Liberty University??

[chrisw127]

I can't actually dispute you here, but I believe that just as undergraduate schools look at high school GPA's and ACT/SAT scores, graduate schools look not only at college GPA's and rigor, but also graduate entrance exams. If you have a high GPA from Liberty and do well on your LSAT's, MCAT's, or GRE's, I suspect you'll get in any school of your choice. I think if any graduate school weren't considering Liberty graduates, it would be more as a result of the conservative reputation as opposed to academic rigor.

Graduate programs do weigh GPAs from schools differently. I live in NC, for example, and you can bet that a 3.5 GPA from UNC-Chapel Hill is going to carry a lot more weight (not just in our state, but elsewhere) that one from NC State, a school that is also very good. It's just the way these things go and much of this is based on a school's ranking. You might be surprised at how snobby graduate committees are. I sat on one in grad school as a grad student (no weight given to my consideration, but for some reason, a grad representative was part of the process) and the reasons for excluding students were pretty surprising and made me wonder what they were saying about me a few years before.

Having said that, you are probably right that the conservative reputation of that school might be something of a turn-off for many academics.

 

[disney junky]

Graduate programs do weigh GPAs from schools differently. I live in NC, for example, and you can bet that a 3.5 GPA from UNC-Chapel Hill is going to carry a lot more weight (not just in our state, but elsewhere) that one from NC State, a school that is also very good. It's just the way these things go and much of this is based on a school's ranking. You might be surprised at how snobby graduate committees are. I sat on one in grad school as a grad student (no weight given to my consideration, but for some reason, a grad representative was part of the process) and the reasons for excluding students were pretty surprising and made me wonder what they were saying about me a few years before.

Having said that, you are probably right that the conservative reputation of that school might be something of a turn-off for many academics.

So was it a lot like the scene from Legally Blonde?

 

[chrisw127]

So was it a lot like the scene from Legally Blonde?

I wish. More like trying to get to the inner soul of the applicant by reading their one-page biography; they really wanted to know their motivation for applying, not just their grades and GREs. Videos would have made things much more interesting. Although, come to think of it, it was a history program. Videos may have made things much worse.

 

[dennis99ss]

I think Daisax is right. The school has implications on the resume, same as oral roberts, BYU, the catholic school in florida(dominoes guy's school-forget the name). The name itself could be a turnoff to a potential employer because of thoughts, prejudices, etc.

 

[Quiksilvr]

Graduate programs do weigh GPAs from schools differently. I live in NC, for example, and you can bet that a 3.5 GPA from UNC-Chapel Hill is going to carry a lot more weight (not just in our state, but elsewhere) that one from NC State, a school that is also very good. It's just the way these things go and much of this is based on a school's ranking. You might be surprised at how snobby graduate committees are. I sat on one in grad school as a grad student (no weight given to my consideration, but for some reason, a grad representative was part of the process) and the reasons for excluding students were pretty surprising and made me wonder what they were saying about me a few years before.

Having said that, you are probably right that the conservative reputation of that school might be something of a turn-off for many academics.

This completely depends on what you're trying to do re graduate programs. If you're trying to get into law school, the most important thing is your LSAT score, followed by GPA. The reason for this is that US News rankings are based so heavily upon LSAT and GPA splits that the numbers are what count more than where you went to college. Where you went to school is often something of a tiebreaker among applicants with similar LSAT and GPA scores.

Law schools are big on "diversity" (not just ethnic, but academic). If a law school admissions committee has a set of applicants in front of them all with 170 LSAT scores and 3.85 GPAs, they have to look at soft factors to pick which one they're going to take. Often they'll pick a person who went to a random school because they might already have thirty Harvard grads in the class. They also look at program difficulty/diversity as a soft factor (e.g., an electrical engineering graduate with a 3.8 is often much more desirable than another poli-sci major with a 4.0. Poli-scis are a dime a dozen at law school). There are just too many factors to point at when all numbers are equal.

The only truly "objective" criteria (and thus the one with the most weight) to look at is the LSAT score. Once you get into the GPA, even it is not objective (e.g., because of grade inflation at different colleges or because some colleges might be easier than others). School brand name is a factor, but not necessarily in the top 5.

Also, this is mostly a factor at top programs and only w/r/t Ivy League colleges. At my law school I think you probably got a couple of extra points for having gone to Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Stanford (not Ivy but close), but the LSAT and GPA still mattered most. You didn't get any extra points for going to Duke or Carnegie Mellon or Georgetown, etc. Oddly enough, most of the people at the top of our class were not those who had undergrad Ivy.

