As a person who runs a blog exclusively about my school, you can imagine I get a lot of questions, especially since it's unofficial and "raw," a.k.a the truth, which is always nice to hear. Is admitting to having a blog about my school something I can get in trouble for? It's not school approved or anything, and it doesn't exactly paint a pretty picture. Nevertheless, I feel I've brought in tons of students who were unsure of attending just from my blog alone.

Anyway, below are the most asked questions I get. Some are funny, some are sad, some make good points.

Do you have to take additional classes like religion and such?

In terms of GE's, yes. For religion, there are 3 classes to take. 2 are Old and New Testament courses, and you get to choose one upper division religion course out of two.

Are there shy people there? Everyone seems so outgoing, I feel like I'm gonna be an outsider with how quiet and shy I am.

Yeah, there are shy people for sure. I think there’s an automatic bond with your room and hall mates that makes it impossible for you to not make friends, which is probably why it seems like everyone is so outgoing -- they're around their friends.

Is there any diversity at PLNU? From all the social media and whatnot that I've seen, a good majority of students and faculty are white.

Yeah, almost everyone is white, sorry. I remember my sociology professor saying, “People here have sometimes asked, ‘Why doesn’t PLNU have a white club?’…Like, hello…this entire campus is a friggin’ white club.”

He’s right, though. There’s some diversity, but the majority is white. We even had a whole racial debacle over a “controversial” chapel this year via YikYak because the speaker said that oftentimes oppressors are “conservative Christian white people,” a.k.a. Loma’s target audience. I’d say the two most predominant ethnicities are Caucasian and either Asian or Hispanic.

Because freshman aren't allowed to have cars how does everyone get around?

There’s a shuttle that drives around San Diego until 1AM; you can also rent a zip car by the hour or day (it’s like one of those little smart cars, it’s not that expensive). Otherwise, you’re just gonna have to find a ride.

I am looking at PLNU as an out of state transfer student and was wondering how strict religious beliefs are? I know that you said that there are chapel requirements. I am very similar to you in regard to how we are both seemingly not very religious. Is it bearable? Does it seem as though many people are working hard to pay off their tuition as opposed to having it handed to them?

It really depends on how much you can take. It’s bearable, but then again, I’ve tolerated a lot of things in life I didn’t particularly like. As a transfer student, you’ll have a lower chapel requirement (as a junior or senior) anyway. Most students get some sort of financial aid from the school or the state, to be honest. There’s a new bill being passed that will ban schools not complying with anti-discrimination policies from receiving state grants, so basically within the next 2 years PLNU is going to lose their state funding if they don’t change their stances, so I’m not so sure how the grants will work out. You can get pretty hefty scholarships though! As far as I can see, most students aren’t struggling so much because it’s paid for them (I literally only know one person who actually worked to save up to buy their own car instead of their parents buying them a shiny Toyota or whatever, if that says anything). However, the people I do call at work (calling alumni for money) are usually at least somewhat deep in student loans, so I think the debt just gets passed on once you graduate and your parents/guardians decide you’re self-sustainable?

As for out of state vs in state, most students are actually from out of state, and since it's a private university, there is no tuition difference.

Hi! So I'm filling out my housing form for plnu, in your opinion, which freshman dorm do you think is the best?

So freshman only have the option of 3 halls. In my opinion, I’ve only stayed in Nease West, but Nease is probably the worst freshman dorm. Depending on your preference, I’d go Hendricks or Klassen, they both have pros and cons. Hendricks is closest to the beach and you get a beach view, is super close to the athletic field, but is far from the center of campus so there’s a lot of walking involved. Klassen is pretty much right next door to Hendricks, so just about the same benefits and disadvantages, except that it’s a TINY bit closer to the center of campus. I talked to three freshmen, however, and they said to stay anywhere BUT Klassen.

So anyway, Hendricks is best, in my opinion.

When you're going to be a freshman, do you get to pick who your roommate is or is it random???

