<p>alright, well, Ive been having a rediculously hard time deciding on schools, and the best idea i can come up with is a small-ish christian college in a city (but i still like A&M, go figure) and ive come across these two colleges, point loma and seattle pacific university. now, for both places theres alot I like but with one major hitch. point loma looks absolutely beatiful, but they seem to do a bad job about communicating anything about themselves, ive checked the princeton review and they dont give anything other than statistics, and their website doesent give much more. It seems perfect, but i really dont want to go to a school thats too strict or one thats ultra-conservative and I know that they force you to go to chapel 3 times a week, which really scares me. I tend to get angry at administrations for trying to force you to be christian or to think like them. Now, seattle pacific looks much strict (they have coed dorms) but my major hitch is that theres no football team, and while this doesent make me want to go somewhere else outright, it does make me worry that I'd be missing out on alot of other things associated with college life, and that the campus will feel dead/blend in too much with the city. any info on if my worries are true would be awesome. Also, I doubt ill get any answers for this one, but tennis is a huge part of my life and I really really want to be able to continue playing in college, Ive talked to the coach at point loma and most of the kids who play there are good enough to play on the pro tour, and seattle pacific doesent have a tennis team, so any info on how strong their intarmural tennis (and other programs, which i guess ties into the question for seattle pacifc) would also be great. Thanks for reading the long post</p>
<p>bump 10 characters</p>
<p>I don't know much about Point Loma, but a bunch of my friends are applying to Seattle Pacific. Not sure what to tell you about the football--but I'm pretty certain SPU has other sports (don't quote me on that). I think SPU has the kind of Christian atmosphere you're looking for; they don't require their students to be Christians but are a Christian-affiliated university and expect all the students to participate in spiritual exploration or whatever they call it. (It's not like Pepperdine's approach to religion, though, if you know anything about that college.) Most of the students who go to SPU are Christians, and it seems like a good merge between a good, "normal" college and a Christian atmposphere. At least that's my impression of it...</p>
<p>I know a bit about Point Loma. It's a nice school, on a cliff overlooking the ocean - probably one of the most incredible views of any school in the country. It's in a residential area of San Diego, but not in downtown. The buildings are a mix of older buildings from the 1920's and newer buildings. The educational emphasis is on preparing students for careers, they are particularly strong in things like business, early childhood education, nursing. Definitely a religious/Christian/Conservative atmosphere. The kids I have met who attend are friendly, clean cut, and yet seem to know how to have a good time. It's a very nice choice for someone looking for a Christian school.</p>
<p>Other suggestions of schools you might like: Westmont College (near Santa Barbara), Azuza Pacific (near LA), Biola University (also near LA), and Pacific Lutheran in Washington state. Pepperdine would also be a good choice if you have very good grades. If you'd be open to Catholic schools, check out University of Portland, Seattle University, Santa Clara, the University of San Francisco, Loyola Marymount, and the University of San Diego as well. You don't have to be Catholic to attend any of these schools, and none has religious service attendance rules.</p>
<p>thanks for the replies. But is anyone else having as hard of a time figuring out where they wanna go? it seems like the more I think about it the more colleges i feel like I need to apply to. I like everything about seattle pacific except that they dont have a football team, now am thinking about seattle university but am worried that im going to be compromising the atmosphere I want for size. Im gonna be a mess once i start getting letters. Right now im actually hoping that I get rejected from a few schools just so i dont have to decide if I wanna go there or not.</p>
<p>edit: i suppose the best question for seattle pacific is, is there a strong campus life or not?</p>
<p>Well, I'm looking at SPU's website, and they say they have cross country, soccer, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, crew, and track & field. Football isn't the only sport that develops a sense of campus community. Is there any way you can visit the campus? That's really the only way to find out whether or not you like SPU's atmosphere.</p>
<p>Heres the link to their intramural sports page: <a href="http://www.spu.edu/depts/intramurals/%5B/url%5D">http://www.spu.edu/depts/intramurals/</a></p>
<p>well, last bump before I let this die</p>
<p>Randomname, I think what you are experiencing is very common. In fact, this weekend my daughter also got panicky and decided to apply to two additional schools. We visited 20 schools over the past year and a half, but never visited either of the schools she's adding. So, now she has an element of "surprise" built in. :) </p>
<p>But, seriously, I think it feels so final once you start sending out applications. It's easy to worry that you've missed the perfect school. (Hint: there really is no perfect school). Still, there's nothing wrong with throwing out a few extra applications to different types of schools, just in case you change your mind about what you prefer between now and April. Good luck!!!</p>