This University is fun, Environmentally conscious, and full of a diverse amount of people. If you are looking for a school that balances a liberal, experiential education with the traditional classroom and book scenario, then this is the school for you. Be sure to bring plenty of shorts, because it gets -hot- here!
Do you have any tips for prospective students?
- Get to know your College advisor, once you are accepted they will call you around once a month to help get you ready for college until around July, when they will hand you off to your Orientation mentor (an upperclassman that applied and went through training to help you through your first few months!)
- Make sure to read through the housing opportunities. In addition to the normal communities, there are 'themed' communities open to Freshmen as well. Some of these include the Wellness, Catalyst, and Environmentally Conscious communities.
-Don't let the price get to you, they offer a lot of financial aid and if you are eligible for work study they will make sure you get ten hours of work a week.
- -DEFINITELY- get involved with Outdoor programs. It's a program on campus that offers cheap outdoor workshops and adventures. These can go from backpacking to rockclimbing, beach bumming, and more. I personally didn't do a First Year Journey, but those are run by the same people that run Outdoor Programs.
-This isn't a place you'd want to bike around. San Bernardino nearby gets a lot of crime, and you don't really want to be off campus alone if you are a young female. Driving and shopping at stores is perfectly safe, you just want to be smart and not walk alone down non busy streets.
Do you find there’s enough academic rigor at your school?
All of the classes here you will genuinely learn something in. That is not to say that some are not more laid back than others.
A lot of emphasis is put on 'experiential learning'. If you are learning about injustice, you will be expected to volunteer to make a difference. If you are learning about plants, you'll have field trips to go collect plants. If you are learning about adventure, you'll go out hiking, camping, and backpacking. There is the traditional textbook studying and tests as well, but be prepared to get some real life experience in as well.
There's an interesting balance of new, young teachers that are very technology savvy and older folks who are more the traditional textbook and printed report type. It varies by major, but in general a science major can expect to be taking notes on a laptop and electronically turning in work. Humanities majors can expect to spend a lot of time around a printer.
Describe the dorm life at your college.
Dorm life is mixed. Your freshman year you can expect to room with someone, unless you have a disability, then they will usually work with you to get a single. The dorms are broke down into the following:
Fairmont:
-On the quad.
-Inclusivity based!
-Lots of opportunities to talk about social issues and volunteer.
-Has a giant rock that they defend with squirt guns and other people try to tag!
Cortner, Founders, and California:
-Upper classmen dorms.
-Generally bigger and with A/C!
Grossmont:
-You'll see a LOT of reviews saying this is the worst dorm on campus. As of 2018, it's been newly remodeled and is now one of the BEST. Large rooms, lots of triples, A/C, new furniture, and gender inclusive.
Bekins/Holt:
-Home to the Johnston program.
-Lots of cool programs and events exclusively for Johnston students.
-Recommended to only open minded students. They have a lot of events like drag nights and kissmass that some more conservative people might not enjoy, but unless you live in these buildings you'll never hear about them.
North Hall:
-Wellness based!
-Closest to the gym, pool, and athletic facilities.
-Has A/C and a nice patio.
Merriam:
-Environmental based.
-Lots of environmental programs and emphasis on conservation.
-Nice patio
-Great for a freshman, but not the best.
East/Williams:
-These are considered the 'freshman dorms' and are the worst on campus. They kind of feel like a prison, and have long hallways that are like mazes full of ugly white bricks. Try not to live here!
Describe the food and dining at your college.
Bon Appetit on Campus is a pretty amazing food provider. The Commons, our main cafeteria, always provides a vegan/vegetarian option, with gluten free options available at request. Lunch includes a sushi bar, while every meal contains a desert bar.
Open until around midnight is the Plaza Cafe, where you can buy fast food, pizza, sandwiches, frozen yogurt, and then market goods. These include gluten and dairy free breads, milks, cookies, egg substitutes and such, as well as drinks, hummus, icecream and other market goods.
The Bulldog Cafe is the student operated cafe for coffee and tea. It's centrally located to most classes!
The University Club is the fancy restaurant on campus, offering steak, salads, entrees, deserts, and the like. Not many students frequent it except for special occasions, so it is likely you and a special someone can have a romantic, quiet date here.
What’s there to do for fun at your college?
