<p>You wouldn’t be laughed out of the religion/sociology department if you were analyzing creationism. However, if you tried the “God Did It” approach in any intellectual science department or any department that focuses on the world and how it came to be that doesn’t look at man-made constructs, then yes, you would be laughed out of the department and probably shouldn’t have been admitted to such a program to begin with. As you mentioned, universities strive to gather facts and evidence to arrive at the “truth” and the God Did It approach doesn’t fit within that approach.</p>
<p>Ah, so science is somehow different in relationship to Christianity than say …sociology, psychology, lit, religion …hmm.</p>
<p>Let me say this more simply re: the issue of free discourse and intellectual exploration. A school may well take the path (most don’t …as informative has noted, there is zero tolerance …even at his/her envisioned Christian college for “God doing it” in those science classes) of “anything goes” in discourse. However, if any student departs any college claiming to be Christian failing to grasp the single notion that the powers that be at their college believes these students who reject Christ as who He claimed …God …and as their Lord and Savior … have failed in grasping THE one truth they must proclaim … and that the values and belief of their now alma mater is that those who’ve rejected that claim are headed for one nasty eternity. </p>
<p>Free to believe what you will. NOT free to redefine Christianity and what that means for a college claiming that brand in order to fit your needs and self-made truth. That’s precisely what damned Adam n Eve did and got us into this mess. Believe it. Or not.</p>
<p>Biola University is the most prestigious Evangelical University in the United States. Christ is the center of education and Theology is sound. The school is not only academically rigorous but it provides the most comprehensive Biblical Education in the United States. No other Christian University can compare.</p>
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<p>How many have you compared? Academic freshman stats-wise from 2010 they appear to be fairly middle of the pack just among Protestant colleges (see copied list below). If you go there, I’m glad you’re happy. I just don’t think it’s as universal as you make it sound that many consider them the best. Where I live few even know they exist, but I’m on the east coast.</p>
<p>Wheaton (CR 600/710, M 600/700, WR 590/700, ACT 27-31)
St. Olaf College (CR 590/710, M 590/690, WR N/A, ACT 26-31)
Patrick Henry College (CR 620/730, M 550/650, WR 590/700, ACT 26-31)
Grove City (CR 560/690, M 570/680, NA, ACT 25-30)
Pepperdine (CR 560/660, M 560/680, WR 560/660, ACT 24-30)
Calvin (CR 520/670, M 550/660, NA, ACT 23-29)
Hope (CR 520/660, M 540/670, NA, ACT 23-29)
Covenant (CR 540/670, M 520/630, WR 530/650, ACT 23-29)
Westmont College (CR 520/650, M 530/650, WR 530/650, ACT 23-29)
Cedarville (CR 530/650, M 530/640, WR 520/630, ACT 23-29)
Gordon College (CR 520/650, M 500/640, WR 560/640, ACT 24-28)
Whitworth University (CR 540/650, M 540/630, WR 530/630, ACT 24-29)
Baylor University (CR 530/640, M 550/650, WR 510/620, ACT 23-29)
Bryan College (CR 530/650, M 520/640, WR 530/640, ACT 21 - 27)
Houghton College (CR 520/650, M 510/620, WR 500/640, ACT 23-29)
Le Tourneau University (CR 520/650, M 540/650, WR 490/620, ACT 22-29)
Union U (CR 510/650, M 510/640, NA, ACT 21-29)
Taylor University (CR 500/650, M 510/640, WR 490/620, ACT 24-31)
Messiah (CR 510/620, M 510/640, WR 510/620, ACT 23-28)
Harding University (CR 490/630, M 490/640, WR N/A ACT 21 - 28)
Eastern Mennonite University (CR N/A, M 470/620, WR 470/620 ACT 22 - 28)
Valparaiso (CR 490-600, M 510-620, WR 480-590, ACT 23-29)
Biola University (CR 500/620, M 490/620, WR 490/620, ACT 21 - 28)
Point Loma Nazarene (CR 500-610, M 490-620, WR N/A, ACT 21-27)
Corban College (CR 500/630, M 490/610, WR 470/590, ACT 20 - 26)
Abilene Christian (CR 480-600, M 490-620, WR N/A, ACT 21-27)
George Fox (CR 490/610, M 480/610, WR 480/590, ACT 21 - 26)
Lipscomb University (CR 490/600, M 490/610, WR N/A, ACT 21-26)
Indiana Wesleyan University (CR 480/600, M 480/600, WR N/A, ACT 21-27)
Azusa Pacific University (CR 490/590, M 480/600, WR N/A, ACT 21-27)
Lee University (CR 480/610, M 460/600, WR N/A, ACT 20-27)
Wisconsin Lutheran College (CR N/A, M N/A, WR N/A ACT 21 - 26)
Northwest Nazarene College (CR 460/610, M 460/590, WR N/A, ACT 19 - 26)
Belhaven University (CR 490/610, M 460/570, WR N/A, ACT 19 - 24)
Trinity International University (CR 450/610, M 440/600, WR N/A, ACT 19-26)
Eastern University (CR 480/600, M 480/590, WR 480/590, ACT 19-23)
Malone (CR 470/590, M 460/590, WR N/A, ACT 19-26)
Geneva College (CR 470/580, M 470/600, WR N/A, ACT 19 - 25)
