When Ingelise Andersen declined her acceptance to Hillsdale for greater scholarship elsewhere, she didn’t expect to face bullying from her peers and disagreement with her professors. 

Andersen was accepted to Hillsdale for the fall 2024 semester, but opted for Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, due to its generous scholarship offers. But it wasn’t until after moving to campus, Andersen said, that she realized Augustana didn’t align with her expectations. 

“The environment of the school was not friendly,” Andersen said. “They claim to be a Christian private school, but their Christian beliefs did not align with mine and they were changing a lot of things I did not think should be changed.”

Andersen said she met with the dean at Augustana and even switched roommates, but she still had to deal with the same hostile environment. Ultimately, she wrote to Hillsdale’s admissions director and was able to transfer. 

Emma Kalaydjian began her freshman year at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, but visited Hillsdale this past summer and decided to transfer. 

She said she was also considering the University of Michigan at the time, but her tour experience swayed her toward Hillsdale. 

“I feel like at this school they really value education and see it as not just getting a degree — that’s how a lot of other schools approach it,” Kalaydjian said.

On her tour, Kalaydjian said she met Associate Dean of Men Jeffrey Rogers who asked her what other schools she was considering.

“I said ‘University of Michigan,’ and he replied, ‘Oh, that school is crazy.’ He was very open and honest, which I thought was nice.”

Ella Kulhawick and Rebekah Lashaway, who transferred from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, and Northwest State Community College in Archbold, Ohio, respectively, said Hillsdale was their original choice. 

Both applied to Hillsdale hoping to enter in the fall 2024 semester, but were not accepted the first time. They reapplied for the spring 2025 semester while at their other colleges and were accepted. 

Kulhawick, who plans to major in history and minor in classical education, said she knew she wanted to go to Hillsdale after participating in its high school distance learning program. 

Since arriving, she said she has noticed differences in the student cultures at Hillsdale and Ashland. While Hillsdale students are often comfortable leaving their belongings unguarded, Kulhawick said that Ashland students were much more worried about theft.

“We had a few people who were losing pants out of the laundry room—jeans were getting stolen,” Kulhawick said.

Lashaway is studying music and said she values Hillsdale’s holistic approach to education.

“I feel like no matter what I’m going to do as a career, I’ll be prepared,” Lashaway said.

Like Andersen, freshman Ava King originally chose another school over Hillsdale, but transferred to Hillsdale this spring. 

King attended Hillsdale Academy for high school, but said she chose Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio with the hope of growing in her faith. But a few weeks in, she said, she began to reconsider. 

“Even though I was being formed in my faith, I didn’t feel like I was being formed as a student and learning to love education,” she said.

While Franciscan is comparable in size to Hillsdale, King said it did not offer the kind of experience she was looking for.

“I didn’t have any relationships with my professors, so my education experience was not personal at all,” King said. 

Israel Gentry said he also encountered diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and progressive ideology at his school, Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma. 

“It was unfortunate to see a Christian university push that,” Gentry said. “But at Hillsdale I see a desire to pursue truth, while at Southern Nazarene there was a limit to the type of questions you could ask before you were shut down by professors.” 

Gentry spent three semesters studying biochemistry and acknowledges Southern Nazarene’s impressive science department. He said he hopes to pursue an education more strongly focused in the humanities at Hillsdale.

Anistyn Foster, who transferred from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, did not know about Hillsdale until this past winter break. As a Division I softball player, she was affected by the NCAA’s decision to decrease their roster sizes, Foster said, and began to look for a college to transfer to the following semester.  Hillsdale’s head softball coach, Kyle Gross, reached out to her. Foster had the chance to visit campus and apply during break. 

“There was a lot of peace as soon as I came here — from the people, to the curriculum, and sports, as well,” Foster said.