The Pros and Cons of Grove City College: sit back, get something to drink, get comfortable and get ready to read: this review is going to be a LONG one...

Grove City College (GCC) is nestled in the small town of Grove City (about 8,000 people) in Western Pennsylvania, about an hour north of Pittsburgh. GCC offers several areas of study, with a Bachelors Degree offered, although there are no graduate programs offered. GCC usually enrolls around 2000 students in its 4 year programs, so a class size averages around 500 students. Many class sizes are around 30 students, some classes are the entire class of 500 (Humanities), and some programs have as few as 3 students (chemistry for example).

Tuition is reasonably priced due to the offerings of several contributors that help to offset the price of an education. However, some of these benefactors may also place stipulations that affect how policies are drafted and enforced concerning rules, campus life and activities. More on THAT later...

GCC is quick to point out that it is one of the finest small schools in the United States. Some of the honors it has received include:

Number 13 in USA Today Poll of colleges and universities in the U.S.

Number 9 in a poll weighing cost of education -vs- the quality of education received.

While I attended GCC the average SAT score of women was 1290 and the average SAT score of men was 1190, and Grove City boasted more validictorians per capita than nearly every college or university on the planet. Not bad company. Unless about half of those students are robotic Bible-thumping extremists. It gets worse. Read on.

The list goes on and on. Grove City is one of the finest schools in the nation, there is no doubt there. BUT, there are some interesting facts and situations that carry quite a bit of heavy baggage to go with that reputation.

Now, for future reference, most of this review will deal with the curriculum of the Sciences Dept. when talking specifically about classes and workload, since that is where most of my experiences relate.

Grove City explained during its tour of the campus for prospective students that their acceptance rate into a medical school was 100%. I was astonished and sold at the same time. I wanted to be a doctor and this was where I was going to get the foundation to build upon. Little did I know, but you have to be "accepted" into GCC's Pre-Med Program at a later date. If your GPA is unacceptable, you simply don't get Grove City's recommendation. No wonder they have 100% acceptance!

Even more disturbing was the academic trend I witnessed that affected not only myself, but most of my classmates. Grove City College is HARD. How hard? About half of my Pharmacy School classes were easier than my Biology Pre-Med curriculum at Grove City. As far as developing a study regimen, it is a process quite Darwinian (fittingly ironic considering the shocking number of creationists on campus): a student either learns to cope with the workload (I preferred the pre-exam 48 hour live, eat and breathe the subject approach for example) or either flunks out or changes majors. I cannot tell you how many fellow classmates changed their "dream" major to major in Business Administration because the course material and study regimen of the original major was so demanding! This is not to slight Bus. Admin. majors either, it was just common knowledge that business was an easier major than engineering, chemistry, or Pre-Med. The saddest part of this darwinian process of elimination was that the individuals who changed their majors would have most likely excelled at another college or university. The scale we devised was that a GCC student could add a letter grade or point onto their current grade or GPA and that was what they would most likely earn at almost any other school.
Again, this is not an insult to anyone who did not go to GCC, it was just that GCC was unbelievably hard. Plus, I have taken courses at the Graduate level and at 3 other universities and my GPA was higher as described above.

So what are the ramifications of going to a hard school? A person is still getting a great education, right? Yes and no. Yes a person has been educated well, but albeit against the hopes of GCC administration, the fine reputation of GCC students being an asset in the job market is regional at best. A few inner circles of companies tend to prefer GCC students and understand the rigors of the programs offered, but MOST DO NOT. What this means for a student that has a questionable GPA (less than 3.0 for example) is that the student who had hoped to go to medical school finds they instead have to pursue a Masters Degree in Biology first before being considered. An engineering major may take a job at a machine shop until they proven themselves in the job market in order to land an job in their field. A chemistry major may wait 6-8 months before finding an acceptable position, and then find that these positions may not be permanent. Do these examples sound to far fetched to be true? Guess again, I just described a few close friends who had those exact things happen to them at GCC.

