Lipscomb University (LU)

Nashville’s Lipscomb University is a private, Christian liberal arts college offering more than two hundred undergraduate majors and minors. This faith-based, service-focused school “does a great job at building relationships [between] students and faculty.” With the university’s SALT (Service and Learning Together) program, among others, the curriculum strives to find “unique and innovative ways to help its students learn” by incorporating service and experiential learning into more traditional courses. Many classes ask students “to go places around Nashville” and then discuss their experiences in class. On the whole, Lipscomb “encourages growth of your worldview” and seeks to ensure that students “have been challenged to think outside the classroom” by “engaging within the community and then engaging with [their] career fields.”

Lipscomb professors “are very involved in your academic life” and they are “always reassuring you and always motivating you to do better.” One student adds, “Not only do they mentor you through the college process, but they also serve as life mentors,” caring “not only about academics but also [the] spiritual life of students.” Others describe the faculty as “energetic, lively, and conversational.” They “show their faith both inside and outside the classroom,” “are super accessible if you need any help,” and “[care] about each individual student as more than a statistic.”

Those who attend the “relatively small” Lipscomb are “highly driven, passionate, and individualistic,” and “there is an evident community among the student body.” One student shares, “It's comforting and reassuring to be able to walk around campus and pass people who smile at you or say ‘hi’—despite whether or not you know them.” The school has a “wide range of religions and ideas despite it being a Christian university,” although many students here “assist at church or are involved in some form of spiritual leadership.” Overall, “there is an appreciation of authenticity across the board and that really discourages a lot of misconduct” on campus.

For students here, “doing homework is a way of hanging out with people,” so you’ll find them studying either at the library or “outside when the weather is nice.” When undergrads “aren’t in class or at work they usually congregate in the student center,” which is “normally packed—in a good way.” Off-campus, there “are constantly activities around Nashville,” and the “non-party environment” of this “safe, small” campus is also privy to “genuinely enjoyable events and plenty of smaller communities to choose from,” including “Salsa in the Square or dodgeball every weekend.” The school itself is “always very clean and on top of things. They see tasks that need to be done and start immediately.”