There are a little over 4,000 colleges in the Unites States, and within those you have regular colleges and then you have a Christian colleges. Now, I may be a little biased only because I attend a Christian University. But, now I will tell you 8 reasons why you should attend a Christian University.
1) Friends for life
You can find amazing friends anywhere, but if you want friends that have the same beliefs and inspirations as you, attend a Christian University. It makes it a lot easier to guarantee that you will find people who believe in the God that you believe in. You may stay up till 3 in the morning debating and thinking through some of the toughest information that you received during class that day, but they are there to tell you verses that you may not know about, or they may tell you that you are overthinking everything and to calm down.
It's not always an easy transition into a friendship, especially when you are living with them. Luckily, I found my people within the first month, and I thank God for them everyday. They have been there for me when I made some pretty terrible grades, and they have been with me through all of the kicks and giggles.
One thing that have to keep in mind is even though they love God and they honor God, they are not perfect. They will say things and do things to you that they cannot take back, but they are human. We all mess up. We are not perfect. So learning to forgive people for the things that they have done and listen to people when they are explaining how they love is something that you should do from the very beginning. Have that initial conversation with them. Yes, it will be awkward, but if you do this, it guarantees the friendship for the rest of your life
2) Amazing people in general
When attending a Christian University, you see people praying in the middle of the court yard, and that's perfectly normal. You see people going though the hardest years of their life and just sitting down reading their Bible in the coffee shop. That is one thing that I absolutely love. It is okay to express your love for your Father, and you will not not get a dirty look for doing it.
One of my friends and I were sitting outside and I had received some bad news about my grandfather, so she prayed for me. You could tell people were wondering what we were praying for, but I didn't feel as if we were being being judged for talking to our Father. You never have to worry about being judged. Of course you do have those few people who think they are better than everyone else, but I guess we can never get rid of them.
3) FREE concerts
No matter what your crazy schedule is, there is always something going on. There are concerts about every month and you get chapel credit for them. Oh yeah, and they are free! Last year consisted of Jordan Smith, Clark Beckham (twice), All Sons and Daughters (twice), Rend Collective, Andy Mineo, and Lecrae. These concerts were not only the best days of my college experience, but these performers definitely know how to open your eyes to problems of the world with not only their songs, but their words.
4) Fun Events
One thing that Lee University focuses in is making sure that the students are having fun. They have fun interactive events to make sure that we have the "college" experience to the best of our abilities. There are many fun things to do such as events held by the Greek community. They mostly do events at the beginning and end of the school year (when it is warmer outside).
Dorm Wars is fun event that Lee puts on every Fall semester. There is a team for every dorm and you compete for money for your dorms organization. Each dorm has a theme and you all get dressed up and have a ton of fun! This is just a fun way to compete, get rowdy, and support your dorm to help out your charity/organization.
5) Amazing groups
There are plenty of groups that you can get involved in. There is the Greek community, Bible study groups, and community involved groups. There are many ways that you can get involved in a Christian school. If you can think of it, there is probably a group out there just for you. Community is a huge part of college, and once you find that group, then you usually stick with the through it all.
6) MARRIAGE
College is a time for getting your education, but also potentially meeting your future husband (or wife). Hopefully, we all meet that special person that God has made for us as soon as we can, but some may be more lucky than others. Even though college is not all about marriage, you can still fall happily in love with the man of your dreams (where you at McDreamy?).
7) Chapel and Convocation
A fun way to get together with the Lee community is Chapel (every Tuesday and Thursday) and Convocation (once a semester). We have chapel every week, so it is a great way to hear people's opinions and views about certain topics. Convocation is a more in depth conversation with God. Dr. Conn, the President of Lee University, only gets the best of the best to speak at Convocation. I would say that most Christian Universities have some sort of gathering where you can worship and learn as a community.
8) Christ is King
When attending a Christian university, you are surrounded by the love and presence of God. Not all people who attend a Christian University are necessarily Christians, though. But the majority of students are. As long as you center yourself in Him and you surround yourself with people love Him just as much as you do, then there can be no wrong done.
Now I am not promising that every Christian University will have Dorm Wars and free concerts, but I can promise one thing-- if you try to put yourself out there, you will find your people (obviously I did) and you will find yourself. College is a big part of your life. It will not be easy, but as long as you have God by your side, you can get through any situation that you may come to.
