(MBI) This is my experience

How this student rated the school

Educational Quality	D-	Faculty Accessibility	B+
Useful Schoolwork	D-	Excess Competition	C
Academic Success	C	Creativity/ Innovation	D
Individual Value	C	University Resource Use	C+
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	D+	Friendliness	B-
Campus Maintenance	B	Social Life	C
Surrounding City	A	Extra Curriculars	B-
Safety	B

Describes the student body as: Friendly, Arrogant, Approachable, Closeminded Describes the faculty as: Friendly, Helpful

Male

Quite Bright

Lowest Rating Educational Quality	D-

Highest Rating Surrounding City	A

He cares more about Educational Quality than the average student.

Date: Sep 03 2014
Major: Religion/Religious (This Major's Salary over time)
This is my experience. I will try to be as honest and succinct as possible, while opening your eyes to see the world I saw.

I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to go to Moody. However, looking back after graduating over a year ago I am wondering,

What was I thinking?

Coming in, I wanted to be trained as a pastor. The training I received was a lot of theory with minimal real-life application (IMO). Pastoral work is so hands-on that just sitting in lectures does not truly prep one for the work. Many classes were interesting but I definitely felt a lack from the experience side.

Socially, I felt out of place. It is an extremely conservative culture and I found myself unintentionally offending someone every day, it seemed. It is indeed a Christian bubble and with bro-sis, dorm living, and SDR I felt like I was back in high school. I did connect with a few people who became intimate friends so there is hope, for sure.

In the end, I realized most of what I learned here is not transferable in my day-to-day life. I could have learned more, I think, if I had an apprenticeship with a pastor in an elder-led church while taking SPECIFIC classes to equip me for pastoring. Truth is, I realized most churches seem to hire from the inside or through people they know.

Instead, I should have focused on using my early twenties to become skilled in an actual trade or career. This seems practical but it is wise. I have struggled immensely bouncing from meaningless work that pays scraps. Never have I had the opportunity to serve as a pastor despite a great internship at a very well-known church, awesome networking, and a strong desire to do so.

So, now I am realizing I must make a change by either running a business or going to trade school. Where I am is not Moody's fault. I made the decision, somewhat naively, to pursue an education that does NOT prepare for a career. If you have a career, some extra money on the side, and a desire to be equipped for ministry work then Moody is an OK school to go to. I would strongly suggest to get wise counsel and reconsider going to Moody Bible Institute.

Responses

I agree with you completely and I went 10 years before you did. The social climate is more like 8th grade than adult, except for a few good professors…but some professors I had here were also very bad professors. The few good professors are the only partly- redeeming thing about a school that is not what it seems it will be.

"Never have I had the opportunity to serve as a pastor despite a great internship at a very well-known church, awesome networking, and a strong desire to do so." - very well put.

Also—I cannot emphasize this enough to new students—Beware of Welcome Week. It's by far the most social and normal that people will act at MBI, based on my experience.

This is well-written and insightful. I think the "bubble" you describe and the deeply conservative, we-do-it-this-way-and-this-way-only mentality culture accurately. Not because I know Moody, but I know schools like it, and in my opinion they are all the same. There are better places where you can go for an education, whether you want to go into missionary/religious work or something else.

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