Anonymous -
09/30/2019Recruitment for this school is fantastic, but it is nothing I actually pictured it being, and I know a ton of people who feel the same way too. They milk you for your scholarship money, and you still pay far too much. If you are caught drinking or being around alcohol, they suspend you and send you to counseling, I’ve never known someone who has just gotten a warning. In order to hang out with someone of the opposite sex, you have to have a third person in the room, door wide open, only allowed in the living room, little to none PDA, a monitor comes around and checks on you, and only during specific hours - dorms and apartments. If you break the rules, it’s a suspension and rarely a warning, sometimes community service too. You are also kicked out of you get pregnant - good Christian response? Myself and plenty of friends have been tattled on for breaking such rules, and when you do, the school treats it as a huge sin. My RD said she was very disappointed in me when I accidentally fell asleep at my boyfriends apartment trying to take care of him while he was sick and had a horrible day. I was going to be suspended, but got lucky since it was the end of the school year. A friend of mine was tattled on for studying with her boyfriend in the living room by another girl in the building during non-apartment hours. The girls for the majority are judgmental, snobby, manipulative, gossipy, tattletales, and act as if the rules define your faith. I’ve had so many girls stab me in the back, gossip and spread rumors about me, manipulate me, use me, tattle. During my introductory meeting for apartment living, one of the RD’s going over dress code said if we wear halter backs, crop tops, shorts above fingertip length, show cleavage, tank tops, we are (and I quote) scandalous cows, have no self respect, and tempt our brothers in Christ. Asked my boyfriend, and their rules are no shorts before 4:30 for classes. Nothing about respecting women with their eyes. Chapel is mandatory, they fine you if you miss more than three times a semester and it’s two days every week. You don’t get credit for it. Chapel is also at 9:30/10:00 am, which is quite early for some people, and if you have classes at 12 like me it’s white and inconvenience. They fine you for anything you do wrong. I could give story after story about friends and my own personal experiences from people claiming to be Christians and display the opposite. But for their privacy and mine, I will not share those stories. Despite these horrible qualities, the education level is very high with professors who genuinely care about the students, which makes up a lot for the community. I’ve had so many professors offer to meet with me, and they don’t cross inappropriate boundaries - nothing to fear with sexual harassment, sexual assault, etc. They take time to talk with you, pray with you, help you with homework assignments, invite you to dinner, and have had a lot of experience within the fields they are teaching, in turn giving you a great education. In my years at Olivet, there has only been a few handful of teachers I’ve had that are mean, and E number of good outweighs the bad. In terms of living spaces, the dorms are gross and dirty, not to mention the girls bathrooms. You can forget about having a significant other and getting privacy if you live in the dorms. The off campus apartments for the most part are fantastic - clean, nothing breaking (they don’t fix things fast at all - have had a work order in for a month and nothing has been done), beautiful kitchen and larger living space, plus the guys are a lot more relaxed with rules. Still, they are really tight with rules, especially the girls, you get busted for everything. I’m not a negative Nancy. I honestly love God, he has blessed me with meeting a wonderful man and growing in such confidence through these years at Olivet. But know what you’re in for - this place is not a great Christian community. There are some fantastic people, but the majority is Pharisees (biblical term for people who claim Christ but are too focused on their actions and rules). I feel horrible for the students attending this school who don’t have a relationship with God. If I wasn’t a Christian, or if I based my faith on those around me, I would want nothing to do with following Jesus.
