When you are looking at a college you want to know that the values they speak to you about are truly lived by the entire staff- not an easy feat.
Yet High Point University does just that. One of the things I love is the staff truly watches out for the students. Here is a link to one of the security guards that got recognized and ended up on the TODAY show!! How cool is that??
Google High Point University Security Guard on the Today Show to see it!
And then there’s the ones you don’t see A Low Point at High Point University - Minding The Campus
I was expecting this post to be much more in this direction when I saw the title!
Excess and superficial materialism?
Wow I love where this post was going, of course someone would try and make it negative.
The article is just the tip of the iceberg on what you experience on campus of High Point University. The article is a true depiction of Ms Val. She is all that and then some. The crazy fact is she is not the only one that gives this type of affection and attention to our students on campus.
The peace of mind know my daughter and friends are being surrounded with positivity and support does this momma’s heart good. And then there is the instructional aspects on campus. My daughter jumped in with both feet and I could not be more proud. Her dreams of becoming a doctor are getting more clear by the day and she has resources at her fingertips. High Point was the perfect choice for her. As a mom of four this campus by far has set the standard for preparing my daughter for the future, in more ways than just grades. She is grounded, learning life skills and becoming the best version of her.
Every college generates both positives and negatives.
Kid studying engineering at MIT? “It’s a suicidal rat race”. Kid training at West Point? “who would let their kid sign up for that much military service at age 18”. Kid studying cello at Julliard? "how can you make a living playing the cello?
Why is High Point the only college where folks get defensive about the negatives (and yes, there are negatives)? Why do you have to buy in to the whole experience vs. pointing out that there are both upsides and downsides to its culture???
Maybe because some posters are reluctant to acknowledge that there could be any positives there? I have no connection to HPU, but for those that attend, it seems to work. The grads seem for the most part gainfully employed or in grad school. For the right student it is the right choice, I expect.
Maybe because HPU is the only example of a university on this site where HPU employees have made troII accounts and sock puppets pretending to be a prospective student or parent of prospective student to play cheerleader for their school.
Ah! I thought it was curious that @Golfmama22’s only posts had been two similar HP-promotional statements encouraging CC readers to “check it out” or to “go see it.”
It makes more sense now.
To be fair, I don’t believe the OP is an HPU employee, but her last thread did bring out the fake accounts. Whether the OP has an ulterior motive IDK, but I find it disgraceful that HPU employees would feel it necessary to catfish.
And to quote a character portrayed by the late Mollie Sugden, I am unanimous in this.
I see some questioning if I am a “real parent or not”- kind of crazy. I have 3 children. My oldest went to St Johns University in MN and my two girls went to High Point University.
Nido is someone I have personally known since he first came on as the President of HPU. I have watched him transform it from a 1930’s sleepy college in to the school it is today. I have been impressed with his wisdom and insight along the way. Both of my girls are honor students and had been accepted in to high level schools like Pepperdine but they chose HPU because they loved the “mix of academics and real world skills” that are taught there. I think what is hard for some, and I get it, is that because the school has basically been added and built new in the last 10 years it can seem like it is just a superficial shiny object. Especially when you compare it to most schools that have been in existence for 50 years with the exact same look.
As for cost, we paid the same to send our child to St Johns in MN which looks like it has not been updated since I went there in the 80’s as we did to send our girls to HPU. Both have graduated with great jobs in their field.
I don’t think anyone questions that the physical plant is new and shiny. That’s lovely if you care about those things.
The questions are about low academic standards to graduate, the marketing to upper income families that suggests- however implicitly or sometimes blatantly “don’t want your kids going to college with the “wrong” kind of people? Send them to us”. Lots and lots of dog-whistles in those mailers. Smiling white kids with good teeth and country club attire.
I’d have been happy to consider a relatively young college and campus. But not one that thinks that teaching kids which fork to use at a business dinner is somehow a substitute for rigorous academics and intellectual enquiry. And not one where they emphasize that godly, patriotic families (and the photos they choose are of white godly families, as if Black families aren’t patriotic?) choose HPU to keep their kids safe.
And yes- the HPU fans go ballistic when someone points out the dog-whistles. The best way NOT to claim that you are a great college option for white Christian families who don’t want their kids mingling with people who aren’t like them, is to stop claiming that you are.
Some people see dog whistles where there is no dog.
If medical schools, law schools, and other grads accept HPU grads, then your concerns about the academic quality are unfounded. Apparently it is quite possible to get an adequate education there. I am sure it is also possible to sail through with the easiest courses and remain uneducated if the student wants, just as is the case with every other college in the country
Especially when the ethics of the President they fawn over are suspect.
It’s enough for me that Nido Quebein insists on being called Dr even though he only has an honorary doctorate from UNC-Greensboro. No thanks to that kind of shenanigans. Earn it and then you deserve to be called it.
See @skieurope ’s posts above. There are most certainly dog whistles and dogs.
There are dog whistles, then there are whistles that one would have to be wearing concert-grade ear muffs not to hear.
For instance, a year or two ago, they released with their incoming freshman profile the most popular/common names in the class. You would need to have your fingers deep in your ears to not hear what they were communicating with names like Emily, William, Andrew, and Smith!!!
Any different at Pepperdine? Middlebury? Schools targetting wealthy full pay kids will indeed enroll more of them. Not sure what you have against rather common names-you dont want to associate with somebody named Bill? Emily was a top 5 name in 2004, when applicants were born.An odd bias to be sure.
Surely you know POC named Bill or Andrew? And White people with unusual names? I mean, really, not sure what mesage you thought the kids names were sending.
They aren’t the only ones, but they are among the precious few who are as loud and proud that their purpose isn’t about inclusive education or serving/bettering the world, or any of the missions held by most institutions of higher education.
Perhaps we should be glad that their motives and drivers are so obvious — it keeps in who they want and out who they don’t — but HPU supporters should also not be surprised when there are objections to a model that is so clearly communicated.
I wish other universities were as honest. They are businesses. Bettering the world is a side gig, and I would like them to stop pretending otherwise.