A Glimpse of Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania

In the midst of the current going-to-college frenzy, I thought I would describe my current college, Grove City. Founded in 1876 by Isaac C. Ketler, Grove City College is a Liberal Arts college based on a Christian foundation. Grove City College is, in fact, in Grove City, Pennsylvania just north of Pittsburgh and is comprised of roughly 2400 students.

Perhaps the most interesting fact about Grove City's Christian atmosphere is a purposeful reluctance by faculty to force any sort of spirituality or belief system on students. No one, when applying or attending, needs to sign any sort of statement of faith. However, students are required to attend sixteen chapel services, roughly twenty minutes in length, each semester. But beyond that the decision rests with the student.

Quite frankly, the student base is about 85% professing Christian, and the real "spiritual core" of the campus rests within student organizations, groups, housing blocks and ministries.

Grove City College is one of the cheapest colleges in the nation for it's extremely high-quality education. Running about $17,000 a year, Grove has managed to thrive without any government funding or intervention, allowing the school to run itself as it pleases and has thus become a very engaging environment and well-oiled machine.

Although Grove City College has very strong programs in every major offered, the truest academic strengths lie is Grove's Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Pre-Med, Education, Spanish and Economics departments. I myself am a History and Psychology double-major and have been incredibly satisfied with both the intensity and enjoyment inherent in my courses. The professors at Grove City College are all acclaimed and well-trained and strive to follow excellence in the classroom.