BOTTOM LINE: Grove City College is so hard that the reduction you suffer in your GPA may prevent you from continuing education at the graduate level or impede your chances of landing a job once you graduate. As far as Grove City's impeccable reputation of being a fine school holding weight in an interview: DO NOT COUNT ON IT. As far as the pain suffered to earn those grades, not worth it in my opinion. Go to any reputable college or university with the subject matter you want to pursue and learn the same material, earn better grades, and do all at a more enjoyable pace.

PERSONAL NOTE: I took Organic Chemistry at a state funded school for Pharmacy School requirements. Organic is a typical weed-out course (many prospective students drop out) and usually very difficult. With 3 years of GCC under my belt, I had such a high "A" in the course before the final that the Professor approached me and told me I didn't have to take the final and that I had earned an A+ for the semester!

RULES AND REGULATIONS: Grove City College is the college where you can walk on water but not on the grass. What this jokes about is that the Presbyterian heritage of the college promotes a feeling of religious "predetermination" and that, yes, it is ILLEGAL to walk on a certain portion of grass on campus. By walking on the Quad (yes it is a rectangular plot of land) you can be put on probation and on future offenses, sent home from school for 1 or 2 weeks or even expelled. For the sake of trying to keep this review as short as possible, most of the strange rules and facts are going to be outlined as briefly as possible. Remember, all of these are too far fetched to make up, they are all true:

The dorms are segregated. Men and women are separated and there is only visitation on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday is in the girls dorms 8PM-1PM, Sat in the boys dorms 8PM-2PM, and Sunday is YOUR PICK (yay.) 12PM to 5PM. Remember, some people who go to GCC actually PREFER this way.

If you break the segregation law, you are either put on probation or sent home. This includes your mother or father visiting you. If of the opposite sex, they may not enter the dorms unless during the specified times, and only if signed in.

There is a curfew for Freshmen. I believe it is 11PM on weekdays and Midnight on weekends. The times may have changed but the curfew is still in place. Again face probation or a trip home for repeat offenders.

You cannot live off campus unless you live with your parents or a legal guardian. You cannot get an apartment and live freely. You will either have to move on campus or face expulsion.

You may not be intoxicated while attending Grove City College, even if you are 21. If found intoxicated while on campus (they use several different breathilizers) you are sent home for 1 or 2 weeks, depending on the gravity of the offense.

If you are caught with empty alcohol containers in your room or caught in a room with alcohol, whether you are intoxicated or not, you can be sent home. If intoxicated, it is an automatic 1 week suspension, 2 weeks if you're nasty.

Some of the epinions describe the cafeteria food as horrible. I have a personal friend who helped unload the food off the trucks into the cafeteria. It was labeled, "Grade C but edible" on the boxes. This is NOT a lie and truly upset me considering I found this out after I graduated.

Administration actually declared Nonalcoholic beer against school regulations because a housing group brought some NA beer into the cafeteria during Oktoberfest and had a really wierd um...Oktoberfest thing. True story.

If you become pregnant and are not married, you are politely asked to leave campus. If you do not leave, you are expelled.

If you receive federal grants for school, GCC will not have to accept them. GCC won a "landmark" case against the Federal Gov't (Ted Kennedy was the residing opposition to this case) in which GCC was awarded the ability to refuse all federal funding in exchange for the ability to practice religious freedoms. What this means is that they do not have to conform to federal standards that require a certain percentage of minorities attend a particular school. Grove City College is privately funded and completely in the black (no debt). This gives them impunity in how they accept prospective students. Read the other epinion on GCC concerning the rebel flag. It describes the situation perfectly.

You must attend chapel. Chapel is a nice word for church. You are given chapel cards (20 per semester) and get to turn in a card with each visit. If you do not turn in all of your chapel cards, the college will even withhold your diploma. I've seen it happen.

You may not have a car on campus your freshman year.

In all honesty, the only rule I knew about before attending GCC was the separation of girls and boys in the dorms. All the others came as shock after shock. There are several more, I just can't list them all.