Outdoor programs offers weekend and break trips to do various outdoor activities. In the winter these include hiking, backpacking, camping, snowboarding, skiing, and beach bumming. In the spring and fall these include rock climbing, stargazing, camping, and more. They also provide on campus activities where you can learn about wilderness survival, fire making, water purification, and other basic necessities.
Also, the campus shuttle runs 3-9pm nightly to locations around Redlands for shopping, partying, and more. It's free of cost.
The party scene here is MINIMAL but that's perfectly okay. It's a lot more fun to get out and about the local area.
Food:
-A la minute: Icecream made with liquid nitrogen to order!
-Crepes of wrath: Crepes!
-Pieology: Handmade pizzas to order with unlimitted toppings for only $9!
-Bahama Bucks: Shaved Ice! (Snow cones!)
-The Crumb: Gourmet donuts.
-Chaca Tea bar: Bubble tea bar located just a couple miles from campus.
Parks:
Joshua Tree
Oak Glen
Big Bear
Whitewater Preserve
Forest Falls
Los Angeles:
-Aquarium of the Pacific
-Natural History Museum
-LA and San Diego Zoo!
-California Sience Center
-Beaches!
Do you feel you’re getting value for the money you’re spending on college?
The school helps a lot with financial aid and getting student work programs going. You will likely have to take out a loan, but I would always choose Redlands if I had the option.
The school is extremely dedicated to wellness. There is a free health center, free counseling centers, and free psychiatrists. There's also guided mediation and yoga sessions every week.
During finals there are a lot of programs put on by students for students including coloring, cookie decorating, professional massages, and bounce houses.
Finally, they are extremely caring about emotional and physical disabilities. This includes giving you alternative assignments for classes, allowing you to have a support animal, hiring another student to take notes anonymously for you etc.
With that said, the worst thing you can do at this school is move off campus. The school is extremely caring, but a lot of the people in California are assholes. It is absolutely not worth the stress to try and live off campus, and living on campus brings a lot more safety, security, and happiness to your life here.
Share any unusual traditions or locations on campus
There's a zen meditation circle behind the chapel. You stand at the beginning and close your eyes, thinking of everything bothering you. Then you open your eyes and walk through the maze, feeling at peace as you go. When you reach the center of the circle you let go of everything that bothered you and walk out when you are ready. It's pretty cool!
Which types of students will excel at your college?
Environmentally Conscious
Business and Environmental Majors
People who want to make their own Major (Johnston program allows this)
People who want to be active in their community!
Are you involved in any clubs or activities?
There is an awesome radio station run by students called KDAWG. In the Hunsaker building there's club rooms for Multicultural, Safe Space (LGBTQ), Womens rights, and more. Outside of that there is a club for Students for Environmental Actions, Animal rights, and more. Residence Halls all have little sports teams that they play other halls with, and halls team up to host bbqs and activities on sunny days.
Are you involved in any clubs or activities?
You have to be a sophomore to rush here, Greek houses are pretty far from the rest of campus, but are nice if you like to party. There are no traditional Greek Houses, all of them here are dedicated to a specific volunteering project.
When you are rushing, you rush for all houses rather than just one. After you get accepted if you are in a sorority, your sisters will drive around campus with you and blare their horns so everyone on campus knows you got accepted.
How would you describe campus safety? Do you feel safe on campus?
Public Safety Vans constantly monitor campus, and during the first week they grill into your mind the phone number for Public Safety.
In addition to this, blue lights all over campus mark emergency public safety phone booths that allow you to call Psafe to your location. You can also call them to pick you up and take you places at night if you don't feel safe walking.
San Bernadino is right up the road from us, and because of that we do see some issues on the edge of campus. Public Safety immediately reports through the email system any safety worries and patrols the edge of campus especially for suspicious persons, and every dorm is locked at all times (Both room doors and outside doors). Only the students of the dorm have the keys, and the locks are changed during winter and summer breaks.
It's essential to not walk alone at night. There have been some incidents where people have been robbed in the back parkinglots of buildings on the edge of campus, or by walking off campus at night. The shuttle is your best bet to stay safe.
