited absences in most classes. Also, there were a lot of events and opportunities to get invovled (like Spring Sing, abroad programs, Clark cruise, etc). Thats good and all but people are not very welcoming. Most people put on a facade, fake. It is especially hard if you're Asian, Black, or Hispanic. As an Asian girl, I noticed people trying to hard to be friendly to me. I never thought i "fit in". More importantly, many people pushed christian beliefs (anti homosexuality, blah blah) on me. If i had a problem, some people would be lets pray about it. NO, i want to talk about it. This got annoying.. People here can be very shady. Personally, I like to go out and have fun. But when my roommate ratted me out, I had 40 community service hrs, classes online, counseling (which was actually good), was on probation, and my parents found out. My second semester was harder. Honestly, if it wasn't for my parents telling me to continue, I wouldn't have went back second semester. Overall, I learned a lot (good and bad) my freshman year but I don't think Westmont was the place for me to grow. And i don't think I will be coming back.

1st Year Female -- Class 2015

Faculty Accessibility: A-, Surrounding City: D-

I came here as a older married student, having already had a short career, desiring to study biology. What I met here was very poor support for non-trad students, awkward attempts by the college trying new academic models (like the terrible Pogil model) while putting itself off as very traditional, claiming a genuine concern for student overcommitment while encouraging double (and triple in a few cases) degrees and huge class competition in addition to student government, school missions trips and very high grades. Worst of all, this college is crawling with rich, over-privileged kids who are generally very unappreciative of the awesome hand they have been dealt in life. The college's mantra is "Christ has preeminence" yet there is little to no action taken by the college to help the community of Santa Barbara, and to top it all off Westmont does literally nothing in recognition of Veteran's day, despite a small population of honorably discharged veterans that are in attendance.

The student community is very difficult to break into as an "outsider." I get the impression that other people generally don't care that I am here or who I am...I intentionally took part in a group purchase for a professor as a gift, then did not pay just to see if the guy would approach me and say anything at all. Nope. The seniors in the biology department do little to nothing to help out lower ranked students with medical school issues beyond the useless pre-med club. They do, however, have plenty to say about how much effort they put into studying the MCAT, going with Potter's Clay (a make-myself-feel-good mission trip to Mexico), what to drink this weekend, and the latest sex innuendo laden youtube humor sensation.

Faculty is, for the most part, just too busy to have a conversation. Understandable at a bigger state university, but this place is ~2000 students. I gave an honest effort to make acquaintance with the pre-med adviser, but the biggest contribution to the conversation that he made was "have you ever been charged with a felony?" ??? Thanks for the inquiry, but I am an honorably discharged veteran. My academic adviser is nice enough, but again, just too busy to have a real conversation longer than 10 minutes, and it took her 6 months just to remember my wife's name. Interestingly, the best conversation I had with a professor was with the new chem professor who has just come from another university.

I love chapel, but Westmont's services are extremely dull. My wife loved to come with me at California Baptist University, but after coming once to Westmont, she doesn't show up anymore because she knows she will not be able to stay awake. Worse, there is heavy emphasis on worshiping in different ways...usually this means playing a set in a foreign language, doing some kind of African dance, etc. This is good, but the emphasis is too much. Chapel has focused on the great commission a total of zero times. Chapel has given a blatant invitation to salvation a total of zero times. I, someone who loves chapel and appreciates the chance to attend, have fallen asleep during chapel many times.

The worst part about dealing with this college, is how unreceptive the college was to my suggestions for improving its outreach to non-trad students. First of all, there is no tutoring center. If you live off campus, good luck getting to the homework help sessions, which are usually at the discretion of the student holding them (i.e., between 8-10 pm). There is no option to eat in the same facility with other students if you do not have a meal plan. I put a microwave in a low-traffic student lounge, and I have lunch by myself every day; you cannot get into the cafeteria without paying for a meal at the door. There is no commuter support, (e.g., at my previous college, there was a commuter coffee and breakfast sandwich bar in the parking lot every other week - an appreciated gesture). Veteran's Day came and went without a word.

In an attempt to address these issues and thus make the school more attractive to prospective students, I approached staff with a proposal to make a student veteran and non-trad representative. I made an appointment to have my proposition heard, and it was put off for a number of months. When the time finally came, the proposal went well, but the school said no. The most they were willing to do was put a link on their website. Dismal failure. I offered to pay for, and run, a commuter coffee bar, a organized association, and local events, but it was shut down.Overall, I would rate Westmont very low. It does present academic rigor, but unless you are intent on going for a science PhD, it wont serve you any good. Even then, if you want to get into a good graduate program, the onus is on you, not your school's academics. The student population is typical of rich southern California beach towns (snotty, unappreciative). There is no support for non-trad students, let alone married or veteran students. The college has unimpressive rankings, very high tuition, and honestly everyone raves about the beautiful campus when it's just a bunch of brush and some palm trees up in the hills (Santa Barbara City College is literally across the street from the beach...now that's a beautiful campus). As is typical with Christian colleges, do not come to Westmont expecting a spiritually mature Christian student population...people come here because their families are wealthy and/or their good at sports. If you are an older student, or consider yourself mature beyond your years, then expect to come here and be treated like a high schooler, because that's what the student population is most like.

1st Year Male -- Class 2014

Surrounding City: A+, Useful Schoolwork: F