Oklahoma Christian University

Date: Jul 04 2010
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
I went to a good high school, took challenging honors and AP classes and scored very well on the SAT and ACT. I could have gone to a reputable school, but my mom forced me to attend one of our community's local colleges and live at home. That left me with two options: a low quality, regional, state commuter college or Oklahoma Christian. I chose Oklahoma Christian because, at the time, I thought it was the lesser of two evils. I knew it had absolutely no reputation as a prestigious university, but it did have an honors program, so I thought it might not be too awful.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma Christian sucks! I had a horrible experience there, and I will explain why:

For one thing, OC is simply not a good school academically. Many of the classes just repeated material I had learned in high school - even so-called "honors" classes. Most other classes were taught at a ninth or tenth grade level. All applicants are accepted, as long as they have graduated from high school. You can technically make strait Ds, and score 15 on the ACT and still get in. I really wish I were exaggerating, but I?m not. The school offers scholarship money to students who score at least a 22. Students who score lower are welcomed because they are the only ones who pay full price, and OC needs their money. Simply put, it can?t afford to be selective.

All the professors are required to be active members of the Church of Christ, which doesn't leave the school with much of a talent pool to select new faculty members from. As a result, once a professor is hired, it is very hard to get rid of him, even if he is a terrible teacher (unless he or she is a liberal ? read on). It would be too hard to find a replacement. Several departments were staffed entirely by adjuncts, because qualified professors who were Church of Christ members simply could not be found. I graduated with a 4.00 in Business Marketing with minimal effort, but learned very little about business and absolutely nothing about marketing. All my marketing classes were taught by the same professor, a failed businessman with diagnosed ADHD who decided late in life that he wanted to be a professor, and was lucky enough to be a member of the Church of Christ and a friend of the Dean of the College of Business. When he actually bothered to come to class, all he did was regale us with irrelevant stories about his family. He literally told us that it was not his job to teach; it was our job to learn ? whatever that means. The Dean finally stopped making excuses and fired him, but not before a lot of students wasted thousands on tuition. The school?s only economics professor kept his job after it came out that he was a wife beater. He is a prominent Republican state legislator and comes from a wealthy and influential Church of Christ family, so the school believed him when he said he was innocent. However, a distinguished, tenured English professor was summarily fired because her grown daughter became a minister at a liberal Church of Christ. This is a major no-no, since at OC women are not allowed to teach religion or pray aloud when men are present. She and her husband were also among the few vocal Democrats on campus, which contributed to the animosity. Faculty and staff who vocally criticized George W. Bush lived in fear for their jobs.

As you may imagine, Oklahoma Christian does not exactly emphasize creative and original thinking or academic freedom. Students are taught what to think, not how to think. Most tests are simple short answer or multiple choice, with no consideration for critical thinking or application. Oklahoma Christian does not really emphasize writing skills, either. My friends at grad school who went to reputable universities were shocked that I had never written a paper more than 15 pages long. Most good schools require students to write a substantial thesis before graduating, regardless of major. Not Oklahoma Christian! Now that I am in the workforce, I can see that critical thinking, research and writing skills are the most important skills a white-collar professional can have. You will not learn them at Oklahoma Christian. Oh, and despite my good grades, I was woefully unprepared for graduate school. I hadn?t had to work hard since high school!

Oklahoma Christian claims to have ?outstanding academic programs.? When asked what makes its programs so outstanding, the usual response mentions ?small classes and caring professors.? Nothing wrong with that, but let?s be honest - small classes only make an appreciable difference if the professors and curriculum are challenging and top-notch and students engaged, enthusiastic and intelligent. In a school like Oklahoma Christian, with many below-average students, professors have to dumb down curriculum significantly. Small class sizes means more attention for slower students, not more intellectual stimulation for talented ones. Oh, and just because a professor is caring, does not mean he or she is a great teacher.

