Pensacola Christian College

The reason I transferred to PCC is because it was cheap. For that, it was a blessing. . . initially. Their advertised bottom line was not their actual bottom line. At any college you expect that a little increase. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-10%, but PCC was more like a 25-35% increase. Between the (hidden) fees it was ridiculous. $12 every time you go to see the nurse; and they always recommend you go back to see them. I have hypertension and must have my blood pressure checked at least once a day because I was playing sports and the coaches wanted me to keep track of it. I did not have a monitor at the time so I had to go see the nurses. They told me about the charge (just to have bp checked), and said it would be EVERY TIME I come in.

Other than that, there are some positives about the school. It is easy. There is not much challenge in the course work. Easy credits. Easy degree. If you can keep your head down and not talk to anyone about what you believe (more about that later), you should have no problem graduating. Basically you can't think of it as a place to grow spiritually, only a place to pay to hear crazy theology and answer tests according to what the instructor believes, not what you believe. Simple. Easy.

As I said, you cannot talk about believing differently than they do. I went there to grow spiritually. Bad choice. I went to the instructors once a week to discuss theology. My beliefs about the Bible were different than theirs. That reflected in my final grades. 30% of your grade is "Class participation", which means if you are present, you get that 30%. Basically this grade is based on how much or how little the instructor likes you. If they don't know you, you're good for a good grade. If you do the math, you see you pretty much have to have straight A's to pass if your class participation is a 0%. The school does not like individual thought. Which brings me to my last point:

The school is full of "academic incest". What that means is the school only hires instructors that in some way graduated from the school. Most colleges have by-laws that prohibit themselves from hiring in-school students. This college REQUIRES it. You either have to graduate the undergrad or grad programs. This ensures that all instructors will be teaching exactly what the admin wants them to. No outside thinking. It is a poor way of running a college. It works pretty much like genetics. Look it up and apply it to a college and you'll see what I mean.There is much more that I would like to say, but this should be sufficient.

1st Year Male -- Class 2016

University Resource Use/ spending: A+, Faculty Accessibility: F

First off, yes PCC has rules, but those rules aren't hidden and don't magically appear once you get there. If you don't come from a "strict" religious background then PCC probably isn't the place for you. Before I went to PCC, I heard all of the horror stories how everybody was out to get out demerits; and while that may have been the case several years ago, it definitely isn't true today. Trust me, I'm one of those people who has "power" to write people up and we don't like writing people up. Yes the school is very conservative in a lot of areas, but you are there of your own free choice, so your experience depends a lot upon your attitude. If you have a bad attitude going in, then you're probably going to have a bad attitude coming out. As for the academic side of things, there is a lot left to be desired, at least in the humanities department. PCC does have several good programs. I would say that it has very good musical, graphic design, nursing, business (you can get an MBA for free through the GA program), education (teaching in a Christian school), professional writing, English, and criminal justice programs. But when it comes to humanities, specifically history, pre law, and political science, you get exactly what you pay for, a lousy education. Most of the history faculty is extremely biased toward conservative thinking. I have no problem with someone being biased as long as they can present the information in a factual way and can tolerate a student having an opposing view. Most at PCC can not. I've heard, and this is no joke, that FDR, the New Deal, progressive income tax, direct elections of senators, the UN, and the Lend Lease program were all acts of the devil. The school does not offer any programs/internships to help students who are interested in government/politics/law, except for one practice LSAT offered once a year. The head of the pre law program has never gone to law school, but somehow he's qualified to give advice on attending law school? The pre law classes are challenging and a number of them are taught by unqualified teachers. Seriously, the French and Spanish teachers do not have degrees in language and are only teaching because they were born in France or a South American country. Instead of taking more business, finance, or government classes, pre law students get to take such English classes like World Drama (plays from around the world- of nothing else does, this class alone should discourage you from taking pre law at PCC) and Creative Writing. These classes are unnecessarily challenging for pre law students as they are geared towards English, Professional Writing, and Performance Studies majors. Law schools usually don't care what or why you got a C in a class, they just care that you got a C. It always seems that these teachers don't realize that you have other classes, so they give an exorbitant amount of coursework and are extremely tough with grading. I hope this review is helpful and I wish the school would see it and consider changing some things. All that being said, if you are looking at going to PCC for history, political science, or pre law and you're wanting to go to law school or learn more about government, do not go to PCC for these programs. Unless you think that the UN and the New Deal are satanic, in which case you'll do fine. If you're wanting a good education in a Christian environment and you are interested in politics/law than I would suggest a business/finance degree. or a criminal justice degree (although CJ teachers are just as biased, but you can actually learn relevant things in their classes; and your GPA will look much better for law school; and you have other career options upon graduating besides law school). I wish I could say positive things about my major, but I can't.

3rd Year Male -- Class 2015

Campus Aesthetics: A, Scholastic Success: F

I got good training in these areas: teaching classroom routines, maintaining classroom discipline, and teaching phonics.

The rest of my education was sub-par. I did not have one class in working with special needs students or ESL students. I also had no training on legalities for teachers, such as mandatory reporting, or on working with parents.

I also did not have adequate classes in math, science, and history. The books we used were the exact same ones used in A Beka high schools.

The fact that my undergrad degree was unaccredited SERIOUSLY hampered me in my career. I had great difficulty being accepted into grad school and obtaining my state license.

Besides the mediocre education, the spiritual atmosphere was stifling to the point of being abusive. The focus was entirely on outward appearances. Weakness was not tolerated. I fractured my foot (hairline fracture) one semester and still had to run on it. I got very ill a few times, but was scolded for checking into the health center - even though my ear infection was so bad the bone was affected. Although a few staff members were caring, most lacked grace and kindness.Although I appreciate the solid grounding in phonics and classroom management, I would never encourage someone to attend PCC.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000