Rose Ellen

Isn't interesting how God can bring together three people who have never met and give them fellowship through Him?


I'm sure all who are reading this have different views on women going to college: some along the lines of they should stay at home and work from there and learn how to be a homemaker and prepare for their future husbands. Others think that Christian colleges are the way to go and that's where they have been called to attend. And others like myself and my parents are all for any university, christian or not, that at the very least has a strong christian support group.

God calls young women to all different paths after highschool. Here you have the view of the three mentioned above. I have no doubt that there are many more out there and I wish we could have all of their stories posted here for you to read however as it is you the readers will have to be contented with ours. =P

To begin, my name is Rose Ellen. I am an exiting homeschooling senior in highschool. I live in Massachusetts and have been here my whole life. I row and I referee soccer. I also am a volunteer at the Junior High youth group, which I love dearly. As an exiting senior college is the next step for me. A very small liberal arts school, liberal in both senses of the word, called Clark University.

I applied to eight secular universities was accepted to four and ended up making my decision to go to Clark University based on the financial aid offered and the atmosphere of the school. I also applied to Syracuse University, University of MA Amherst, University of Rhode Island, University of Vermont, Rochester Institute of Technology, Boston University, and Fairfield University. I was accepted to URI, RIT, Fairfield, and Clark. I never got a decision from Syracuse (New York has very strict homeschooling laws so be careful when applying to schools there they want extra paperwork which is a pain and if they aren't clear about what they want it tends to muck up the decision making process for everyone involved.)

I'm going to be very honest with you all and tell you right off the bat that I really didn't even consider applying to any Christian universities (besides Gordan College but they didn't have any of the majors that I wanted). Where I am from, and perhaps this is true or not true else where, Christian universities are very little known and if they are known the academics are not highly esteemed. Even though I am not a straight-A student I knew I wanted to be challenged academically as well as spiritually (Please note that I am not intending to bash any Christian schools with the above statements it is just the general opinion around here. I have the highest respect for Christian universities academics and spirituality.)

Why Clark? Besides giving me the best financial aid offer Clark University seemed to be the best fit for me on many levels.
1. It is a very small school, the smallest I applied to, with combined total of 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students. Small school means smaller more intimate classes, being homeschooled the largest class I have been in on a regular basis was a co-op class of about 12 people. I am an intuative learner and for the most part learn things slightly differently from the majority of people. Smaller classes means for me that I will be able to get more individualized attention from professors and TA's which will be great and will hopefully help the transition from highschool to college for me.

2. It is close to home, I've been homeschooled my whole life and even though I am a very social, independent person I love my home and family. And to be honest have been known to get very homesick when away for extended periods of time. Where I am in Worcester will make me about an hour and a half train ride away from home and fourty-five minute drive which I think is the perfect median.

3. It has the sport that I adore. Lets face it, everyone has something that they really enjoy doing and want to keep doing for as long as possible. Crew is one of those things for me. Infact it actually helped me get into Clark. I contacted the coach and told him that I was a rower and wanted to continue in college and thought that Clark would be a good fit for me academically and rowing-wise.

4. Since it is in MA I will be able to continue working as a soccer referee very easily. Also, two people that i have refereed with before go to neighboring schools in Worcester so I should be able to get rides to work until I can get my own car. God is good.

5. It has a small but seemingly might Christian group which includes a women's ministry. I have already contacted them and they have wonderful plans and activities planned for the coming school year that I can not wait to be involved in.

6. When I went to a homeschooling conference I actually met two different people who are both at different, but wonderful sounding churches in Worcester and near where I will be attending college. I got both of their information and will be contacting them for locations/times when I get to Worcester. Again, God is good!

7. This is an interesting one and my last for now. I may come back and edit this, who knows. Clark is very liberal in thinking, it attracts liberals from all walks of life. There are people from all belief systems and nationalities there. I believe God can use me in peoples lives and also God can use all these people in my life to constantly keep me striving after God as He teaches me how to minister to these people.

All right, its my bed time now. Nighty-night. I hope what I said still makes sense in the morning. If not its back to the editing process.

In God's love.
~Rose Ellen