Off campus you are safe during the day time, but don't engage in the community. Once my sophomore year I was offered a drink by someone in an off campus location and it was drugged. Another time I was going to a job interview for a cleaning position and it turned out to be a scam trying to get be to become a prostitute and I was extremely lucky my fiance was in the car and was able to get me out of the situation. When trying to live off campus, I tried three different roommates and every one of them dealt drugs and used them. All of these can be avoided if you stay on campus, which is extremely safe.
This University is fun, Environmentally conscious, and full of a diverse amount of people. If you are looking for a school that balances a liberal, experiential education with the traditional classroom and book scenario, then this is the school for you. Be sure to bring plenty of shorts, because it gets -hot- here!
- Get to know your College advisor, once you are accepted they will call you around once a month to help get you ready for college until around July, when they will hand you off to your Orientation mentor (an upperclassman that applied and went through training to help you through your first few months!) - Make sure to read through the housing opportunities. In addition to the normal communities, there are 'themed' communities open to Freshmen as well. Some of these include the Wellness, Catalyst, and Environmentally Conscious communities. -Don't let the price get to you, they offer a lot of financial aid and if you are eligible for work study they will make sure you get ten hours of work a week. - -DEFINITELY- get involved with Outdoor programs. It's a program on campus that offers cheap outdoor workshops and adventures. These can go from backpacking to rockclimbing, beach bumming, and more. I personally didn't do a First Year Journey, but those are run by the same people that run Outdoor Programs. -This isn't a place you'd want to bike around. San Bernardino nearby gets a lot of crime, and you don't really want to be off campus alone if you are a young female. Driving and shopping at stores is perfectly safe, you just want to be smart and not walk alone down non busy streets.
All of the classes here you will genuinely learn something in. That is not to say that some are not more laid back than others. A lot of emphasis is put on 'experiential learning'. If you are learning about injustice, you will be expected to volunteer to make a difference. If you are learning about plants, you'll have field trips to go collect plants. If you are learning about adventure, you'll go out hiking, camping, and backpacking. There is the traditional textbook studying and tests as well, but be prepared to get some real life experience in as well. There's an interesting balance of new, young teachers that are very technology savvy and older folks who are more the traditional textbook and printed report type. It varies by major, but in general a science major can expect to be taking notes on a laptop and electronically turning in work. Humanities majors can expect to spend a lot of time around a printer.
Dorm life is mixed. Your freshman year you can expect to room with someone, unless you have a disability, then they will usually work with you to get a single. The dorms are broke down into the following: Fairmont: -On the quad. -Inclusivity based! -Lots of opportunities to talk about social issues and volunteer. -Has a giant rock that they defend with squirt guns and other people try to tag! Cortner, Founders, and California: -Upper classmen dorms. -Generally bigger and with A/C! Grossmont: -You'll see a LOT of reviews saying this is the worst dorm on campus. As of 2018, it's been newly remodeled and is now one of the BEST. Large rooms, lots of triples, A/C, new furniture, and gender inclusive. Bekins/Holt: -Home to the Johnston program. -Lots of cool programs and events exclusively for Johnston students. -Recommended to only open minded students. They have a lot of events like drag nights and kissmass that some more conservative people might not enjoy, but unless you live in these buildings you'll never hear about them. North Hall: -Wellness based! -Closest to the gym, pool, and athletic facilities. -Has A/C and a nice patio. Merriam: -Environmental based. -Lots of environmental programs and emphasis on conservation. -Nice patio -Great for a freshman, but not the best. East/Williams: -These are considered the 'freshman dorms' and are the worst on campus. They kind of feel like a prison, and have long hallways that are like mazes full of ugly white bricks. Try not to live here!
Bon Appetit on Campus is a pretty amazing food provider. The Commons, our main cafeteria, always provides a vegan/vegetarian option, with gluten free options available at request. Lunch includes a sushi bar, while every meal contains a desert bar. Open until around midnight is the Plaza Cafe, where you can buy fast food, pizza, sandwiches, frozen yogurt, and then market goods. These include gluten and dairy free breads, milks, cookies, egg substitutes and such, as well as drinks, hummus, icecream and other market goods. The Bulldog Cafe is the student operated cafe for coffee and tea. It's centrally located to most classes! The University Club is the fancy restaurant on campus, offering steak, salads, entrees, deserts, and the like. Not many students frequent it except for special occasions, so it is likely you and a special someone can have a romantic, quiet date here.
