There are 16 Comments   Break down by Major (count)Art & Design Department ( 1 )Business - Management a ( 3 )Computer Science ( 4 )Engineering Department ( 1 )English ( 1 )Journalism ( 2 )Music - Performance ( 1 )PreMed and Medical ( 1 )Psychology ( 1 )Religion/Religious ( 1 )Undecided ( 1 ) View ALL Positive Comments (6)ALL Negative Comments (3)ALL Neutral Comments (4)ALL Advice Comments (3)Contact OKInvalidated Data (0)

Snapshot - Student Ratings Education Quality   B+ Collaboration/Competitive   B+ View Ratings→

color key:   Positive Negative Neutral Advice

Sort By: [Date] [Major] [Rating] Computer Science  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Bright I attended Taylor from 1992 - 1994. Overall, my experience was highly positive, but I say that with some reservations. I found the size of the school at the time (approx. 5000 students) to be a perfect match for me: big enough to have lots of different friends, but not so big that I felt lost in the crowd. I majored in computer science (minored in music). Academically, Taylor was a great place to study computer science. Even after just 2 years, I had enough of a foundation to begin a career as a programmer. After 10+ years working I've reached a fairly senior level and have trained programmers--some who I'd consider highly qualified--and many have not had an understanding of certain concepts I learned as a freshman. I think Taylor was ahead of its time (in the 90s at least) in regards to computer science, and highly underrated. Both faculty and upper-classmen students were eager to help you learn. (Several students spent HOURS at a time helping me study when I had a tough time understanding something, and they were always exceedingly patient.) A couple downsides to the academics: 1) Being a Christian school, many religion courses are required which can leave little time for electives. These credits are not likely to be accepted by a secular school if you decide to transfer. Personally I felt the demands were too high in this regard even though I wanted to be at a Christian school. 2) In most departments, there were only a few different professors. Sometimes this was good and sometimes it was terrible. Four out of five of the computer science professors were absolutely excellent. In the math department, however, I got stuck twice with the same professor whose teaching style I found very difficult to follow (brilliant mathematician, but notorious for testing you on things he didn't teach; he threw "curve balls" on tests often). He was the only professor who taught that class. The social aspect of Taylor was what made me truly love my experience there. But again I have to say that with some reservations. I was an out of state (from New Jersey), minority (biracial: black/white), lower-middle-class student who didn't quite fit the clean-cut norm of Taylor. While I generally found the other students to be friendly and approachable, cliques were common. Many people kept me at arm's length. At the time I didn't understand why, but in retrospect I can say with certainty it often had to do with my race/appearance. When it came to dating, the biggest obstacle was definitely my race. There were several instances where girls who were interested in me were "afraid to date me because of what their parents might think." And the girls who did dare to date me usually did so without telling their parents. Where I truly found a home at Taylor was among the international students and missionary kids, not so much the middle-American white kids who (to be frank) feared minorities as criminals. I agree with the reviewer who explained that your common Taylor student will be pretty closed-minded. But when I was there, a good number of students were thoughtful, loving, respectful, honorable people (though again, most of them grew up in another country, or at least another state!) It was not hard to find very dear, worthwhile and caring friends. Many are still friends to this day, and those who are not I dearly miss. I also found Taylor to be the perfect balance in terms of a Christian environment. By that I mean, certain expectations about students' behavior were set forth (no drinking/smoking; attend chapel services; etc.), but these were rather lightly enforced. We all signed a "Life Together Covenant" in which we agreed to certain standards of behavior. But I never had the feeling that I was being watched or judged; we were treated like adults and were trusted to live according to the agreement we made with the school. Overwhelmingly, I found that students were at Taylor because they didn't want to attend a school where, for example, drinking/smoking was going on. This was the case for me and most of my friends. There were, however, people who drank and smoked and were never caught because there weren't any watchdogs out looking to get them. You could tell that many of the rules were in place to placate the supporting alumni and parents of students, most of whom were probably very conservative. But the university didn't go out of its way to enforce them, and penalties were pretty much nonexistent. The surrounding areas were barren; there was pretty much nothing at all to do off-campus. I never found this to be a major issue, personally. As long as my friends were around there was plenty to do on-campus. The university did a great job of providing things to do; the "ice-breaker" events in the very beginning were particularly good for meeting people and making friends. I found the administrative staff there to be extremely helpful, even going above and beyond to be accommodating. There was even one point during my last semester where financial difficulties arose, and Taylor let me finish out the semester when most schools would have