Palm Beach Atlantic U (CR 470/580, M 450/550, WR 450/570, ACT 20 - 26)
Anderson University (CR 460/570, M 460/580, WR N/A, ACT 20-25)
Georgetown College (CR 430/570, M 480/560, WR N/A, ACT 21-26)
Eastern Nazarene College (CR 440/560, M 420/570, WR 430/570, ACT 20 - 27)
Campbell University (CR 440-560, M 460-580, WR 430-550, ACT 19-24)
Liberty (CR 430/570, M 430/550, WR N/A, ACT 18-24)
Gardner-Webb (CR 440/570, M 430/550, WR N/A, ACT 18-23)
Toccoa Falls (CR 460-570, M 440-550, WR N/A, ACT 16-22)
Brewton-Parker (CR 400-500, M 410-500, W 360-470, ACT 16-20)</p>
<p>Grove City College - Pennsylvania</p>
<p>2,600 undergrad students; Campus looks and feels like Princeton (a good thing!)</p>
<p>I will start with my negative. I found Grove to be more politically conservative than Christian in their applications and practices. But wow what a school! The cost is half most Christian Colleges and attracts some of the brightest students only slightly behind Wheaton in profile. The students are active and engaged in the world and in learning. The school has an intense core curriculum and prides itself in not providing grade inflation. Their job placement process starts with their freshman in helping them see their strengths and match them with their interests with great results. They have a wide degree of majors including engineering and keep their student boy/girl ratio at 50/50. Because of the low financial cost and having a great school they are hard to gain acceptance. If you have the brains to get in, it is hard to top this school for having all you need to prepare for careers and/or graduate studies.</p>
<p>You’ve definitely hit the strength of GCC. The students. The pricetag generates a relatively large, academically strong student body. Very little diversity. Some see this as a plus, others not so. Take your pick. Correction on this variable relative to Wheaton. Not close in comparison. Much more regional with a smattering from elsewhere. Little or no ethnicity.</p>
<p>Parents … for obvious reasons, love the place.</p>
<p>Placement is decent. As it should be. GCC gets good, bright, white kids from good Christian homes where the work ethic is more than an ethic. What is produced is precisely the same. So they do well in job searches and grad school apps.</p>
<p>There are some major downsides, especially when one begins talking about the “best.”</p>
<p>Notably, these include:</p>
<p>Modest endowment … by choice. The Pews required that it live by its daily bread. Not its larder. There is little. Read it in the college history. One of the worst on </p>
<p>Student-faculty ratio … very high, at one time exceeding Penn State.</p>
<p>Faculty … very devoted to teaching and a faithful bunch. By most academic standards very mediocre. Most, for better or worse may have some difficulty in acquiring posts at competitors. They are devoted and must be as their remuneration and security is nil. No tenure, poor salaries, traditionally heavy teaching and advising loads.</p>
<p>Nationally … they’ve been on academic probation since 1964. This relates to the previous point.</p>
<p>Facilities … look good, but look behind the facades. Some are just that.</p>
<p>Campus … not allowed to walk on the grass</p>
<p>Greeks … lots of them, all local. Not sure what the point is. </p>
<p>FA … poor. Philosophy is “everyone gets aid.” And absent tuition and endowments, there is no money for FA.</p>
<p>So in some ways GCC is a very good place. On some others, it is mediocre and worse. Still, when it is difficult to explain or oppose these phenomena, what does that say? THAT may be one of GCC’s great contributions to higher education, i.e. that it can be done on a virtual shoestring.</p>
<p>University of ND is a good one. And if you are open to Jesuit schools the top 3 are generally recognized as Georgetown, College of the Holy Cross, and Boston College.</p>
<p>Georgetown and Boston College definitely. Fordham and HC may have to fight it out for that third spot though.</p>
<p>Notre Dame, Georgetown, BC, HC and Fordham are always considered the top christian universities.</p>
<p>Probably only by Catholics. While it’s a categorization/terminology issue, these are separate in the world of higher ed.</p>
<p>Pretty sure non-christians would agree.</p>
<p>Check out this Christian college:</p>
<p>[Online</a> Education and Distance Learning Degrees | Liberty University Online](<a href=“http://www.luonline.com/]Online”>http://www.luonline.com/) </p>
<p>They are located at 1971 University Boulevard Lynchburg, Virginia.</p>
<p>Wheaton College in Illinois is the balance of superb academics and a vital Christ centered college that opens doors for their graduates in all walks of life. Absolutely the top for Protestant Evangelical Colleges, but not for everyone.</p>