Either! If you know who you wanna room with, you guys can just put each other’s names down for your request in dorm placement. You can also do random, I’m not completely clear on my memory but I think they have you do an assessment in the case of random roommate so that you guys have things in common.

Is it okay if you have tattoos or piercings at this school?

Yep. This school loves to abide by the Bible condemnations, but disregards, or rather “interprets differently”, the whole “your body is a temple” passage. You can have as many piercings as you want, the most common one here is a nose stud, of course. That’s like the gateway piercing. As for tattoos, everyone has a cross or some uplifting scripture or an infinity sign etc. Obviously don’t get “666” or a swastika tattooed on your forehead or the ouroboros sign, but I suggest something original for a change if you do decide to get a tattoo while you enjoy your independence here. So anyway, your body is a temple, so treat it special and adorn yourself with original body mods.

How are the GE classes?

I went to a pretty rigorous prep school, so to me the GE’s are incredibly easy, but it really does depend on the person. I find it much easier than high school. This semester (this question was aked in November 2015, so first semester of my freshman year) I took Old Testament, Sociology, Psychology 101, World Civilizations II, and Literature and Culture. For the most part, these classes don’t require much hard research on papers but are rather “reflection” papers. But yeah I’d say most assignments that are important (or any at all) are writing essays, which I’m already pretty good at. But as I said before, the essays aren’t really research papers and are more opinion touchy feely stuff. It depends on the class. College composition, a required freshman course, has like a 10 page final research paper.

In short the GE’s are pretty lowkey, especially since a lot of them are high school repeats (world civilizations, literature and culture, and then bible classes which is basically intense Sunday school). If you took AP’s you’ll get to skip some. I failed all my AP tests, so no skipping for me.

As an edit to this question as of June 2016, I would only change a couple things. The G.E.'s I took second semester were also incredibly easy, but required more research based work than reflection-based work. So anyway, I still find them easy.

I'm interested in attending Point Loma, but I'm coming from a Christian high school and I'm definitely interested in continuing that Christian lifestyle there. Do you think that it would be a good fit for me?

Absolutely! It is a Christian school, after all. Christianity is a vital part of the community there and at least for your first year it will probably be just about your whole life. There are lots of fun Christian activities and ministries you can join, there’s chapel 3 times a week (and then one Wednesday nights), it’s liberal for a Nazarene community but is a pretty moderate to somewhat conservative campus. If you’re Christian and want to continue your faith, you’ll have no problem. Not to mention you get to live on the beach!

Is it okay to be non-religious or of a different religion?

Of course! You will still be required to attend Chapel services just as everyone else, but outside of that you can pretty much practice your religion freely (as far as I know at least, I think having a Pagan/Wiccan altar in your dorm might get you in trouble). As for non-religious people, it can be hell or a good opportunity to learn and grow in your faith (or rather, lack thereof), but you can choose which way you’d like to spend your time here. The daily devotionals and uber-religiosity of freshman may seem very overwhelming, but know it is simply a freshman phenomenon (they try WAY too hard in the religion department in order to fit in, but realize by sophomore year that they don’t have to pretend, so I guess that’s the lesson for all the freshman out there who may not “fit in”).

Does God feel present on campus?

I can’t really answer that, it depends on the definition. If you mean does it feel like miracles are always happening on campus, then sort of. I’ve never “felt” God (I think?), but seeing the beauty of the campus makes me feel like the whole universe can’t just be some “coincidence” like many non-religious people believe, if you know what I mean. It’s like a “too good to be true” concept, the campus (scenery) is so beautiful that it seems like it has to have been created on purpose and not by coincidence.

Is it worth going to PLNU even if I’m not Christian?

I would say yes. While a lot of it is based around Christianity, the other reasons to attend definitely weigh out the Christian aspect if you find that as a negative. However, everyone is different, and I think living on campus when you’re not Christian would be considerably more difficult.