sent me packing that week. They were governed by grace even at the administrative level. One final major negative of Taylor was the price, especially for me as an out-of-state student. It's tough to say whether it's truly overpriced, though: on one hand its reputation isn't likely to score you a higher-paying job than a state school, but on the other hand the quality of education you'll get WILL be much higher. My girlfriend attends Rutgers in New Jersey, and I've helped her through equivalent classes in the computer and music (not Mason-Gross) departments, and while Rutgers has a much stronger name, I can say emphatically that the teaching is GREATLY inferior to Taylor. So if you're willing to pay a premium to actually learn something, I'd consider Taylor worth it. If my children someday consider going to Taylor, I'll encourage them to. Education Quality: A+, Surrounding City: D Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Jan 23 2008 2nd Year Male -- Class 1994    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='sr_comment.js?sckey=43753&uid=483'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save   English  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Not so bright Some of the hardest years of my life were spent at Taylor University, but then again, I consider myself fairly atypical -- more adept at mastering information than making friends even though I have very strong emotional needs. I had a difficult time trying to meld myself into the student body, which I found to be very cliquish and not accepting of those who hadn't already learned how to be "popular." Perhaps I rejected them before they rejected me. That said, I did end up meeting one of my best friends for life at Taylor. After nearly 10 years, I keep up with about 5 of my Taylor friends. To be sure, the students at Taylor seemed more "spiritual" than their counterparts at Bethel College in St. Paul, MN, which I also attended for a year. But don't come to Taylor expecting to be warmly accepted just because it's a place with a lot of committed Christians. When I was going through a deep spiritual crisis, I found myself deserted by many of my friends, and alienated from my acquaintances. Perhaps I was just being too demanding of others, but I don't look upon the social aspects of Taylor too fondly. (Don't even get me started about the dating scene... let's just say that dating wasn't a reality for me until I started grad school at a state college, where the guys weren't afraid to ask me out.) While overall I wasn't impressed with Taylor's academic rigor, I have nothing but good to say about the professors who were there between 1995 and 1999. I found them to be very intelligent, thoughtful, and willing to challenge the conservative upbringing of most of the student body. (I can only think of two or three of my professors who I would have considered to be Republicans.) Even though I would have considered most of the humanities professors to be liberal (perhaps a little too taken in by the prevailing attitudes of secular academia), they were still very faithful to orthodox Christianity. So they challenged me and perhaps the other students, most of us being upper middle class, conservative Evangelicals. I learned how to think much more critically than ever before, and I think it was more beneficial to me to be learning in a Christian context. Had I been at a non-Christian school, I would have merely dismissed my liberal professors as secular humanists and been unwilling to learn from their perspective. I'm still a Republican, but now a more thoughtful one who won't necessarily follow the party line on every issue, especially when certain policies favor the powerful to the detriment of those who have little say. I know that God was guiding my time at Taylor, and I believe He will guide the journey of those who study at Taylor as well as other colleges. While I was very lonely at Taylor, I now attribute much of that to my own inadequacies at the time. I'm confident that my college experience turned out to be a difficult time only to prepare me for other trials in my lifetime, and Taylor happened to be a good proving ground for that. Starting Job: PR Account Manager, Preparedness: B, Reputation: F Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private) Jan 19 2008 Alumna Female -- Class 2000   Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='sr_comment.js?sckey=43689&uid=483'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save   Business - Management and Administration  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Bright Good environment, helpful staff. Tough classes, but you learn a lot. Faculty Accessibility: A+, Scholastic Success: B- Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Nov 24 2007 1st Year Male -- Class 2011    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='sr_comment.js?sckey=42379&uid=483'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save   Engineering Department  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Super Brilliant Taylor University is one of the best at what it claims to be good at. It delivers a strong academic education in a christian community. Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: C Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Aug 18 2007 2nd Year Male -- Class 2009    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='sr_comment.js?sckey=40753&uid=483'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save      Prev    Select Page:  1  2  3    Next

Write your own Review of TLU

 

If you wish to further your education, consider one of the many options available through online degrees. Browse a wide range of online college and university programs and find the perfect degree for you.