Also, religious universities aren't necessarily a turn-off, at least w/r/t law school. We had a bunch of people in my class who went to BYU and no one ever gave them a hard time about it (of course, BYU has a much better national reputation and higher US News ranking than Liberty, but the principle is still the same). I think we might have had one from Liberty in my class but I can't remember.

 

[Quiksilvr]

I wish. More like trying to get to the inner soul of the applicant by reading their one-page biography; they really wanted to know their motivation for applying, not just their grades and GREs. Videos would have made things much more interesting. Although, come to think of it, it was a history program. Videos may have made things much worse.

See I think this is much more common in traditional graduate programs. In law school admissions (I know from experience) the soft factors are exponentially less important. Every school has to keep its LSAT and GPA splits up for US News, so those trump everything else.

 

[stahshee]

This completely depends on what you're trying to do re graduate programs. If you're trying to get into law school, the most important thing is your LSAT score, followed by GPA. The reason for this is that US News rankings are based so heavily upon LSAT and GPA splits that the numbers are what count more than where you went to college. Where you went to school is often something of a tiebreaker among applicants with similar LSAT and GPA scores.

Law schools are big on "diversity" (not just ethnic, but academic). If a law school admissions committee has a set of applicants in front of them all with 170 LSAT scores and 3.85 GPAs, they have to look at soft factors to pick which one they're going to take. Often they'll pick a person who went to a random school because they might already have thirty Harvard grads in the class. They also look at program difficulty/diversity as a soft factor (e.g., an electrical engineering graduate with a 3.8 is often much more desirable than another poli-sci major with a 4.0. Poli-scis are a dime a dozen at law school). There are just too many factors to point at when all numbers are equal.

The only truly "objective" criteria (and thus the one with the most weight) to look at is the LSAT score. Once you get into the GPA, even it is not objective (e.g., because of grade inflation at different colleges or because some colleges might be easier than others). School brand name is a factor, but not necessarily in the top 5.

Also, this is mostly a factor at top programs and only w/r/t Ivy League colleges. At my law school I think you probably got a couple of extra points for having gone to Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Stanford (not Ivy but close), but the LSAT and GPA still mattered most. You didn't get any extra points for going to Duke or Carnegie Mellon or Georgetown, etc. Oddly enough, most of the people at the top of our class were not those who had undergrad Ivy.

Also, religious universities aren't necessarily a turn-off, at least w/r/t law school. We had a bunch of people in my class who went to BYU and no one ever gave them a hard time about it (of course, BYU has a much better national reputation and higher US News ranking than Liberty, but the principle is still the same). I think we might have had one from Liberty in my class but I can't remember.

This is a good point dd wants to do gentic counsling.. She could have a hard time ..they might think she was bias due to she comes from a Christian college... Just something to think about

 

[chrisw127]

See I think this is much more common in traditional graduate programs. In law school admissions (I know from experience) the soft factors are exponentially less important. Every school has to keep its LSAT and GPA splits up for US News, so those trump everything else.

True. Law schools love LSATs. I was secretly planning my escape to law school from grad school during this time, so it came in handy, knowing to tailor my essay so that I looked like more of a diversity candidate (ph.d programs love this too).

 

[DVCLiz]

here are the Sat requirements:

Q – What is the minimum GPA and SAT I/ACT score?

A – Liberty’s minimum GPA is a 2.0 on an unweighted 4.0 scale. We also require either an 800 SAT I on the math and critical reading portions or a 17 on the ACT.

Is that really a combined 800 on the SAT and a 17 on the ACT?? I've never seen a college have such low admission standards. Why would you choose a school like this unless you absolutely couldn't get in anywhere else, just based on these numbers, not even taking the religious stuff into account?????

My own personal opinion is that a student can be a good Christian on any campus, and should choose based on the highest academics they can qualify for.

 

[DawnM]

Sounds good to me!



Dawn

Very, very restrictive. If your dd is OK with rules like that she should be fine. I had to pull some of them out....

http://www.liberty.edu/media/1210/ON CAMPUS LIVING GUIDE 10_08 FINAL.pdf

Snow​

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]

Students are encouraged to enjoy the snow season, however for the safety and welfare of both people and property; the following courtesies are expected:

Snowball fights should not be conducted within the residence hall or academic building areas.

