Grove City College

Date: Mar 31 2003
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
Good stuff: Not much. Academics are hard, but I'm not so sure that they are applicable. I will admit that the physics and math programs are well done and you do learn a lot in them. However, I decided not to go that route and changed my major to IS as a Junior. The campus is clean and very safe, but these don't count for much to me. The dorms are not terrible but aren't anything special either. Intramural sports are ubiquitous and easy to join, this is one area that almost everyone gets involved in and can be a nice diversion. Some professors are pretty cool and are generally well-meaning people.

Bad stuff: The IS department was disappointing. It was hard, but I did not see as much of a tie to real-life applications as I did at York College, where I transferred to. For any major, it is difficult and in some cases impossible to get an internship or co-op while classes are in session because Grove City is such a dead town and the nearest signs of civilization are a 30 minute drive away at least. The utter isolation of the surrounding community—nothing, and I mean NOTHING but farmland and a few back roads for miles and miles—will be nearly intolerable for those who do not live nearby and who don't have the luxury of being able to drive home every weekend to restock and unwind. If you don't believe me, take a look at a map of Mercer County and look at all the white space. Sure, Pittsburgh is an hour away but what they don't tell you is that there is a whole lot of nothing in between and you will usually be too wrapped up in your busywork to make any excursions down there. Because there is no outside community to connect with, the college experience will be very hollow and insulated (people love to refer to Grove City as a "bubble"). To me, such a boarding-school atmosphere is incredibly restricting. Colleges should be interdependent with their surrounding communities, for there is a wealth of information one can learn from them.

The weather is terrible and may very well be some of the worst in the nation. There were a total of three (3) non-overcast days a few years back from the month of November to the following April. Three. The ground either consists of snow or mud, except for on the quad where students are not allowed to walk (just one of the many ridiculous rules. . .I'd list them all but I'd run out of space).

The school's EXTREMELY Victorian attitude toward male-female relations isn't quite on par with the Taliban, but it's getting there. Equally absurd and arguably even harsher is the ban on off-campus housing. That's right, folks. You will be under the close supervision of the campus Gestapo for the entire four years and are strictly prohibited from living off-campus. There's even a curfew for freshmen (no lie). I've never heard of such a flagrant violation of individual rights by a university. I honestly had more freedom back in high school when I was living with my parents. So much for college being a time of personal independence and growth.

Extracirricular activities are a joke. The radio station especially is just horrible; of course the college will not permit an FM station and the AM director gives you playlists that dictate every single song you have to play. . .no freedom whatsoever.

All this wouldn't be so bad, of course, if Grove City marketed itself as a fundamentalist-wacko institution like Liberty University. At least there people know what they're getting into. Instead, Grove City attempts to assert that it is no different from the mainstream religious universities like Villanova or Boston College. This is a deception and people should be aware of it before they spend their hard-earned money.

Make no mistake, this college is for people who think our society is hopelessly corrupt and beyond any hope of reform and who want to live in a monk-like existence, away from all the "immorality" that is supposedly so rampant outside of the bubble. This is actually an attitude among most students; they see non-fundamentalists as sex-crazed barbarians who have no ethical standards and who are headed straight to hell. Grove City College is for the 20-year-old adults who still cringe when they hear even a minor swear word.