If you email admissions@gcc.edu, this is the wonderful woman responding or forwarding your questions to the appropriate individual on campus. Joletta is the glue that holds our office together! If you want to know ANYTHING about Grove City College, ask Joletta!
Frequently Asked Admissions Questions
What are admission requirements?
In terms of admission requirements, Grove City College is selective. However, there are numerous factors, both academic and non-academic, that we consider when reviewing applications for admission. First, we look at a student's academic profile, including high school GPA (the average being a 3.8), class rank, and curriculum. We strongly advise that students take four years of academic, college prep courses (including four years of each of the major five subjects). We find that our more competitive students have taken honors or AP level courses offered at their respective schools. We also consider a student's SAT or ACT scores—the averages being approximately 1250 and 27.
Aside from academics, a personal interview with an admissions counselor is HIGHLY recommended for any serious applicants to the College. A student does not need to submit an application to do an interview, and the interview deadlines are November 1 for the Early Decision I deadline and December 1 for the Early Decision II deadline. For students applying under the non-binding Regular Decision program, January 20 is the interview deadline for Regular Decision I and March 20 is the interview deadline for Regular Decision II. The interview is an excellent opportunity for an admissions counselor to get to know the student better.
Do you have recommendations on recommendation letters?
In regards to the recommendation letters, you have a few options. You can instruct the individuals sending letters to mail the letters directly to our Office of Admissions with the student’s full name included in the context of the letter:
Office of Admissions
Grove City College
100 Campus Drive
Grove City, PA 16127
You can also ask the recommenders to place the letter in a sealed envelope and give it to you personally. You can then send these recommendation letters along with your other application materials. If sending the letters via mail becomes cumbersome, the recommenders may also send the recommendation letters via email to admissions@gcc.edu.
In composing the letters (one spiritual and one academic), the recommenders may address the document to our Vice President for Student Recruitment, Lee Wishing.
Is there an advantage to applying Early Decision? If so, what is it?
The main advantage in applying via this “binding” agreement (Early Decision or ED): peace of mind. Early Decision is set up for students who have conducted extensive research and who know that Grove City College is their #1 choice. Students applying under Early Decision must be ready to commit financially as well. In general, I recommend that if a student’s decision to attend Grove City College is based solely on their financial package, they should wait to apply via Regular Decision. The early decision process simply allows students to know in advance if they are accepted and commit to Grove City!
How far are classes from the residence halls?
The campus is 180 acres and easy to get around. Your classes are all nearby (if not in the same building), and the academic buildings are located near the residence and dining halls. Take a virtual tour and check out our campus map.
Do you have any missions programs that students can do during the summer? If so, which ones and to where?
Yes, we have many students who are heavily involved in outreach programs, both near campus, across the country, and abroad. Through Inner City Outreach trips, over 200 students serve on short-term mission trips over academic breaks in areas as close as Pittsburgh and as far away as Guam, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Red Box GO trips are more extensive mission experiences that are funded by the College. About eight students (typically rising seniors) are selected through an interview and application process and then spend their summer serving abroad with a missionary or program that aligns with their gifts and interests. Our pre-med students also serve underprivileged areas on medical mission trips to places such as Kenya, Russia, Papua New Guinea, and Mexico. Find out more about studying abroad and missions opportunities, and view our campus ministry organizations.
What is the Christian mission of Grove City College? How is it demonstrated?
The Christian environment at Grove City College is something that permeates life on campus—in academics, social life, residential life, and campus organizations. As an un-denominational institution, Grove City College has students and faculty from many different denominational backgrounds, all seeking the Truth and encouraging each other to more fully know God and love our neighbors.
Our classes are taught from a Christian perspective, meaning that there is a foundation in absolute truth, and professors incorporate relevant Scripture and personal experience. It is our belief, since the College’s mission is broadly evangelical rather than sectarian, that the basic essentials of the Christian faith should be our emphasis. For that reason, our focus is upon two basic tenets: personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and, secondly, belief that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God. Many institutions require specific and detailed faith statements, extending from soteriology to eschatology, in keeping with their institutional missions. Grove City College, however, being more inclusive in its mission, gives its faculty liberty of conscience apart from those two key doctrinal points. Hence, we have some Arminians on the faculty and some Calvinists. We have some pre-millennialists and some post-millennialists, etc. Yet, all are one in Christ Jesus. We have found that far from loosening our grip on the Faith that our approach has promoted harmony and collaboration on our campus.
Socially, our students are committed to certain standards of conduct, including living in on-campus, single-sex residence halls all four years, attending at least 16 chapel services a semester (with chapel being offered on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and on Sunday evenings), and adhering to a zero-tolerance drug and alcohol policy. As a broadly evangelical College, Grove City College also believes that a student’s relationship with Christ best governs his or her behavior, and, for that reason, many decisions are left to the students. Grove City College does not, for instance, have a dress code, entertainment code, or music code.
The students at Grove City College are typically Christ-centered students who are serious about academics and equally committed to growing in their faith. For that reason, many of our students are involved in Bible studies, discipleship groups with community mentors, and accountability partnerships with upperclassmen. Our students are also active in a wide array of ministry and service groups, from Young Life and Prison Ministry to Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Warriors for Christ—a student-led worship service that brings together many students every Thursday night in the chapel for a time of worship and prayer.