I want to apply to ORU, but I noticed that on the application they ask for a minister’s recommendation. Does anyone know if they let you skip it?
Call the admissions dept. at the school and ask. I’d guess that unless the instructions say it is optional that it will be required.
You can contact the school and they will work with you regarding the minister’s recommendation. The admissions number is 918.495.6518.
If you want to skip it, don’t apply. Oral Roberts is not for someone who’s casual with their faith and it’s not for someone who can’t immediately think of 3 religious leaders who’d gladly write them a recommendation.
What are your stats, why are you considering Oral Roberts, what’s your parents’ budget, and where else were you thinking of applying?
@MYOS1634 I’m not casual with my faith, it’s just that a lot of personal things have been going on my family that have prevented us from going to church for the past few months. Plus, I was never into going to youth group so I didn’t get very involved when we did go to church. I was considering ORU because I really want to go to a Christian college and ORU is one of the only ones that I actually liked.
For my stats.
Homeschooled
3.90 gpa
expecting a 28 on the ACT
Graduating hs next year ( a year early)
My families budget for college is practically non-existent, so I was planning on only applying to colleges that offer merit aid. The only other colleges I’m interested in are Lee, Bryan, and Berry. I know…not a very long list.
What about Wheaton, Illinois? Hope? Wofford? Calvin? John Brown? Point Loma? Pepperdine? Grove City? Houghton?
(Does your definition of Christian college include mainstream Protestant? Catholic? If so, that’d open more venues for merit aid.)
Is your family’s college budget nonexistent because of an income under 65K? Or because of high debt or other obligations (but income above 125K for family ofr 4)?
@MYOS1634 I’ve considered Pepperdine, Grove City, and Houghton, I’m just not sure if I want to go that far away from home.
I don’t want a Catholic church, but I’m fine with pretty much all other denominations.
My family’s college budget is nonexistent because my mom only makes about 20k a year and has to support me and my brother. Plus she already has a lot of student loan debt from when she went to college.
What State is “home”? If you’re a good student, you should consider Wheaton, Illinois, which is the gold standard for academically strong evangelical colleges. John Brown is another one you should consider. And if you like Pepperdine, you should like Point Loma and Biola.
However, if you’re willing to at least apply to colleges that “meet need”, even if they’re no evangelical, you could get a better financial aid package: You’re considered lower-income and if you’re willing to consider conservative colleges or mainstream protestan colleges, you could get a full ride if admitted since they’re very generous to Pell Grant students (ie., students who can’t help with college financially.) I tried to look for colleges that were conservative and had a majority Christian students to increase your choices and odds.
By applying both to colleges like Wheaton AND colleges that “meet need”, you increase your odds of having a real choice in the Spring.
Look at St Olaf (Lutheran), Washington&Lee (while it’s not a “Christian college”, almost all students are Christian and it’s one of the most conservative colleges in the country), Wake Forest all come to mind immediately.
Claremont McKenna, Davidson College (not as conservative but moderate, with a good range of opinions, “traditional Southern”, and no-loans financial aid packages), Gettysburg, St John’s (NM - not Catholic, Great Books program, many homeschooled kids), Sewanee (Episcopalian, Southern, lots of traditions), Trinity (CT), University of Richmond are also excellent for financial aid and conservative/with mostly Christian students.
If you’re interested in business, Babson and Bentley are rather conservative and have good financial aid, but they’re not Christian.
Run the NPC (net price calculator) on ALL of these colleges. Look at the ‘net price’ before they bring up any loan and work study. Remember that you, as a freshman, can only borrow $5,500, and that your mother’s unlikely o qualify for PLUS loans even if sometimes those are listed. If you’re confused about value, just post the name of the college and its net cost before any “self help” (loan/work study.)
What are your reasons for wanting to go to a Christian college? Are you interested in a major that only a Christian college can give you, or are you interested in getting Bible courses along with a different major? Or are you looking for a place where you can have solid Christian fellowship and the courses don’t matter so much?
If it’s the first two, than the suggestions that people are giving you are good ones and you should pursue them. If it’s the last one, then I’d suggest looking into secular schools too while checking out the fellowship groups there. My two oldest are at Cornell and are getting a world class education with amazing financial aid AND are growing in their faith in amazing ways because of the depth and variety of Christian campus groups there. Just something to consider.
