Visited Cedarville U. in Ohio yesterday

[sbaloue]

Yesterday, we drove our 14 year old son to Cedarville U. for a Worship Camp.

 

This is a school that has been at the top of our college list for a while for several reasons. I figured the camp was a good way to low key visit, and so far, so good.

 

Here are my initial thoughts:

 

1. The people are very friendly.

 

2. The campus is very clean and pleasing to the eye.

 

3. The dorms rooms are just that: dorm rooms. My two son, 14 and 12, were shocked. They said they thought dorm rooms would be like hotel rooms. :confused: You talk about a wake up call. I don't think it ever occured to my older son he would have to use a group bathroom in college. Anyway, the rooms and bathrooms were clean. The rooms were smaller than I remember my college room being, but that was a long time ago and memories fade/change over time.

 

4. My older son texted his brother and said the food was "ok".

 

5. The campus is SMALL and out in the corn fields. There is a little "downtown" about 2 blocks away that has a SUBWAY, a pizza place, a new Chinese restaurant, a bakery and barber shop. There is an ice cream place across the street too.

 

Overall, Cedarville seems a nice place. I will get more information from my son about how he feels about it when I pick him up on Friday. Did I mention it was SMALL? We live in Chicago, go to The Moody Church and I attended a Big 10 school. This is my first experience with small to medium size schools. My son has always said he wants to go to a big school in a big city, and this is so not that. We will have to see.

[Maryalice]

My son is a sophomore at Cedarville U. He LOVES it. He is on campus now as a camp counselor for the pre-med camp. Let me know if I can answer any questions or do anything for you.

 

maryalice

[creekland]

 

Did I mention it was SMALL? We live in Chicago, go to The Moody Church and I attended a Big 10 school. This is my first experience with small to medium size schools.

 

I had to chuckle about this. Both hubby and I went to Va Tech (24,000 students at the time) and absolutely loved it. To us, that's what a college was supposed to be like and we expected our boys to each go there when their time came.

 

Then... my oldest told me he wanted a Christian college. He fell in love with Covenant (which, I believe, at 1000 students is SMALLER than Cedarville). He just finished his sophomore year there and absolutely loves it. I still can't get over the size when we visit... but his education seems decent and his interaction with his profs is far more than I ever had. We had him visit Va Tech, and while he politely told us he liked it, he also told us it was too big and impersonal for him when I asked him to be honest.

 

It still takes both hubby and I some mental thinking to overcome the size thing though. It hits us every time even when we think we're over it. We ended up coming to the conclusion that it was his life, not ours.

 

It'll be interesting to see which version (if either) your guy goes for size-wise. My middle son told me he liked medium sized (and his final choice, U of Rochester, has roughly 5000 students). Youngest has already said he prefers small, but I'm not sure how small yet. I guess our genes for loving the Big U didn't get passed down!

[sbaloue]

My son wants to attend a Christian college and we, his parents, couldn't agree more. My son initially mentioned Cedarville to me; many of his summer camp counselors go there. I had never heard of it.

 

Anyway, we like what we found researching the school. It seems to have a strong commitment to Christ, great academics, the majors he is considering and is within driving distance from home. My son didn't seem as bothered by the size, he has no point of reference, but he did say it was small. I, on the other hand, was shocked by the size but tried to keep most of it to myself. After all, it will be my son staying there, if he chooses to go, and not me.

 

As far as questions about Cedarville:

 

1. Are the professors helpful and approachable?

 

2. How is life in the dorms, and do most people live in the dorms all 4 years?

 

3. How strong is the commitment to Christ and what is chapel like?

 

4. How strong are the academics and are the student challenged to think?

 

5. How is the financial aid?

 

Thanks

Edited June 13, 2012 by sbaloue

[history_junkie]

Hi, I'm a lurker around here, but as a Cedarville grad, I'd like to answer some of your questions. I'm a homeschool grad as well (dd21 of leanna) and I graduated from Cedarville about 5 weeks ago. I loved my time there.

 

1. The professors and staff are amazing. Most of my professors actually knew my name and cared about me as a person. On several occasions I had a professor email me to ask how I was doing based on my interactions during class. Many professors are available to meet for lunch of coffee, and I took advantage of that often.

 

2. Dorm life is what you make of it. I had great experiences in three different dorms. I don't know much about the guy's dorms, but my brother will be a freshmen there in the Fall.

