Pensacola Christian College

Academically, PCC gives you a good, solid liberal arts education. I was a history major, with the long-term goal of going to law school, and there was really little support for that endeavor at the time I went to PCC. Further, the history department at PCC was quite the boys' club, so if a female student is looking for serious academic / professional mentoring, she should probably look elsewhere. I don't believe this is the case with all of the majors, but it was my experience. All of the history/political science professors were male, and due to their concern about the appearance of impropriety, they will spend little time with a female student.

That said, my two of my professors gave me excellent recommendation letters for law school, and I felt fairly comfortable entering law school and did quite well there.

PCC also helped instill a strong work ethic. The semesters there are short, and "lights out" is at 11 pm, so you cannot procrastinate. The work is rigorous, and there are many required activities (church, concerts, plays, a grueling missions conference instead of spring break, no holidays during the semester) that eat up your time as well. It forces you to learn time managment. It's probably the most valuable thing I learned at PCC.

PCC is also an excellent value for the money. When I attended (1993-1997), room, board, and tuition was just under $5,000 per year. They also offer many scholarships and work opportunities on campus.

I also made many wonderful friends there, with whom I still keep in contact. I have never met such sweet, genuine Christian people as those friends.

On the other hand, many of the "bad" things you hear about PCC are true. There are some self-righteous jerks on that campus, as there are everywhere. Unfortunately, the strict, structured environment of PCC encourages ugly behavior. People are often praised for turning in other students for infractions ranging from failure for a woman student to wear pantyhose to something more serious. There is no privacy. Administrators and indeed anyone can walk into your room at any time. Administrators will search your room looking for contraband -- music that doesn't meet school standards, magazines like Glamour or Redbook, and pictures of students with their boyfriends/girlfriends displaying some kind of physical contact, just for an example.

There are many nit-picky rules at PCC, including a strict dress code and stringent regulation of interaction between students of the opposite sex. These rules are livable. I, and many others, lived with them for many years. You learn quickly who is looking to turn people in and write them up for demerits (which, until you hit about fifty really aren't that big a deal)and who you can be yourself around.(Although, as an aside, I never could remember where I was and wasn't allowed to talk to boys, so I developed a bad habit of kind of ignoring them when I was walking somewhere --even saying hello in the wrong place at the wrong time can land you in some trouble. That habit has stayed with me to this day and I regularly and unthinkingly snub male acquaintances. That's probably why I'm still single. It's all PCC's fault. Haha).

There is also very limited access to the media and internet. I didn't like that as a student because I felt overly cut off, but then I was so busy with school and work that I didn't care.

Another couple of notes to young women who may be considering PCC. When I went, and I haven't been back for many years, we called it "Pensacola Women's College." There were A LOT more women students than men students, so if you're going to college to meet your husband, be prepared for some stiff competetion. The ratio of men to women and the strict rules don't exactly give rise to romance. Female students are also not allowed to leave campus alone or work off campus. I really believe that this shows a sincere concern for female students' safety, but it is inconvenient and works something of a financial hardship (you make more money off campus than on).

Here's the bottom line: If you cannot live in an extremely structured environment, do not go to PCC. You won't be happy. If you have a high tolerance for silliness like wearing panty hose everyday, you'll be fine at PCC with God's grace. You need to just balance whether the good things (a good education in a clean, safe place, for a very little money, mostly surrounded by people who genuinely love the Lord) with the bad and decide if it is worth it to you. I believed, and still believe, that it was the right thing for me.