At
the beginning I felt completely out of place. My family
was Catholic and we never went to church and I
felt like an outsider when I first came to Bethel.
I came to play sports not to find my relationship
with God. That being said the first months were hard.
I made some super religious friends and eventually we had
a falling out. A warning: many of the freshman put
on a very religious attitude in the beginning, however usually
this facade begins to calm down as the months go
on. Some girls put on a fake attitude the entire
time and still think they are in high school, but
people will ignore them and they typically transfer anyways. Eventually,
you begin to see people as people again and not
apostles. However, as time grows on, I have made
new friends and we all accept each other for who
we are. I love the sports programs and I love
the people on my team. The campus is absolutely gorgeous.
The food is amazing. However, if you are an out
of state student, almost all freshman leave on weekends. There
is also not much to do on weekends which is
why most people go home. You have to take religious
courses, but as long as you go to class you
should can pass them.
If you are religious you
will love this school. They are very open with religion
where you pray in classes and discuss how God is
in your life. They have chapel on Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday which most people seem to enjoy going to. Even
if you aren't religious, it is a great community once
you find the right people. You will get a great
education here. The courses tend to be challenging but fair
in my opinion. If you are going into nursing, chemistry,
or biology this is especially true, where the nursing program
itself only admits 60% of applicants. There isn't much partying
that goes on, but if that's your scene you can
find other people who will join you. Believe it or
not people do drink at Bethel just not as much
as people who go to state schools or large universities.
Bethel takes time to get used to, but in my
experience it was worthwhile. I've met some amazing people and
I love the psychology department. Many people don't understand why
I stay at Bethel because I'm not religious, but I've
learned to adapt and make the best of the situation.
Those who are religious seem to really enjoy the campus
and furthering their relationship with God. Overall, be patient and
you will see that this school is pretty amazing.
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