<p>3,000 students; 2,400 Undergrad; Division 3 Athletics; Outstanding Facilities; Outstanding Faculty; Number 39 out of all colleges in SAT scores; Top 10 in nation for percentage of students that go on to graduate school; Top 25 in nation for students who graduate in four years. (2,260 applicants for 580 spots, but only 1 out of 4 women are accepted with entering class 50/50 male and female.) Top 25% of students at or above 32 for ACT and 1430 for SAT.</p>
<p>Wheaton academics are not for the faint of heart. While 88% graduate in four years the tone is competitive in the classroom and accepting & nurturing in all other aspects. The students are bright but know how to have fun. 14 hours of required Bible. More of a reformed bent within faculty but students come from all denominations. Wheaton has a rich endowment and provides for more than 95% of need based aid but has very limited academic scholarships.</p>
<p>My son got a call from a current Wheaton student last evening. He said the young man was very nice and they had an interesting conversation. Not sure that’s enough of a pull to apply but I know Wheaton is an excellent school.</p>
<p>Bear’s nailed this one pretty well. While egoes and the complexity and eventual impossibility of making precise that which is at best a beauty contest leave the door of discussion and debate always open, conventional understanding among higher ed “experts” (debatable in and of itself, despite what USNWR might … debate) would concur. All things considered.</p>
<p>Some girls carry there stats better in a bathing suit, others have great gams, and still others know the need to answer anything but “world peace.” And still, the judges (and the viewers) so often pick the very same top 3 in the end. So it is with colleges and universities. But in this category, Wheaton wins nearly always among those who “know” beauty.</p>
<p>And btw, its often not advisable to pursue the prettiest girl in class. Too often, not a good fit for a long-term relationship.</p>
<p>Does anyone recommend some Christian colleges (conservative Protestant) for good engineering and computer science? Most are liberal arts heavy. Baylor is one, are there others?</p>
<p>Cedarville University in Ohio has very good engineering and computer science program. They really have fun with their projects - ex - high mileage cars, etc
Calvin is good for Computer Science - so/so conservative.
Grove has both - good undergraduate program but geared to broader liberal arts bent.</p>
<p>I too’ve been hearing very good things about Cedarville.</p>
<p>WP, the one caution I heard about Cedarville is that it can be legalistic. It sounds like such an interesting school because they are one of the few that actually embrace young earth creationism.</p>
<p>Interesting. While that’s been the chronic rap, at least under the pastoral presidents who prevailed at GCC for years prior to more recent leaders, I’ve come to at least wonder if that’s not such a bad thing. It’s one of the ironies of Christianity that words and terms that the world likes us to believe are so negative, suddenly become positive in our reborn lives. Examples … obedience (this has to be #1 …lol), surrender, submit (oh do the ladies miss this one!), suffering, adversity, law (and thus legalistic?), fear, poor, meek, fire, temptation, disillusion, hate, and on and on and on … </p>
<p>I’m not contradicting what you’ve noted about CU. I’ve no 1st hand knowledge. Only suggesting we should be very careful and thoughtful, even when talking with alleged Christians about these things. CU might be highly legalistic, and that may not be so bad as JC said. “I came to fulfill the [legalisms]” … especially in the lost world of higher education. And “lost” here has NO positive connotation beyond describing how I see most of it.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s a “best” Christian college/university, just like there isn’t a “best” overall college/university. Of course, there’s a “best” college for you, but it’s not necessarily the best for the next fellow over. There are a lot of subjective factors with varying importance.</p>
<p>Just as there are Protestants and Catholics, there are Protestant and Catholic schools under the umbrella of “Christian” schools. Just as there are conservative and liberal Christians, there are conservative and liberal schools under the umbrella of “Christian” schools. Then there are differences in academics, faculties, missions, majors, student bodies, campuses, and even climates and locations that could push someone one way or another.</p>
<p>Christians are a very diverse bunch, and like any other group of humans, filled with people of varying preferences. The idea of some overarching “best” school is kind of funny. However, reading through each person’s answer could give you great ideas. Just make sure not to push your preferences on others.</p>