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Nashville’s Belmont University: A Review for Prospective Students
I get emails from parents of prospective Belmont University students fairly regularly. I thought I’d move the conversation online so there’s a place for the conversation to grow. First, some context… My Bias: I blow a kiss every time I drive by Belmont since I enjoyed it so much. Be warned my sentiment is overall positive. Some of my peers have other positions. It was a good fit for me, although one factor for my bias is I didn’t pay full price. For instance, I was an in-state student and eligible for a Hope Scholarship so my overall expectations were lower. With this in mind, I don’t have much stake in not being honest about my feelings on Belmont. Here’s one opinion. Seek others. Some other viewpoints to get you started: Grapevine Concerns: The most common concerns from Belmont students I’ve heard are that Bob “The Builder” Fisher has been growing the school too quickly, issues surrounding the Lisa Howe Controversy, parking and that it’s not worth the money. Belmont in the News: Within the last year, Belmont has most notably gotten national media attention “when women’s soccer coach Lisa Howe allegedly lost her job at the university because she is a lesbian” and for their men’s basketball NCAA appearance. Below is an email conversation from a parent of a prospective Belmont student from 9/2010. It’s edited for length. I have copied my son who is a Senior on this email. I, too, graduated in Journalism from university so I’m interested what you’re doing now that you’ve graduated. I never changed my major although it’s quite common to change your major a few times. I studied journalism, but I work in an Internet Technology company now, Sitemason [Now I work at Raven Internet Marketing Tools]. I designed websites on the side and my current job is more related to the business I started while at Belmont. Belmont has a great entrepreneur program that supported me. For instance, they have a few shared community work spaces or hatcheries where you can get a key and work at a computer, in a quiet space, with a printer, etc. The journalism degree has helped me with the small amount of marketing I do at my current job and has given me a foundation to go into marketing if I’d like. So even though I’m not in the same field as my major, I’m more attractive to potential employers. I’ve become a better writer because of my major as well, which has helped with my long term goal of becoming a fiction author. More about me: http://nathanbaker.com I’m sure my son will have other questions for you regarding Belmont but I’ll start with a few: What’s the best characteristic, from a student’s perspective, about Belmont? It was a very creative school. Since half the students are music or music business majors, there is a whole lot of creative energy which I live for. It’s the type of energy you may feel if you have ever gone to a school specializing in the arts. If you want to get involved in a video project or find people to play music with, it’s there. How would you describe campus life at Belmont? Does the campus feel small and local or cosmopolitan or something other than that? It’s a small-town, comfortable, small, rural feeling campus. It’s pretty close to things though so it’s not constricting. Nashville has a fantastic park system so there are always places to find open space. You usually run into a lot of your friends by just walking campus. Did you participate in any international studies while attending Belmont? If so, can you elaborate on your experience with that? Not studies, but I did lead a mission trip to Mexico one summer and also went to Honduras for a journalism trip another summer. The international offerings are pretty standard for any established university. Since Belmont is pretty entrenched in music they have campuses on the West and East coast music scenes as well. Did you know anyone in the Music/Music Industries area of study and/or do you know much about Belmont’s music as an area of study? Yes. My roommate of two years studied music business. It took him a while but he’s now working at a music artist management company. I have a lot of friends in the music industry. It’s hard work because of the competition, but Nashville will sharpen you because there is so much talent here. My dad could connect you to a cousin who graduated from Belmont that is more entrenched in the music scene if you have more specific music questions. Thanks, Nate. Hope you’re doing well in this tough economy. Yes! Blessed to be doing well for a 25-year-old and blessed to be doing so well compared to the average global citizen. Let me know what questions you have or if I can connect you with anyone at Belmont. Feel free to ask harder questions too. Being a Baptist College, how prevalent is “Christian Atmosphere” at Belmont? (not in terms of whether or not good people attend, but formalization of religion and openness to alternative views). Is the approach laid back or more fundamentalist? Belmont used to be a Baptist school, but it’s now no longer affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention: They still market themselves as Christian though: “Belmont University is a student-centered Christian community providing an academically challenging education that empowers men and women of diverse backgrounds to engage and transform the world with disciplined intelligence, compassion, courage and faith.” It’s fairly laid back. The religious requirements when I went were: 1. A portion of convocation are faith develop sessions. 2. Two religious classes were required. eg. new and old testament or new and old together plus a Jesus and film class. Chapel or church wasn’t mandatory. [Oh if you go to Belmont and you’re into Jesus, check out Belmont RUF. Great teaching and community.] Are there any unique campus restrictions like dorm curfews or alcohol bans? In dorms you have to sign in people of the opposite sex. In on campus apartments people just don’t sign in. Officially the campus is a dry campus and there are checks once or twice a semester, but there are ways to get around this. Also, where did your roommate intern and then where did he get a job? I forget the name of his company actually and where he interned. If a stranger visited the campus would you even recognize it as a Baptist College or would it seem pretty much like any other college campus? It would seem like a normal campus. Current Belmont Students: Feel free to weight in with how things are changing and if something I said doesn’t ring true for you. A lot changes in four years. Leave a comment. Prospective Students & Parents: Feel free to ask me additional questions in the comments or email me directly if you don’t mind me adding your question to this post. Photos from my Belmont Flickr Photo Set.
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