STRANGE GOINGS ON:
Some really strange things happened at GCC while I was there. Here are a few of my favorites:

My Genetics Professor was a strict creationist. Although he taught a subject that relies on Darwinian evolution heavily, he argued with Niles Eldridge, a guest speaker on campus and one of the most famous scientists to further expand upon Darwin's works. The argument of my Professor was that the Earth had to be only about 4,000 years old because that is what the Bible records in a span of time from generation to generation from Adam on forward. The lack of "transition fossils" means God made everything the way it was with NO evolution at all, and dinosaurs roamed the earth sometime before... well that can't be explained well...However, carbon dating is way off according to creationists. I'm not choosing sides here, it was just really a strange debate...Poor Professor Eldridge could only shrug and dismiss the debate as trivial. I can't blame him. I sat in awe and felt extremely ashamed at how he was treated. I later approached him and apologized for the strange debate and told him that many students were more open-minded and did not take such extreme views. But what to expect when your resume lists Oral Roberts University as your major focal point...Personal note: It was also very frustrating getting a skewed version in many classes because the subject matter clashed with religion.

A good friend placed a sign in his window stating "I hate God". He was asked to remove it. He claimed this violated his civil rights. The college told him to remove it or go home. He took it down.

On more than one occasion, GCC went after an establishment or business for renting out space to college students where alcohol was served. Without getting too specific, one businessman had to threaten back with legal means to get GCC administration to back off and stop threatening to "run him out of town".

The Dean of Men was demoted while I attended campus for botching the removal of more than one Fraternity Charter. It was so much like Animal House (the movie) with Fraternities being on "double secret probation" that it still scares me. Evidently, he was so hungry for blood, he handled more than one case unprofessionally and they demoted him with some strange title, like "Dean of Academic Liasons and Petitions" or something...hee hee.

One Professor has a license plate that states "going up". I am not a devoutly religious person, but that offended me a bit. Who is to say which person is ascending or descending other than a higher power? Of course, that assumes you believe in a higher power! Again, it is my opinion that the message implied there was grossly beyond the norm, and more on the extreme.

So what is the point to all these rules and lifestyle guidelines the college wants you to comply to? Well, in essence, that is the point of the whole argument. GCC wants to MAKE you a Christian and a "grover". The lifestyle they force upon you is not compliance, it is almost doctrine. And the important difference is that you face compliance or expulsion (and guess how many of your credits transfer to a state-funded school). The college even goes as far as to try to persuade you to pair up and marry a grover on top of all the other "suggestive" lifestyle guidelines they expect. That was enough for me to see red.

I believe that college is a very important time to grow and mature. Most college students make many mistakes and find new and interesting ways to live and survive. For the majority of these students, it is the first time in life where they have had to think for themselves on how they choose to manage their time and how they live their lives. I felt like Grove City tried to force me down a narrow path and forbade me not to stray from it. I felt like I could not grow and could not expand my views without clashing with administration and the rules.

Some of my best friends also went to GCC, but we also went to grade school, high school and college together. GCC was not the bonding site for us but more the motivation to stick together and try to live our lives how we best saw fit. Did we bend the rules? Yes. Did we have fun? Yes. Do we believe in God? Truly I believe that is no one's business but God's but yes we do and will. However, we each approached our faith on our own terms privately. And that is the BIG DIFFERENCE. If you are open about religion you will find Grove City a haven to express your views and to try to help others. If you are private about your faith, you may be very turned off by the way religion is almost forced upon you.

My biggest divining rod for measuring Grove City College is whether I would send my child there. The answer is yes but only if they commuted and did not subject themselves to the rules and regulations applied there. I found out the hard way that many of the rules and regulations are backed up and required by large companies and businesses with persons who donate a LARGE amount of money to GCC in trust funds. If certain changes are made and certain rules abolished, so are the trust funds...Again, no specifics for many reasons, but remember, college is a business too, even if based upon religious foundings. However, separation of sexes in the dorms and the placement of Fraternities are two of the requirements of these benefactors who donate these large sums of money...

Remember, GCC is a college that offers a terrific education, but at a price. Buyer beware, it may ruin an opportunity to advance in the real world. As for the rules, commute if you can. I made too many friends and was much too clever to not stay, or I would have moved off campus and commuted. But, sadly in reviewing all the good and bad memories of attending GCC, I can;t help but recommend a person NOT TO ATTEND. With all the good and bad factored into the equation, look for a more liberal school with a great curriculum and you will have more opportunities!


Recommended: No