Despite its dreadful academics, the biggest problem at Oklahoma Christian is actually the students. Most of them are not very bright, and an anti-intellectual attitude is very pervasive on campus. Most students believe the earth was created a few thousand years ago in six calendar days. Few students believe in global warming. I?ll never forget that one of my fellow honors program students could not pronounce bourgeoisie and had no idea what it meant. Because I knew what bourgeoisie meant, as well as other random facts that came up in class discussion such as that Candide is a book by Voltaire, and that Kinshasa is the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (facts I picked up at a reputable high school), I was considered unusual and intimidating. Other kids would be open-mouthed with awe, saying, ?How do you know these things? You?re a genius!? It was really annoying. Simple intellectual curiosity is a foreign concept to most OC students. Many Oklahoma Christian students came from low caliber, rural schools and were simply not prepared for a good education. Many weren?t even prepared for the challenge of Oklahoma Christian, sad to say. It is not uncommon for a student, especially a female, to admit the only reason she came to Oklahoma Christian is to find a spouse. Students there are typically "nice Christian? boys and girls, meaning they do not drink, smoke, swear, watch pornography or engage in premarital sex (at least they claim they don't). They do have a lot of bad qualities, though: self-righteous, smug, narrow-minded, judgmental, cold and standoffish are a few adjectives that describe Oklahoma Christian students well. Most students don?t bother with their appearance at all. The school uniform tends toward wrinkled, faded jeans and shirts, with no makeup for girls and scruffy beards for guys. Many guys wear caps at all times, so they don?t have to bother combing their hair. I?m not saying you should judge someone based on what they wear, but the dreary style of most Oklahoma Christian students seams to be a reflection of their dreary personalities. Most just don?t seem very happy. Their default facial expression is one of smug condescension and spiritual superiority. Part of college is learning and growing by interacting with interesting and inspiring peers ? except at Oklahoma Christian!

If you are not Church of Christ, don't even think about coming here. I am not Church of Christ, and any time I told someone where I went to church, the room would get 10 degrees colder and you could hear a pin drop. In case you didn't know, the C of C doesn't regard other denominations as legitimate churches. It is not unusual for someone who is vocal about not being Church of Christ to be told they are going to hell.

Campus life revolves around a never-ending cycle of church activities. Daily chapel and Bible classes are mandatory, and there is a lot of peer pressure to attend church services Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. Many people also attend devotionals two nights a week and Outreach missions training on Mondays. There are not many other campus activities to get involved with. There are practically no special interest clubs, and bands never perform on campus. It used to be that the only special speakers who came were C of C preachers and missionaries, but the school has branched out into inviting ultra-conservative politicians and talk radio hosts. If you are a Democrat, take it from me, you will be harassed and heckled constantly. The school recently started holding conservative ?leadership camps? to indoctrinate impressionable high school students with Republican ideology. Oklahoma Christian prides itself on promoting an extreme, hateful brand of Christianity. For the last few years, the school has sponsored the annual Reclaim Oklahoma for Christ conference, which promotes hatred of gays and Muslims, young earth creationism, theocracy and the delusion that Christians are a persecuted minority in America today.

The campus is also extremely ugly, with no beauty or character whatsoever. It was built in the modern style of the late 1950's and resembles a mediocre suburban office park that sprouted a matching church. The buildings are dated, low, plain, brown structures widely spread on a windy hillside. The campus is located on a bland stretch of Memorial Road on the border between Edmond and Oklahoma City, and surrounded on two sides by a development of identical, dingy 1960s ranch-style houses. There is a dog food factory about a mile away, and if the wind is blowing in the right direction you can really smell it. There are a few fast food joints adjacent to campus, but almost everything else requires a ten-minute drive to the area around Quail Springs Mall, which is the ?ghetto? mall of Oklahoma City. Since Crossroads Mall closed down, Quail Springs is where the gang bangers like to hang out.

I just want anyone who might be considering Oklahoma Christian to think again. The wholesome

Christian environment

they try to sell you is simply not all it seems. College is supposed to be the best years of your life - don't make the mistake I made. Parents, please do not force your children to go to Oklahoma Christian. They will get a worthless education that will limit what they are capable of achieving.