 

3. The commitment to Christ is strong. There are some interesting things happening on campus that seem to indicate some liberal theological leanings. However, classes are still very informative and promote critical thinking and interaction. Even in the few classes where I disagreed with the professor, I was allowed to discuss and engage about issues.

 

4. The academics are decently strong, in my opinion. I served on the Student Academic Advisory Board my junior and senior year, so my peers in that group sought out the hardest profs and were pushing for more rigorous standards, however, this was a group of very academically minded students, so their opinion is biased. I never took any CC classes, but all of my friends who did complained about how easy they were compared to Cedarville.

 

5. The financial aid is not great, though it is far better now than it was four years ago.

If your student has a 27+ ACT / 1210+ SATand 3.5 high school GPA, he is automatically awarded $8,500 per year.

 

Regarding the size, I loved it! Of course, people look for different things in a college experience, but I loved knowing my professors and being able to keep up with them even years after being in class. Cedarville is about an hour each from Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton, so there are plenty of opportunities for things to do.

 

What major is your son considering?

 

I hope this helped. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have.

[sbaloue]

Thanks for all the replies. They have been really helpful. I agree with Creekland. I am starting to see I have some pretty set ideas of what college should look like. This process has been a wake up call for me and this is just the 1st college we have visited.:tongue_smilie:

 

My son will probably major in either some form of business or Bible/philosophy. He is not a STEM guy at all (I know people and interests change, but they would have to change a lot). Our plan is for him to pursue a graduate degree(s). At this point he is saying he may want to go into

Apologetics.

 

The low financial aid might be an issue. Also my son plays competitive tennis and is hoping to play in college.

 

We are checking out the Moody Bible Institute, but he would like to experience something new for college.

[creekland]

A larger college that might interest you would be Liberty. They are also YEC and conservative. They're decent with financial aid for higher stat students, but I don't know any cut offs or if there are official cut offs. (I haven't checked out the school much.)

 

Beware that any degree from these conservative colleges could be a hindrance in the secular world. I'm not saying that's right. It is life though. Check to see which grad schools graduates get into. If they're getting into places you'd like to go to, then all should work out ok.

[Grace is Sufficient]

is Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA. It's just a bit north of Pittsburgh. My daughter will be starting there in August.

 

Blessings,

Debbie

[sbaloue]

While we were checking in at Cedarville, other students and parents were wearing t-shirts from Liberty, Grove City and Hillsdale.

 

I previously checked out Hillsdale and Grove City but neither have a male tennis team. I will be checking out Lee University in TN, recommended by a church member who is an alumni, and Grace College in IN, also recommended by a fellow church member.

 

Thank God we still have two years before we begin applying to schools.

 

Thanks so much for all the responses and suggestions. It really helps to walk through this with others in the same situation.:001_smile:

[Yolanda in Mass]

They are also YEC and conservative.

 

What is YEC?

[Yolanda in Mass]

Ah..Young Earth Creationists...

[creekland]

While we were checking in at Cedarville, other students and parents were wearing t-shirts from Liberty, Grove City and Hillsdale.

 

I previously checked out Hillsdale and Grove City but neither have a male tennis team. I will be checking out Lee University in TN, recommended by a church member who is an alumni, and Grace College in IN, also recommended by a fellow church member.

 

Thank God we still have two years before we begin applying to schools.

 

Thanks so much for all the responses and suggestions. It really helps to walk through this with others in the same situation.:001_smile:

 

My oldest goes to Covenant and really enjoys it there, but like I said before, it's quite small. ;) I also have no idea if they have tennis... They are not exclusively YEC (if that matters). My guy isn't taking science, but in his Bible class he said the prof briefly explained several explanations people use for Genesis and the pros and cons of each without giving his own personal view. I kind of like that approach since the world is full of people who have differing beliefs on it and one should know why they believe as they do and be able to get along with others regardless of their own personal beliefs. He told me all profs are definitely Christian and he enjoys that aspect of his education.

 

What is YEC?

 

I see you found the answer... ;) For some people, this matters (one way or the other). For anyone looking at Cedarville, it may, or may not, be a major consideration, so I figured I'd mention it.

[Yolanda in Mass]

For anyone looking at Cedarville, it may, or may not, be a major consideration, so I figured I'd mention it.

 

Just out of curiosity is Cedarville YEC, too?

