At 6:30 am Wednesday morning, I walked into the school building to find ten slightly blurry-eyed students waiting to pile into the van I had just retrieved.\u00a0 We were getting ready to embark on a whirlwind tour of two colleges.\u00a0 The plan was to leave at 6:45 am and travel to Grace College in Winona Lake, IN, for the morning, and then spend the afternoon at Bethel College in Mishawaka, IN.<\/p>\n
We\u00a0pulled out of\u00a0the school parking lot at 6:48 am.\u00a0 I have to say,\u00a0I was pretty proud that we had gotten eleven people situated and ready to go almost on time.\u00a0\u00a0After a two hour drive, we arrived at the visitor center\u00a0of Grace College.\u00a0 The visitor center and admissions office are located in a\u00a0beautiful old building, complete with\u00a0squeaky wood floors!\u00a0 The people\u00a0at Grace were delightful and wonderfully friendly to 10 just-waking-up students, and 1 road-weary adult.\u00a0 \u00a0While at Grace, we were able to take a tour of the beautiful campus, attend an awesome chapel that got us all thinking, and eat a great lunch in their very busy cafeteria.\u00a0 It was neat to me to be able to observe the students open up and ask questions about the college and to really start to investigate if it was a college that they would want to attend.\u00a0 I was able to tell that they were really interested the college visit itself and not just getting out of school for a day. :)<\/p>\n
After lunch at Grace, we hit the road again and traveled an hour northwest to Bethel College.\u00a0 The students immediately began to comment on the differences between the two campuses.\u00a0 Grace’s college campus is spread out, while Bethel’s is\u00a0a more condensed campus.\u00a0 Each student had a different opinion on what campus he or she liked better.\u00a0 While at Bethel, we were able to find out more about the campus, take a campus tour, and eat an early dinner with Morgan Foxa (a recent Faith graduate).\u00a0 Early in the afternoon, many of the students wanted to stay to watch Morgan’s last volleyball game of the season, but by the time we packed up the van to hit the road, I had 10 weary, information-filled travelers with me!<\/p>\n
As the students and I were talking about the differences and similarities between the two schools, the thought came to me that there are some decisions students need to make when choosing which school they will attend.<\/p>\n
One of the similarities that Grace and Bethel both have is that the school is a close, tight-knit, family-like community.\u00a0 One of the disadvantages of a large campus with a large student body is that it can be easy to lose that sense of community among the student body.<\/p>\n
Students also need to decide how much student\/professor interaction they are looking to have.\u00a0 A student who struggles academically will probably benefit from attending a smaller college or university where there is a high level of student\/professor interaction.\u00a0 At Bethel, they even talked about the professors coming out and playing intermural dodgeball with students!<\/p>\n
Location can play a big part in the college that a student chooses.\u00a0 Some students will want to stay close to home and family, while others will want to experience being far, far away.<\/p>\n
While location, community, and student\/professor ratio are all important, it is very important to research the beliefs and teachings of the school and make sure that the beliefs line up with what each student is looking for.\u00a0 Sometimes students will end up at schools where they will have to really make sure to\u00a0filter what is taught through the lens of Scripture, but that is not a bad thing!\u00a0 Students must realize that what they are taught at every school needs to be analyzed through the lens of Scripture, but at some schools students will need to be extra vigilant.<\/p>\n
The other very important question to take into consideration is “does the school offer a good program in what I want to study.”\u00a0 Ultimately the goal of attending college is to learn a trade or skill so that a student\u00a0can graduate, get a job and earn a living.\u00a0 The student can analyze all the other aspects, but if the college does not offer the course of study that the student is looking to pursue, it is not the right college!<\/p>\n
Choosing a college can be a daunting task, but if students approach it by looking to answer some of the big questions, it might become a little easier!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"