St. Olaf --- What is it like?

musicmomic
Sun, 30 Oct 2005 19:49:28 +0000

Fresnomom – I found my earlier post about our visit to St. Olaf and am copying it here in case others are interested. We have not visited again yet but it is on my D’s short list and she is applying as a music major for next year.

&lt;p&gt;While I can't speak to the campus atmostphere at St. Olaf from a current student's perspective, I can share the following with you. My D is a high school junior now searching for the right college fit. She is interested in music. A friend who attends St. Olaf suggested she should look there. She asked me about it and I indicated that I knew of its good music reputation but that she should know that it is a "church-affiliated" college. She rolled her eyes and walked away. A few months later, she heard a recording of the world-renowned St. Olaf Choir and asked me to look into the school more closely. I noted that the student groups included a range of interest groups (gay, lesbian, bisexual transgender groups, students for choice, etc) and that the overall atmosphere (tremendous encouragement for global study, very strong science programs, Peace Corps, community service) seemed to be fairly progressive. We attended their juniors day in February.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We enjoyed the campus very much. The staff and students were extremely pleasant and nice. There was absolutely no mention of religion until a parent asked a question about it during a Q/A session with current students. The staff had the students field the question. They all said generally the same thing. Chapel is held daily -- it is not mandatory and the majority of students do not attend daily. The topics tend to be timely issues rather than explicitly religious sermons. There are 2 religion courses required with a range of possible choices -- all taught from an academic and not a dogmatic perspective. The students indicated that kids at St. Olaf range from religious to atheistic and that all are welcome. There are Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist students there. The tour guide we had (a very pleasant and knowledgeable young woman with muliple piercings wearing an army jacket) also indicated that the religious atmosphere was very open. In her view, the approach was to encourage all students to examine their beliefs -- to make sure that their personal beliefs were arrived at thoughtfully -- and to make sure the beliefs were not simply what their parents or pastors had suggested they should be. Both my daughter and I were pleasantly surpised at the lack of dogma we encountered. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The students we met (about 6-7) were very pleasant and probably more mannerly than the average college students, but did not strike either of us as out of the mainstream -- just a really nice bunch of kids. They do have a "no alcohol" policy in the residence halls but other than that, we saw/heard nothing that we would have interpreted as pushing any religious doctrine -- certainly not an evangelical/born again atmosphere.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;From a Biblical perspective, I would say that they are more Matthew than John. Hope this is helpful. We will be visiting again and I will update if I have any additional or different (contrasting) information after that.&lt;/p&gt;