Taylor University

Date: Jan 23 2008
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
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.