<p>What is Taylor University like? I guess you can say I'm riding the band wagon because A TON of students at my school apply to either Taylor, Wheaton, Hope or Calvin(majority of the Christian students that is) for college. </p>
<p>I visited Taylor's website and the school seemed perfect for me. I would like to major in Sports Management and minor in Coaching. I LOVE sports. My goal is to play for womens soccer team there also. A girl from my hs is playing there as a freshman now.</p>
<p>Is there diversity (as in race)? How are the faculty and staff? The campus experience? Anything! I am legit loving this school.</p>
<p>The librarian at our school (public high school in PA) has a daughter who just graduated from there and loved every minute of it. She related tons of good stories, but that’s the extent of my knowledge. She had no problem getting a job (teaching in Central America - exactly what she wanted - paid job). It gets a positive checkmark on any list I would have.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore at Taylor and loves it there! She has made wonderful friends who have been a blessing to her both emotionally and spiritually. With your interest in soccer, you might be interested to know that they will be upgrading the football and soccer facilities this year in time for the start of school next fall.
I wouldn’t say Taylor is incredibly diverse, but it seems to be getting more so. My daughter’s roommate is African American and she has an Asian friend across the hall, but they are still definitely in the minority. With that being said, the social climate at Taylor is very positive and that goes for the students and faculty. My daughter even wound up working for a professor she had last year. I would definitely recommend that you take an overnight visit. Sleep in a dorm, hang out with the students, sit in on some classes. You’ll know a lot more about how you feel about Taylor if you do so. Good luck! We highly recommend Taylor.</p>
<p>Taylor is a fine Christian college and ditto to much of what has been noted. The school’smajor limitor imo …location. Upland might well be literally one big cornfield absent Taylor. TU had assumed a 2nd location, a former Bible school, in Ft. Wayne but recently closed it. The extreme locale demands a visit. Conversely, it does offer good prep for those contemplating mission work in the outback or the monastic life. More than most, Upland, IN is aSMALL college outpost.</p>
<p>My son, 1/2 Puerto Rican with medium-dark skin, visited Taylor during his sophomore year. He loved his visit there. It appears to be very white but my son didn’t feel anything but welcomed. He hung out with the physics majors and spent the night in a dorm with some kids there. As WP pointed out, the drawback is that it’s small and isolated. But if you don’t mind that, I think it sounds like a wonderful school in so many ways. And <em>you</em> would bring diversity. :-)</p>
<p>Have two kids at Taylor and they love it…they are growing in their faith and making exceptional friendships. Watching my son fast weekly with a group of 6 guys is amazing. I have to disagree with the location being a negative. Taylor’s rural location gives Taylor the opportunity to really develop a uniquely close and authentic community. And the location doesn’t limit opportunity (both of my kids have had significant overseas experiences and I know Taylor sends more kids overseas than most other schools). The school is becoming more diverse every year and most of the students are from outside of Indiana.
Hope that helps!</p>
<p>For about $800 more than usual tuition, you can have your first semester in your fresmen year be in Ireland. Most who want this can do it, but there is some degree of “acceptance” into this program since there only so many seats to fill for such. In a 24 hour visit, I found the chapel program very encouraging… no student is required to attend technically yet the auditorium was packed and energized. Better than the required attendance i had at another “similar” school. Google the “Silent Night” basketball game tradition. Quite fun !!</p>
<p>I’m sure Taylor is a fine school- I’ve not heard anything negative about it. I’m reacting to Pepper77’s post above ^. I find it odd, the timing of a semester abroad being the first semester of one’s freshman year. It seems to me that it might be hard for a freshman to come to Taylor essentially midyear, when other kids are in the swing of things and friendship groups have started to form. You know? There is something very bonding about everyone arriving brand new to college the start of freshman year and going through that adjustment period together. </p>
<p>I know they’ve run the Freshman Irish Studies program for about 5-6 years and have had a number of students go through the program and then successfully transition to the university. Students come in early for orientation and are integrated back into the campus on through an intentional program in the second semester. But it is an unusual program and probably takes a certain kind of student to navigate it successfully.</p>