College Tour: Palm Beach Atlantic University

This weekend, my family and I had the opportunity to participate in Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Preview Day. It was a great chance to learn more about this Christian college.  

The Basics 

Palm Beach Atlantic is a private, interdenominational Christian University located in West Palm Beach, Florida. They also have a second, smaller campus in Orlando. There are about 3,704 students total (on both campuses and online).  

The Christian Aspect 

PBA’s motto is enlightening minds, enriching souls, and extending hands. For enlightening minds, they strive to have a strong curriculum and Christian professors. For enriching souls, they have a chapel program with a required number of credits each semester. And for extending hands, they have a “workship” program, which requires students to spend 45 hours a year doing community service. They want to build students who are knowledgeable about the Bible, have a heart for God, and are excited to help others. 

While we were there, I was very happy to hear them talk frequently about their Christian community. I sat through a mock class in which the professor talked about Genesis 1. They also had posters around campus displaying the verse of the year, Philippians 4:6. 

The entrance of PBA’s Chapel

Academics 

Palm Beach Atlantic seems to follow the classical method in how they approach their academics, especially in their honors program. The honors program promotes round-table style discussion and emphasizes the study of great books, some of the same ones studied in Wilson Hill’s Great Conversation classes. 

They also have a wide variety of majors, including business administration (one degree of which includes an entrepreneurship and small business concentration), computer science, Biblical studies, and philosophy, to name a few. They have the highest accreditation for a business school in America. 

There are also 3+2 programs for a student to obtain a master’s degree in 5 years instead of 6. Some of the majors that offer this opportunity are business administration, philosophy, and politics.

Student Life 

PBA is a NCAA Division II school, with 18 sports. Some of these include tennis, golf, track, and lacrosse. They also offer a handful of intramural sports and student clubs.  

Two types of housing on campus include suite-style and Jack-and-Jill style dorms. The suite style has 4 rooms with two people each sharing one double-sized bathroom. The Jack-and-Jill style 2 rooms with two people each sharing one regular bathroom.

PBA’s Verse of the year in the library 

Scholarships and Admissions 

Palm Beach offers academic merit scholarships that are based on GPA and ACT/SAT scores, and the amounts vary. There is also a yearly $2500 scholarship for being part of the honors program. There are also a variety of other scholarships offered based on test scores, GPA, community service, and the area of study you will be going into.  

Palm Beach Atlantic University seems like a wonderful college, and they were very Christian-oriented. They also support the classical method and seem homeschool-friendly, which was a great benefit as well. I really enjoyed my time at the preview day.