Oklahoma Christian University

It's mostly just a really expensive church camp for kids who've been raised to fear the real world, lack the skills to interact with people outside their own worldview and possess an inability to cope with diversity. If you want immersed in institutional groupthink and you have plenty of money to spend to accommodate your preconceptions and biases, this is the place to go.

Remember, every employee of OC is member of the same religion. OC doesn't even hire outside of its denomination, which kind of narrows the pool of qualified people. And that pool constantly shrinks, as the Church of Christ is declining in membership rapidly.

To be fair, there are a few really good, mind-expanding professors. Some I disliked, but still respected immensely. But mostly, the faculty and administration are a bunch of glorified camp counselors constantly meddling to exert their moral superiority over you.

A good 75-85% of the professors are pretty much third-string. Not bad people or unqualified, but not exactly academic all-stars, either. For the money, you should get more than a few top notch people.

The problem of professor quality is exacerbated by the small faculty. By your junior year, you will likely have the same prof twice or three times a day. Even a high-quality prof, in back-to-back classes for 4 hours, is taxing. I had one professor twice M/W/F and twice T/Th for two semesters.

Compare OC faculty against OU professors. OU has absolutely first-rate, world-renown scholars, at a fraction of OC's tuition, with a fraction of the rules. And employers / grad schools don't instinctively scoff at an OU transcript like they do an OC sheet (yes, this will happen if you aspire to anything outside of The Baptist Belt). You will find yourself constantly justifying your education against your professional peers.

If your ACT/SAT is good enough to get into OU or OSU, go to those institutions for substantially greater educational and personal value. You won't have to worry about hair codes, getting in trouble for dancing, mandatory daily chapel, mandatory 16 credit hours of Bible classes that waste time and money, curfews, modesty dress codes, room inspections, heavy-handed campus police, petty tattletale RAs, etc.

Look, it's not a terrible hellish place. But someday as an adult you might look back on your college years and realize you cheated yourself out of a robust life experience simply because you believed people telling you the world is a terrible place.

Don't outsource your life experiences and education to people who create an artificial "Christian environment" for you. Take charge and make your own Christian environment. Be the the Christian environment you want to see.Professors who read this: You can do better than OC. Free yourself of the constraints of this school. You've worked so hard to earn the right to create, think, speak freely and be taken seriously. Stop pretending you are content with the restrictions imposed by a dogmatic school.

4th Year Male -- Class 1999

Friendliness: A, Useful Schoolwork: F

All of these reviews, both positive and negative, are pretty much true. Oklahoma Christian is the kind of school you either love or hate. I believe the factor that most greatly influences whether or not you will be happy at OC is whether or not you are a member of the Church of Christ.

If you are considering OC, do your research and make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. Make sure you are informed about the rules before you make your final decision. Read up on the Church of Christ if you are not a member. The Wikipedia article is very accurate.

If you are not a member of the Church of Christ, you will probably feel out of place. OC is about 80% CofC, and many students come in with preformed social circles from church or camp; in this respect its a little like going to an out-of-state public school where everyone hangs out with their high school friends. Add to that the fact that non-C of C students really aren't welcome at OC; one gets the feeling that if it weren't illegal discrimination, OC would only admit students who are members of the CofC. The academics are nothing special, and not a good enough reason to come if you aren't CofC.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000