FWIW, my brother-in-law’s son got good financial aid to John Brown and enjoys it there. My DD was accepted to Houghton but their financial aid offer wasn’t feasible for this pastor’s family. The only way we could afford it would have been if she won their Luckey scholarship, and she didn’t (National Merit finalist, 2280 SAT, 4.0 UW, national recognition in the arts, etc.). But I have noticed with the small Christian colleges that their packages seem to change a lot from year to year. For example, one college DD looked it, a college in our denomination, gave only $1000 for NMF but $12,500 to kids whose parent is a minister in the denomination. Now two years later NMF students get full tuition but pastors’ kids get $1500.
I have a friend who’s an engineer at a major defense company who went to LeTourneau in Texas and has good things to say about that school. They have major competitive scholarships but they may be as difficult to get as Houghtons’. I don’t know about their FA.
Blessings!
@MYOS1634 “Home” is TN. I would be okay with just being a few states away, but being on the other side of the country would be way too far lol.
I don’t think I’m competitive enough to get into schools like Claremont McKenna or Davidson. I hadn’t heard of Sewanee until you mentioned it, and from the brief google search I did it sounds like a good college and it’s close to home.
I’m really interested in pre-med and I would like to go to someplace that would give me a good chance of getting into a top medical school. Out of ORU, Lee, Bryan, John Brown, and Sewanee, which would you say would give me the best chance?
@mcdmom My main reason for wanting a Christian school is the fact that I would like to go to a place where most of the people are Christian. Plus, I like the values and standards Christian colleges have with curfews for students staying in the dorms and the rules of no drinking or drugs, things like that. I only feel this way because I worked with a couple of people that were my age at my last job and they only talked about how wasted they would get when their parents weren’t home and how partying is their favorite thing about college. I don’t party or drink so I think I would be very uncomfortable in an environment like that.
How are John Browns academics? I’m interested in premed, so I want to go somewhere that has a good science department and some volunteer or study abroad opportunities.
Thanks 
John Brown and Sewanee, definitely.
If you’re in Tennessee, look at Rhodes. Not a Christian college but super for premedical education, has an agreement with st Jude’s hospital for its premeds for example.
You can try for Davidson. It’s worth the risk of being denied, since if you got in they’d give you a full ride with no loans.
St Olaf has no Greek life and is a “dry” campus, however while it’s “dry” officially, in reality it’s “damp” … which is better than most colleges (which are definitely “wet”).
Closer to you, there’s Centre College. They have a special scholarship for first gen, lower income students but the deadline is soon.
At all colleges, you’ll find students who want to get drunk - even at Christian colleges. The difference is 1° does the college organize things on campus on weekends? Ask for a calendar of activities for upcoming weekends (or past weekends): are there activities you’d be interested in? 2° if you don’t drink, will there be a lot of people who don’t either? (a good indication of this is the % of men in the Greek system. You want about 30% or less.)
You may want to avoid colleges that are heavily Greek or where Greeks have a lot of influence.
If you request “substance free housing” or “wellness housing”, you’ll be surrounded by students who promise not to drink alcohol nor use drugs. You can email every college and ask whether they offer this option among their housing options.
@MYOS1634 Thanks for all the help I will definitely add John Brown and Sewanee to my list, and maybe Rhodes and Davidson.
@MYOS1634 Could I ask you a question about financial aid? I’ve been running the net price calculator for Lee university, and I noticed that they add transportation and personal expenses to the cost. Why do they add those? Is the price still accurate if you subtract them? Because when I do, Lee is affordable.
There are two parts to your costs:
- direct costs => what you pay directly to the university. This includes Tuition, fees, room, board. The university can choose to discount this, and almost all do.
- costs necessary to attend the university but which depend on you => transportation (you have to get there and go home on breaks - but flying full price vs. low cost flights vs. driving makes a huge difference), books (you can buy new or used, or rent, another huge difference), personal expenses (can be very little if you live frugally).
Are you applying Early ACTION (<- means early notification, it’s not binding and just allows you to hear back in December or January instead of March! - NOT early DECISION where you make the decision early and it’s binding!) if they offer it?
Sewanee, John Brown, Rhodes, St Olaf, Davidson, Centre, Wheaton IL…?
@MYOS1634 Thanks. Financial aid is so confusing to me.
I was planning on applying to Sewanee and Rhodes too, but when I took the ACT at Lee I decided I wanted to go there. I know this sounds crazy, but I had a “this is where I want to go” moment.
Yes, that means you now have a “first choice”. Excellent!
However…
It doesn’t mean you should only apply there.
So, apply to Lee, but also apply to all the colleges above, in particular Sewanee and Rhodes, Early Action. Sewanee’s application is due December 1 and Rhodes’ application is due November 15.
You apply to SEVERAL colleges and if you’re so blessed as to have 5 affordable admissions, then you make your choice.
@MYOS1634 I’ll do that. Thanks