Outdoor programs offers weekend and break trips to do various outdoor activities. In the winter these include hiking, backpacking, camping, snowboarding, skiing, and beach bumming. In the spring and fall these include rock climbing, stargazing, camping, and more. They also provide on campus activities where you can learn about wilderness survival, fire making, water purification, and other basic necessities. Also, the campus shuttle runs 3-9pm nightly to locations around Redlands for shopping, partying, and more. It's free of cost. The party scene here is MINIMAL but that's perfectly okay. It's a lot more fun to get out and about the local area. Food: -A la minute: Icecream made with liquid nitrogen to order! -Crepes of wrath: Crepes! -Pieology: Handmade pizzas to order with unlimitted toppings for only $9! -Bahama Bucks: Shaved Ice! (Snow cones!) -The Crumb: Gourmet donuts. -Chaca Tea bar: Bubble tea bar located just a couple miles from campus. Parks: Joshua Tree Oak Glen Big Bear Whitewater Preserve Forest Falls Los Angeles: -Aquarium of the Pacific -Natural History Museum -LA and San Diego Zoo! -California Sience Center -Beaches!
The school helps a lot with financial aid and getting student work programs going. You will likely have to take out a loan, but I would always choose Redlands if I had the option. The school is extremely dedicated to wellness. There is a free health center, free counseling centers, and free psychiatrists. There's also guided mediation and yoga sessions every week. During finals there are a lot of programs put on by students for students including coloring, cookie decorating, professional massages, and bounce houses. Finally, they are extremely caring about emotional and physical disabilities. This includes giving you alternative assignments for classes, allowing you to have a support animal, hiring another student to take notes anonymously for you etc. With that said, the worst thing you can do at this school is move off campus. The school is extremely caring, but a lot of the people in California are assholes. It is absolutely not worth the stress to try and live off campus, and living on campus brings a lot more safety, security, and happiness to your life here.
There's a zen meditation circle behind the chapel. You stand at the beginning and close your eyes, thinking of everything bothering you. Then you open your eyes and walk through the maze, feeling at peace as you go. When you reach the center of the circle you let go of everything that bothered you and walk out when you are ready. It's pretty cool!
Environmentally Conscious Business and Environmental Majors People who want to make their own Major (Johnston program allows this) People who want to be active in their community!
There is an awesome radio station run by students called KDAWG. In the Hunsaker building there's club rooms for Multicultural, Safe Space (LGBTQ), Womens rights, and more. Outside of that there is a club for Students for Environmental Actions, Animal rights, and more. Residence Halls all have little sports teams that they play other halls with, and halls team up to host bbqs and activities on sunny days.
You have to be a sophomore to rush here, Greek houses are pretty far from the rest of campus, but are nice if you like to party. There are no traditional Greek Houses, all of them here are dedicated to a specific volunteering project. When you are rushing, you rush for all houses rather than just one. After you get accepted if you are in a sorority, your sisters will drive around campus with you and blare their horns so everyone on campus knows you got accepted.
Public Safety Vans constantly monitor campus, and during the first week they grill into your mind the phone number for Public Safety. In addition to this, blue lights all over campus mark emergency public safety phone booths that allow you to call Psafe to your location. You can also call them to pick you up and take you places at night if you don't feel safe walking. San Bernadino is right up the road from us, and because of that we do see some issues on the edge of campus. Public Safety immediately reports through the email system any safety worries and patrols the edge of campus especially for suspicious persons, and every dorm is locked at all times (Both room doors and outside doors). Only the students of the dorm have the keys, and the locks are changed during winter and summer breaks. It's essential to not walk alone at night. There have been some incidents where people have been robbed in the back parkinglots of buildings on the edge of campus, or by walking off campus at night. The shuttle is your best bet to stay safe. Off campus you are safe during the day time, but don't engage in the community. Once my sophomore year I was offered a drink by someone in an off campus location and it was drugged. Another time I was going to a job interview for a cleaning position and it turned out to be a scam trying to get be to become a prostitute and I was extremely lucky my fiance was in the car and was able to get me out of the situation. When trying to live off campus, I tried three different roommates and every one of them dealt drugs and used them. All of these can be avoided if you stay on campus, which is extremely safe.