Bob Jones University

Do NOT go to BJU to study for the ministry unless you have strong networking contacts (relatives, friends) in positions of hiring influence. There are far more churches that will NOT hire you because of your BJU diploma than will hire you. Hiring authorities that I contacted would not talk to me any further once they learned my degree was from BJU (common reason given was that BJU graduates were too divisive and BJU too extremist). Graduates I knew who had business related degrees fared better than the ministry degree graduates that I knew. I also knew several graduates with teaching degrees who had difficulties because back when I graduated, BJU was unaccredited and proud of it (consequences to the graduates be damned). Fortunately a few years ago BJU broke with the founder's admonishments and sought accreditation. Too late for me, but good for the current students.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

The school is aimed at the devote and separated church goers, and that is just fine. However, Bob Jones University's lack of regional accreditation makes the value and portability of their degree programs nothing more that religious flavored ego driven theft of these deeply committed Christians. The school's administration pretend to offer a fine education while systematically devaluing their kind and devoted students efforts through their complete incompetence in retaining the proper staff and ability to meet the minimum standards of a regional accredited program. The fact that "TRACS" is even listed as an excuse of a "accreditation" qualifications exposes the school for the snake oil sales people they have become.

The school has hurt so many of the well meaning students and parents that have paid their high tutions and followed their restrictive student rules to find that they cannot get into any normal grad school program and many professions due to their lack of regional accreditation. They spoil any Christian credibility with their pathetic efforts to plan and respond to this issue. Your degree from Bob Jones University is worth very little outside of the tiny ecosystem of South Carolina.

5th Year Male -- Class 1998

Faculty Accessibility: B, Education Quality: F

I'll begin by stating that my comment is unlike most of the others that you'll read on this website because, unlike the vast majority of those commenting, I was saved at 20 years old; most of the other students attending this school were saved when they were in elementary school. To me, this makes a world of a difference when you want to factor in a person's life experience to his or her point of view regarding such a (I must admit) controversial school. Nonetheless, I learned all the "Christian-lingo" at Bob Jones; using words like 'saved' and 'worldview.' The vast majority of students have been using this kind of vocabulary since they began walking. So, you may ask, where am I going with this? To be very blunt, I think most of the negative comments about the school come from those who had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home and may not understand or appreciate the value of the (dare I say) gift that the Lord placed in Greenville. To give you a better picture of my upbringing (in contrast to theirs), I grew up with a father who left my mentally ill mother for another woman. They got divorced. My mother then got into a relationship with a man who, unbeknownst to her, was a convicted felon (a repeat offender, at that). He then continued his pattern of violence and abuse on her. Luckily, she got out of that relationship and he got back in jail. But, clearly you can see that I didn't have the same kind of childhood most students that attend Bob Jones had. In light of all this, this is not to say that the school is as much of gift for everyone as it was for me. I hate to use idioms to suffice for more valid reason and logic, but one person's trash really is another person's treasure. I obviously haven't had the same experiences at this school as others have, so those who did truly have negative experiences may have honest and credible complaints that should be addressed. Anyways, I'm really grateful that the Lord brought me here. Firstly, and most importantly, if it wasn't for this school I wouldn't be saved. Period. But for this school, I wouldn't have accepted Jesus and I wouldn't have talked to my friends and family about Him. Secondly, not only did the school prepare me for the after life, but the school really prepared me for my future in this life. I participated in the debate association, really liked it, and succeeded in winning a speaker's award and advancing to the school finals in my first year of debating (ever). The mastery of the liberal arts is heavily stressed at the school. I probably learned more valuable logical, oral, and written argument skills by taking economics and essential science at Bob Jones than I did in two years of paralegal classes at community college. On the whole, I feel like Bob Jones prepared me for success in law school. Although I haven't gone there yet, I know I'm much more prepared to develop and carry out arguments against some of the top tier law students and it's because of Bob Jones that I'm able to do that. As far as whether or not I think you should go there, I think you really need to ask yourself what it is the Lord wants for you in life. As we can evidently see, the school is not for every believer; there are many believers who don't go there. The Lord's plan for them has nothing to do with Bob Jones. So I would say that if you're thinking of going to Bob Jones, do your research. Obviously you shouldn't limit your research to reading comments written by people on the Internet... including those written by myself. I'd encourage you to at least try one semester there: the school is now regionally and nationally accredited which means that if it's not the Lord's plan for you, then you can go elsewhere without having your money and credits thrown away. I'd say that the person who knows best what the Lord wants for you, besides Him of course, is you. I think it would be in your best interest to form your own opinions by seeing and feeling the place out for yourself. It's the same with anything new in life: try it out, and if the Lord wants you there, you'll be there.

1st Year Male -- Class 2014

Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: B+