Respect While Dating/Social Behavior

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]All students are asked to display mature Christian behavior in social interaction. Proper respect must be shown to all individuals at all times. Harassment of any type will not be tolerated. Handholding is the only appropriate form of personal contact. Improper personal contact or other forms of public display are considered in poor taste. After dusk,
students should not be alone with an individual of the opposite sex in any unlighted area such as the ball fields, parking lots, parked cars, ravine or other wooded areas, etc. This is considered improper social behavior.
​

Room Checks

​

​

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]Residence hall rooms are to be kept neat and clean at all times. The following will be checked on a regular basis: ​

[/FONT][/FONT]

1. [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]
   [*]Bed must be made
   [*]Carpet must be vacuumed
   [*]Trash must be emptied
   [*]Sink and mirror must be clean
   [*]Dresser tops and other stands dusted and in order
   [*]All personal belongings organized and in place

[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

 

[DawnM]

I went to a Christian school (Seattle Pacific Univ.)[ and was still able to get into to Univ. of SoCal grad school for a PhD program. I was also accepted at Indiana Univ. for a PhD.

It really depends on WHAT you are going to study. For me, it was in the field of Education, and that was far less difficult of a field than my DH who went to grad school for his MBA.

If you are going to go into some fields, I would advise certain colleges over others, but if you are going to get a general degree (liberal arts, education, for example, I know there are far more), I would not really worry about it.

I think Liberty can hold its own weight over all in terms of academics.

Dawn

QUOTE=chrisw127;28432248]Graduate programs do weigh GPAs from schools differently. I live in NC, for example, and you can bet that a 3.5 GPA from UNC-Chapel Hill is going to carry a lot more weight (not just in our state, but elsewhere) that one from NC State, a school that is also very good. It's just the way these things go and much of this is based on a school's ranking. You might be surprised at how snobby graduate committees are. I sat on one in grad school as a grad student (no weight given to my consideration, but for some reason, a grad representative was part of the process) and the reasons for excluding students were pretty surprising and made me wonder what they were saying about me a few years before.

Having said that, you are probably right that the conservative reputation of that school might be something of a turn-off for many academics.[/QUOTE]

 

[Quiksilvr]

Is that really a combined 800 on the SAT and a 17 on the ACT?? I've never seen a college have such low admission standards. Why would you choose a school like this unless you absolutely couldn't get in anywhere else, just based on these numbers, not even taking the religious stuff into account?????

My own personal opinion is that a student can be a good Christian on any campus, and should choose based on the highest academics they can qualify for.

Not to sound snarky or anything, but I think your personal opinion is why you don't understand why someone would do that.

Often, it has nothing to do with the attendee being a good Christian but everything with the attendee wanting to surround themselves with other Christians in an environment hospitable to Christians. I can see why that would be attractive, even if admission standards are low. I don't know if you've been on many college campuses lately but most religious people are ridiculed.

It's unfortunate that this particular college does not have a sterling academic reputation when compared to first tier institutions, but academic reputation is often only part of the equation for a college student. Most "religious" schools don't fare so well in the national US News rankings (I think BYU and CUA are likely the best of the bunch).

 

[SorcererDonald16]

I have several friends who went to LU. One in particular got his Bachelor's and his Master's degree from Liberty. He absolutely loved it and wishes he wasn't finished with school. He's now a youth minister.

DVCLiz, there are plenty of other schools in VA which have admissions standards on the same level. Personally, I went to a top academics college, and frankly I often regret it. We had quite a few professors who openly bashed Christians, and some of the college leaders made it quite clear Christians were not welcome and that all public references to Christianity should be squashed at the school. It was not easy to grow spiritually there at all.

 

[DVCLiz]

Not to sound snarky or anything, but I think your personal opinion is why you don't understand why someone would do that.

Often, it has nothing to do with the attendee being a good Christian but everything with the attendee wanting to surround themselves with other Christians in an environment hospitable to Christians. I can see why that would be attractive, even if admission standards are low. I don't know if you've been on many college campuses lately but most religious people are ridiculed.

It's unfortunate that this particular college does not have a sterling academic reputation when compared to first tier institutions, but academic reputation is often only part of the equation for a college student. Most "religious" schools don't fare so well in the national US News rankings (I think BYU and CUA are likely the best of the bunch).

I have several friends who went to LU. One in particular got his Bachelor's and his Master's degree from Liberty. He absolutely loved it and wishes he wasn't finished with school. He's now a youth minister.

DVCLiz, there are plenty of other schools in VA which have admissions standards on the same level. Personally, I went to a top academics college, and frankly I often regret it. We had quite a few professors who openly bashed Christians, and some of the college leaders made it quite clear Christians were not welcome and that all public references to Christianity should be squashed at the school. It was not easy to grow spiritually there at all.

