LeTourneau University — Local services in Longview

. . . It's time for the TRUTH to be told. I was enrolled as a student at LETU (Tyler location) for about nine months back in 2007 - 2008 in their "one night a week for working adults" program. ::scoffs:: What an absolute joke! In my opinion, it truly is/was an insult to everything that a college education is supposed to be; quality courses, taught by quality, experienced faculty on a diversified university campus, and not 3 - 4 rooms worth of office space leased out of some shabby building.

Looking back, I can remember only having two (2) instructors throughout the entire program who actually knew the subject/field in which they were teaching and executed curriculum correctly. (The rest of them would've been better off being hired from a phone book.) Also, when I say "curriculum", I'm speaking of the six weeks worth of mundane "busy work" they give you in an attempt/effort to call it a "degree program."

. . . The courses were completely overpriced, considering the fact that none of them were academically/intellectually challenging or relevant to a 21st century job market. ("Survey of the Old Testament" is not going to help/assist you in finding a job.) That aside, the attitude of the faculty and the entire atmosphere of the program as a whole was very conservative - prejudiced even. One lousy instructor for a Speech Communications course even had the audacity to put a "clause" in her class syllabus discouraging students from wearing "noisy jewelry" (bracelets, earrings, etc;) Rather obvious the type of demographic she was targeting.

This is intended to simulate a "college campus", correct? It was an extremely antiquated approach overall to education for ALL students regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc; Again, NOT worth the time or the money, and anyone looking to further/advance their education while working full-time would be better off attending a quality online University (Phoenix, Walden, Capella) with a contemporary curriculum and experienced, seasoned faculty; (Master's degree and beyond.)

. . . Unfortunately, more often than not, it's the schools, businesses and establishments with a damn Christian/"fish" sign that you have to watch out for. Sad, but...

Academically, it's a good technical college with an established pipeline to many well-paying, reputable companies. The facilities themselves are pleasantly modern. The overall culture, however, is depressing if you're of the creative and sociable type. The school has only really invested in its engineering, nursing, and aviation departments. While its ethnic diversity is impressive, its diversity of personalities & passions is disappointing. This is telling in the school's lack of outlets and activities in areas like humanities, visual/performing arts, greek life, or clubs. The incentive for a more well-rounded culture simply isn't there. It should also be noted that the ratio of male to female students is alarmingly lopsided.

Being nerdy is cool, but not when it comes at the expense of diversity. To my surprise, many students & faculty insinuated that investing in the social sciences would make the school too sympathetic to humanistic worldviews. But if being "set apart" means creating a hyper-rational doctrinally oriented bubble-culture, I can't recommend this to anyone in good conscious.

While officially non-denominational, the atmosphere is heavily "baptist-conservagelical." Even though I believe this position is still a valuable voice in its dialogue with other worldviews, the culture stifles the type of faith that is free-thinking and holistic. While they often denounce the humanism of secular culture, religious perennialism is considered the 'true' ideological bogeyman. It seemed the main purpose of their theology classes were to rationalize the supremacy of a spiritual imperialism that is mainly concerned with expanding it's boundaries rather than building bridges. This intellectual inhospitality reinforces sentiments of "us against the world" that is totally unnecessary and IMO, detrimental to mental health.

That being said, most people are genuinely...

LeTourneau University is a top-notch educational organization that not only provides a superior college education in multiple fields but also stresses and facilitates Christian growth in its students. An emphasis not only in word but also in practice is that as Christians we are not to check our faith at the door to our workplace, rather we are to view the workplace as a place to live out our faith while exhibiting a high level of technical and professional prowess. I attended there and learned that I was to live my life with both a high level of academic and occupational excellence and an unashamed and demonstrated Christian faith, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The mission at the school has been consistent for decades and its staff and faculty demonstrate academic excellence, unwavering dedication to the mission, genuine caring for the students both academically and spiritually, and spend a lot of time individually with students while living their own personal and professional lives in a manner that exemplifies professional excellence and personal faith. The environment there both academically and socially on campus is fun and rewarding. There is no other place like LeTourneau University, and if you are looking for a place to grow spiritually in a fun and academically challenging environment that prepares you for a long career in the workplace,...