Hi everyone,
I’m a rising junior living in Germany (born in Africa, grew up in China, currently attending a boarding school in Germany, US citizen). I’ve recently started researching colleges and I feel like these three match most of my criteria.
For those who have some experience/information about these colleges, I would like to ask:
- What is the financial aid situation? I know that Azusa Pacific offers full-tuition scholarships, and Wheaton also offers large-scale scholarship as well Biola - but do any of them offer any additional funds to make it up for a full-ride, or anywhere close?
- How are the academics in Azusa Pacific and Biola? I've heard that Wheaton is highly regarded in that aspect, but how do people perceive Azusa Pacific and Biola? I am especially interested in how medical schools perceive these schools (as well as how they perceive having attended a Christian school in general).
- About Biola - just how strict is it, and just how "Christian" are the students? Would a rather liberal Christian student feel comfortable in this environment?
- How would a Black / Third Culture Kid student feel in any of these schools?
If anyone has any suggestions for colleges that could be good, I’d love to hear it!
Thank you!!
Usually you get to some of the details about the colleges in the individual college forums, but there really are only forums here for higher level academic colleges, although it has been growing. Those are okay colleges but not tier 1, they seem more regional to me, although Biola will likely attract people from farther away seeking it’s strict mission.
- I doubt it. I was looking at these and similar colleges for a student recently and they seem to give everyone a bit of aid but a lot you are expected to come up with quite a bit on average, more than their EFC usually. This is not including whatever specific scholarships are on offer you can find on the website.
- The student body in not in your league generally. Are you seeking to be the top student at school? The 75 percentile ACT is 27. Med schools will not care if a school is religiously affiliated, more about academics, gpa, mcat, research, volunteer work.
- Looks strict to me, it is unusual to actually require your students to be evangelical Christians. Be sure to see if the student code of conduct is online at colleges that interest you
http://studentlife.biola.edu/student-support/handbook/community-standards/why-standards-exist/
- Hard to say. Safe to say you will find many sheltered or unworldly people, but you will find others that are. Biola has few people of your ethnicity.
Why are these colleges particularly attractive to you, what are you looking for beyond money?
wish i could help; but we too are asking these same questions!
looks like you have some good stats; well done. My daughter has been looking at a few midwest christian colleges; it seems like many of these colleges offer a handful of full-tuition scholarships each year. (not full-ride). I talked to one college; the advice i was given was that these few scholarships are usually given to the kids who REALLY WANT TO GO there. So if you are in the running for these scholarships, you’ll want to know why each particular school attracts you.
you can always email these colleges and ask about unlisted scholarship opportunities.
Thank you both for your replies!!
The reason I’m looking at these schools is that
a. My parents will not let me go to a non-Christian school (long story there);
b. I have made the decision that I would like to graduate with as little debt as possible (hopefully completely debt free), especially since I would like to attend graduate school (possibly medical school);
c. I like the range of academic programs offered by all three of these colleges, as well as their relatively small size and respectively locations. I especially liked the sense of community I got when I read about them. My school has sent people to all three of these schools in the past, and based on the information I’ve received from my counselor, they looked good - now I’m in the digging-deeper stage 
I’m not necessarily trying to aim at schools where I would be a big fish in a small pond - I would love to go to a school that would really challenge me (but high-ranking secular schools are out of the questions due to section a) but I would like to be at a place where I feel comfortable and have some people who “get” me. I don’t mind Biola’s code of conduct, but if it’s too stressed out, religion-focused an atmosphere, it might not be my place.
According to my parents, that would be alright if the school has a large Evangelical community - but they would prefer a Protestant school.
Just an update if anyone’s interested - I’ve contacted all three colleges and confirmed that they are quite stingy with their FA… which is a shame.
I have change my top choice right now to Pepperdine - much more diverse, CA location, and seems to be a bit more generous, as long as they see you as a student who will attend if accepted.I do intend to visit all four colleges, though.
Again, good luck to everybody
I used to live very close to Wheaton and it’s an excellent school. As far as Christian schools go, it’s consistently ranked as one of the most prestigious academically and has a high job placement rate due to its strong reputation and proximity to Chicago. However, it is known for its lack of merit-based financial aid. Even with a near perfect ACT/SAT, tuition alone would still cost $10K+.
Either way you should visit – and consider third party scholarships.