I guess my thinking, then, is, "Why build your college choice around your religious views?" I see college as the time to get the best education you can, at the highest level you can achieve, even if the environment isn't personally as conducive to your religious beliefs. You have the rest of your life to be as committed to your religion as you want, but only 4 years to be in college - why limit your choices in that way??

 

[NotUrsula]

Most genetic counselors I have dealt with are LC Social Workers, with master's degrees in genetic counseling.

Um, how to put this delicately ... I think that at Liberty the idea of genetic counseling as a job is likely to be a bit alien. They are very rigidly pro-life, and in reality genetic counselors deal every day with people who are considering terminating pregnancies for medical reasons, and who are expected to NOT color their advice with personal opinions. Neutrality is VERY key to what they do.

At the hospitals I have dealt with, a degree from such a vehemently pro-life school would put your professional neutrality somewhat into question, I would think. I know I would have questioned it if I saw a Liberty degree hanging above my counselor's desk. (And yes, I know that a Liberty graduate might be just as capable of being neutral, but I'd be questioning it more than if she was a graduate of say, Pitt.)

This is the list of the schools in the US that offer degrees in Genetic Counseling. She should probably take a look at their admission requirements before making any decisions about undergrad schools: http://www.nsgc.org/career/TrainingProgram.cfm?What=ShowAll

 

[MALE*RN*777]

My wife went to school there and that is where she met alot of good friends. Just as previously posted it is a Faith Based School with many rules about morality. I think as far as that is concerned and the academics at the school it is great. I did have a problem with the financing issue during that time back in the early 1990's when money was tight. I worked for the Board of Education contracts for student aid and they were putting the money in an account drawing interest and giving out a little of the aid at a time from what I could gather. Anyway about Jerry Farwell. My wife said he was a good guy around campus and loved the kids. He was the Chancellor and not actually involved in the financial issues at that time. Anyway, I think it is a good college. For me Community College. If you want a strict school try Bob Jones University. I hear their even more up on the rules.

 

[Quiksilvr]

I guess my thinking, then, is, "Why build your college choice around your religious views?" I see college as the time to get the best education you can, at the highest level you can achieve, even if the environment isn't personally as conducive to your religious beliefs. You have the rest of your life to be as committed to your religion as you want, but only 4 years to be in college - why limit your choices in that way??

I think the only answer to that is that some people's priorities are different. Religion isn't the only way this can come up. Price is often a determining factor that affects college decisions.

For example, suppose you're a Virginia resident and you're accepted to Harvard College, the College of William and Mary, and James Madison University. Harvard is clearly the best of the three, but it has a significant price tag that is way out of range of what you could ever afford and you get no scholarship. William and Mary is one of the best public universities in America, and because you're in Virginia you get a great in-state rate, but no scholarship. At James Madison you get great in-state tuition and a full-ride scholarship. James Madison is nowhere near Harvard and W&M, but it is ranked at or near the top of its category in US News.

What do you do?

Some people will follow your line of thinking and leverage themselves to the hilt to get a Harvard College degree. Some will decide that they can't take on that much debt but they are willing to take on some debt in exchange for only a minimum drop in prestige, so they go to W&M. Others will decide that they have to go with the scholarship and get a free degree.

It all depends on your priorities.

 

[JoyG]

I went to a christian college (Houghton) and never had any potential employers look down on me for it. I don't know if previous posters were referring to Liberty in specific or christian colleges in general as a potential hindering factor in employement.

I had at least 5 friends from my home church attend Liberty and they all loved it. The only thing I can say about academics is the admission requirements were less strict than some other smaller christian schools because I had a friend apply to several (Houghton, Wheaton, Messiah) and be declined, but was accepted at Liberty.

 

[JoyG]

I guess my thinking, then, is, "Why build your college choice around your religious views?" I see college as the time to get the best education you can, at the highest level you can achieve, even if the environment isn't personally as conducive to your religious beliefs. You have the rest of your life to be as committed to your religion as you want, but only 4 years to be in college - why limit your choices in that way??

There are some highly rigorous christian colleges in this country where one could grow spiritually and academically at the same time and not be limited in either pursuit.

 

[disney junky]

I went to a christian college (Houghton) and never had any potential employers look down on me for it. I don't know if previous posters were referring to Liberty in specific or christian colleges in general as a potential hindering factor in employement.

I had at least 5 friends from my home church attend Liberty and they all loved it. The only thing I can say about academics is the admission requirements were less strict than some other smaller christian schools because I had a friend apply to several (Houghton, Wheaton, Messiah) and be declined, but was accepted at Liberty.

I went to Houghton too....