For Economics grad school, you don’t need economics as an undergrad, you need a math degree.
But yes, overall, Liberty isn’t known for academic rigor and job prospects are limited outside of the specific group in which they function.
Wake and W&L are church-related and have a Christian-majority student body. It means you can practice as much, or as little, as you wish. At both you’ll find plenty of like-minded students.
Have you seen many other campuses? I visit several dozen schools a year, and Liberty is the single most disappointing (physical) campus I have seen in years. There is just one main academic building. Lots of prefab buildings and parking lots where other schools have quads. The area is pretty, but the campus itself has little to offer compared to…well, almost anywhere.
I wonder if you would still be impressed by the campus if you had more comparators.
Pre-fab buildings? Our family just visited Liberty for the first time and I didn’t see a single pre-fab. Given, they’ve done a lot of building over the last 5 years so you might want to visit again. Quite a few classes are still in the main academic building but as more buildings are finished more classes are being moved.
Overall–it’s just not a very good school.
My visit was in September of 2014, so I don’t think there’s been a building boom since then.
The academic pedigree of many of their faculty is a bit light–and that’s being fairly diplomatic.
Yes. There are so many good evangelical colleges… not sure why someone would choose to attend Liberty, except because they don’t know better?
We live in Richmond and they are recruiting two of my children (D’17 & S’16) very heavily. My son has high stats and would not need to consider them. They began with my daughter shortly after she took her sophomore PSAT. They have phoned her at least eight times and I’ve asked them politely to cease. We do not go a week where we don’t get a postcard or letter from them. We blocked emails from them long ago. It’s weird. Both kids are SO not appropriate for their school. The school is known as a joke around here. Every year one self righteous C student from our high school goes there. It’s also the school serial killer Jesse Matthew was expelled from for rape. They did not think to warn his next school. I think that’s what underlines their incompetence for me.
@OspreyCV22 Next time they call, tell them you are Jewish or Muslim or some other non-Christian religion. That will get them to stop calling.
@OspreyCV22 I am not a Liberty fan but in all fairness, the allegations against Matthews occurred at Liberty and Christopher Newport and happened in 2002-2003. The cases were investigated by the police but no charges were filed.
It’s horrifying that Matthews was able to slip under the radar for so long but the system failed on many levels and at many places.
I suggest the OP read Kevin Roose’s The Unlikely Disciple. I’ve known a couple kids that have attended Liberty and it can be the right college for the right kid looking for that type of college atmosphere and probably more akin to Wheaton and Calvin. Hope is too diverse in it’s student body to fit this genre. It is what you takeaway from your college that is most important, there are good profs and bad profs everywhere.
I would strongly disagree that you can compare.Calvin/Wheaton, on the one hand, and Liberty.
To put it simply, there’s a very small, specific group of people for whom Liberty is not considered a joke academically. For them, Liberty is a fine institution and if their children want to attend it’s fine, that’s why we have such a great variety of colleges in this country. But for a student who wants to interact and find a job outside of this society - and many Christians will or are called to interact with the secular work, which doesn’t mean they’ll become secular but need to function within its boundaries in order to accomplish their purpose - then a degree from Wheaton , Calvin, Hope, Baylor, Point Loma, etc, will both be an opportunity to grow in their faith and respected academically.
Ask any academic, even better, ask employers, and most would tell you that Libery is several rungs below places like Wheaton,Calvin, Baylor…etc
Wheaton and Calvin are academically rigorous. Liberty is not. While not every student wants rigor, your money will be better spent at another Christian college.
Also consider Pepperdine and Saint Olaf as rigorous Christian schools.
Either Hanna missed half the campus of her eyes were not quite open. Many buildings were underway or new in 9/14. These would include new large library, science building, med school building, music building, two high-rise dorms and various sports facilities. None are close to pre-fab. There were some early buildings that were either pre-fab or similar but nearly all are gone to make way for the new buildings above. The total construction boom exceeds $500 Million which is closer to a Billion in Chicago $s.
http://www.liberty.edu/library/overview/
http://www.liberty.edu/aboutliberty/index.cfm?PID=24631&cam=school-of-music-southeast
http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=145017
http://www.liberty.edu/aboutliberty/index.cfm?PID=24631&cam=medical-school-1
http://www.liberty.edu/aboutliberty/index.cfm?PID=24631&cam=residence-halls
http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/liberty-university-breaks-ground-on-freedom-tower/article_f59a8b42-5033-11e5-9b06-c7674464b3d2.html
http://www.liberty.edu/aboutliberty/index.cfm?PID=32344
Google Earth saw the same crap I did:
Liberty itself has pictures of these buildings on its current campus map. Click on “academic buildings” and then on M6, M8, etc – the buildings I was talking about. These are the “temporary” homes of science, music, etc.
If they’re building a whole bunch of new facilities, all I can say is, “It’s about time.” They need them.
Barrons, if you’ve been to four or five dozen comparator campuses lately, I’d like to know which ones you think Liberty surpasses at present (not at some future date once everything is built).
Don’t forget big building as you come in from the north, where the student union is, is a recycled electronics factory. While it is nice they have the space, it’s no architectural marvel.
I heard it was commissioned by Frank Lloyd Wrong…
This all by itself rules out Liberty as a serious university for me. “Our purpose is to research, promote, and communicate a robust young-Earth creationist view of Earth history.”