Messiah College

Date: Feb 24 2011
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
Messiah is a great school academically. Great fine arts department, great science department, great humanities. The profs are great, always willing to help, some even open their homes to the students. Great administration, very helpful and friendly. Classes are challenging, but most of them are workable. Unfortunately, when reviewing a college, you need to evaluate the people - not just the academics.

Most of the girls at Messiah are pretty nice. But that's about it. If you're not the average christian pop, Taylor Swift loving, North Face wearing girl, you're going to have to look a lot harder to find your group of friends. And most of the guys are nice… but again, if you're not on a sports team or play an instrument of some sort, it may be harder to find your niche.

I found the students to be very close minded. In one of my classes we watched a movie that had a couple of lesbian scenes which were necessary to understanding the characters and the plot. Yes, Christianity sees homosexuality as a sin, but that doesn't mean that when you see it, you go

Ewwww, ewwww that's sooooo NASTY!! Gross,

and stop yourself from enjoying the rest of the movie. Grow up.

There is also not much to do. There are some clubs and there's concerts on Wednesdays, a Coffeehouse once a month. But other than that, there's no other "fun" things to do… Unless you think going to alternate chapels are fun. Weekends can be pretty dull. And the surrounding city, Harrisburg, doesn't have that much to offer, plus it's kind of far away. The most people do off campus is go to Walmart and eat at Panera.

I understand that at a Christian college, there are going to be some rules. You need 24 chapels a semester, no drinking, smoking… whatever. It's fine. But to me, visiting hours feel very limiting. I feel like whenever I hang out with a guy in a dorm room, that I'm 12 again and my mom has told me to keep the lights on and the door open. Really? We're adults now and I think that the college should treat us like we are.

I'm transferring after this semester. It's just not for me, but hey, maybe Messiah's the perfect fit for you. These are just my thoughts.