[Yolanda in Mass]

Just out of curiosity is Cedarville YEC, too?

 

Once again, answered my question with a pretty easy and quick search. This is from their biology department FAQs:

 

"Students will be able to explain evolutionary mechanisms and critique evolutionary theory. "

 

Just was curious and thought I'd share information. As creekland said, it may or may not matter to anyone, but it's always good to have information especially if your kiddo is going into a life science.

 

Yolanda

[Heather in VA]

I had to chuckle about this. Both hubby and I went to Va Tech (24,000 students at the time) and absolutely loved it. To us, that's what a college was supposed to be like and we expected our boys to each go there when their time came.

 

 

 

This cracked me up. My daughter visited Cedarville and found it very small and in the boonies too but for her that was a plus. We live in the NoVa area and she is just sick of tons of people and huge everything. Her friends are all off to VaTech and UVA but it holds no appeal. Even for high school we discussed whether she wanted to go to public school but even though the high schools are significantly smaller now than when I went, the 700+ per grade class size was enough to make her say no. Which was solidified yesterday when we went to her best friend's graduation and just getting through the names was a coma-inducing experience. :-)

 

She's a rising senior and I think she'd like to find something just a little less boonies than Cedarville, but given the choice between that and the 25 or 30k students at Tech or other huge schools - Boonies holds much more appeal.

 

Heather

[sbaloue]

Picked up son from Cedarville, and he said he loves it. He said he wants to go back to camp there next year, and he can see himself going to college there. So, Cedarville stays on the list.:001_smile:

[creekland]

As creekland said, it may or may not matter to anyone, but it's always good to have information especially if your kiddo is going into a life science.

 

Yolanda

 

Yes, Cedarville is YEC (as you saw). Others I know of who are include Liberty, Biola, Bob Jones, and LeTourneau. I'm sure there are others. I'm just not thinking of them this morning (and I'm sure I don't know them all). For some this is a plus. For others it is a minus. Then there's probably a group who doesn't care. ;) But it's always good for people to have information to assist them when looking at colleges IMO.

 

Students can and do go on to grad schools and med schools, etc, from YEC colleges, but there are also some areas where secular folks will discriminate against a degree as well as areas where similar minded folks will see it as a plus.

 

She's a rising senior and I think she'd like to find something just a little less boonies than Cedarville, but given the choice between that and the 25 or 30k students at Tech or other huge schools - Boonies holds much more appeal.

 

Heather

 

My guys are similar to your daughter except they weren't raised in cities. I've often wondered what my view of "college" would have been if I'd chosen to go elsewhere. In a way, I think it's similar to the picture people conjure up of "dog" when they hear it. It's probably based a bit upon their experiences. (For me, that's a Black Lab first, then German Shepherd second. For others, their mental picture is widely different.)

 

Picked up son from Cedarville, and he said he loves it. He said he wants to go back to camp there next year, and he can see himself going to college there. So, Cedarville stays on the list.:001_smile:

 

Glad he enjoyed it!!! As I mentioned before, my oldest loves his small school.

 

Yesterday, youngest showed me a brochure for Unity College in Maine. It's an environmental focused college with roughly 550 students... my definition of small college might get even smaller soon... (but I'm looking for similar, larger, options for him to consider)! He wants a small school, but that small??? (And Maine doesn't thrill him.)

[Sixmeadows]

I have not posted on here for years now but needed to research something when I saw your post.

 

My son thought it was well worth his time. We had him sit down last night and pestered him with all sorts of questions. While he thought the camp, kids and professors were great he said he could not imagine being out in the middle of nowhere. He also wants to go to a small university. Both my husband and myself went to Azusa Pacific in CA and while it was a small Christian university it was in the middle of everything. Besides Azusa I would love for him to go to Bioloa but shhh don't tell my husband that. He would think I am a traitor! LOL

 

Glad to hear another good report about the worship camp.

 

Cheri

[history_junkie]

Cedarville is in the middle of the boonies, and some students do not enjoy that. But those that want a bigger city experience make the effort to do stuff in the Cincy/Dayton/Columbus area. Sure, it's not the same as living there, but I knew plenty of people who spent many weekends away. Chicago is also within reasonable driving distance and many students would make weekend trips there, as well.

 

Of course, I grew up in the boonies, so it didn't make that much of a difference to me :-)