Grove City College

Date: Dec 25 2012
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
There are good things and bad things about the Grove. The best features of the school are the academics/faculty and the low tuition price. I have learned so much from my time here at Grove City and I feel well prepared for graduating from the bubble. Thankfully, they keep their costs low enough that I won't be in debt for the rest of my life from attending GCC. Also, you never feel unsafe at the school, but that is a testament to the town and to the integrity of the students, NOT to the skill of Campus Safety.

There are some drawbacks to GCC. First, Student Life and Learning has far too much power and too many ambiguous rules (there is even a clause in the Crimson granting the SLL Director the power to cast aside rules that would theoretically restrain his power). Second, Campus Safety really only functions as the enforcers of Student Life and Learning's Orwellian policies. They do nothing to make the campus "safer," absolutely nothing. Third, a good portion of the student body comes into the college with little-to-no interaction with people who are not as fundamentalist as they are. This results in them either being extremely awkward or hostile to others who are not like them. Fourth, the weather is terrible. If you don't like rain, clouds, and cold, consider attending somewhere else. Fifth, the economics department is rather useless unless you want to work at Cato or FreedomWorks after school. Seriously, few academics and mainstream economists take the Austrian School seriously, meaning that Econ credits from GCC are useless in most grad schools and on many job applications. Also, the Austrian professors tend to dismiss any intellectual challenges to their ideology. Finally, there really is nothing to do in Grove City over the weekends. Not only does the weather limit activities, but the "city" of Grove City offers little for college students to do, other than see one of the two movies showing at the Guthrie. Even on campus, there is not a whole lot to do, especially if you're not in a Greek organization. Instead, most people voluntarily imprison themselves in the library over weekends. It gets old after a while.

This overall review may have sounded bleak, but GCC has been a decent experience for me. The academics have prepared me for life after the Grove and I have made some incredible friendships here. I have just grown to dislike some of the characteristics of this school that make me (a solid political and theological conservative by most standards) look like a social and fiscal moderate (since I don't want to burn homosexuals at the stake, enjoy alcohol and think Milton Friedman was a better economist than Ludwig Van Mises). Grove City is a great school, just know what you are getting yourself into when applying. One final note, the Poli Sci Dept. has four of the greatest professors you could ever hope to take.