Bob Jones University

Date: Feb 26 2004
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
First off let me say that I think I got a very good education at bju. We were required to attend all classes which in retrospect helped me since I was very undisiplined at the time and probably would've miss a lot of class. I was able to get into grad school, but not the ones I wanted to go to. If I didn't go to grad school I think I would've had a much harder time finding a job and wouldn't be as successful.

For me the biggest negative is the all the insane rules. I was always afraid of getting "shipped" even though I was a basically good kid. I grew up in a strict home, so at the time the rules didn't seem much different from home. But I now realize how harmful it was in many ways. College is a time to start deciding for yourself what's right & wrong, to make some mistakes and learn from them. When right & wrong is dictated to you, you don't know why you believe what you do since it's someone elses belief system. Once you graduate and are "free" many will swing completely the opposite way. This seems especially true of dating couples since while on campus that can't even hold hands or talk after 7pm without going to the "dating parlor". This pent-up sexual frustration causes them to go much farther once they are finally off campus. I know many who started drinking after graduation not so much because they wanted to but because they finally could.

I am a Christian and I probably have more Biblical knowledge than many Christians since I was required to take a Bible class every semester. Does that make me a better Christian - in my case No. It wasn't till after college that I met geniune Christians that struggled with their beliefs, made mistakes, and strived to learn more on their own rather than learning it for a test.

So would I recommend bju to anyone? For some - yes, but for most - no. Yes, for those going into the Ministry. Yes, for strong Christians who won't go wild once "free" (although one could argue that such a person would be even stronger in a secular setting). No, for those trying to get into Med or Law school or almost any other top-notch grad school. If you can ignore the rules and the social aspect then you can get a very solid education for much less money than it would cost at an equivalent secular school. I've heard it called the "Yale of Christian colleges" - too bad it also has such significant downsides.