Just want advice on applying to be an ra. What things did you say in the invterview/video, how strict of a process is it (do they call all of your references, vibe of the interview, etc) and what the training was like.

When is online orientation?

Hi! I'm an incoming MBA student at CMU Michigan starting January 2025, looking for a roommate or a room near campus in December 2024. I’m clean, friendly, and organized. DM or comment me if you're interested!

Looking for a concrete porch goose.

I'm a 5th year in a PhD program (with an accepted MA from a different program) where my stipend got cut from $14k in my first two years (2020-2022) with a 24 credit hour tuition waiver that academic year all the way down to $7k with the same tuition waiver (2022-2023 before I lost funding in 2023-2024 after my program was paid off. Then, I worked a full time visiting instructor position. I was originally going to adjunct at two other universities) due to budget cuts to the department. I was discouraged by my current advisor to apply for jobs as well. Yet, other students seemed to be getting outside jobs left and right to survive (including me). I'm glad I didn't listen to my advisor since I got outside employment that built my CV and resume.

For everyone else though, how are you all surviving? I've had DMs from folks who've told me they had to borrow from family (with the expectation they'd be paid back), friends, partners/spouses, etc. I'm seriously curious since all doctoral students are discouraged from getting outside employment, yet it seems like everyone I've known got an outside job despite how tough it is to get one right now. Doubly so if they're in a diverse group like mine (neurodivergent folks), who bomb interviews and they often turn to academia for security that CMU isn't providing sadly.

ETA: For those wondering, I'm living with my parents in a different state now where they're not charging me for rent or utilities since data collection for my dissertation is done. I also have fellowship funding I haven't touched at all. Sadly though, I have no income to get the maximum interest rate on my savings. My loans are under SAVE, which is in forbearance until February before I must start paying them back. I also spent over $10k of my $56k salary (before taxes and other deductions like health insurance) last academic year and up until now on medical treatments so my savings ($18k) are drying up as we speak. Which is a big reason I'm posting this now. I also had to reject another full time lecturer position since it would've had me do in-person commitments to service without a support system in that area at all.

Hello all! I'm currently attending a 2 year Vet Tech program and I'm hoping to transfer over to CMU after I receive my AAS to pursue a bachelor's degree. If I choose to major in Pre-Veterinary Medicine, what does that program deal with? Would that give me a B.S. in Pre-Vet Med or would I have to just take supplementary courses and declare a different major like biology? Any comment helps out !

I am a transfer who has my associates who was just accepted to Central Michigan, I will be traveling out of state to get there, what residence hall is the best one

Looks like Flixbus launched a new service to Detroit. It's pretty cheap and quick.

Hi everyone! 👋

I’m an incoming international student for the Spring 2025 MS in Information Systems program and would love to connect with current or past students. I’m curious about:

• Your experiences with CMU and the program.
• How the job market looks for graduates.
• Any tips for a new international student.

I’m also exploring housing options like Village at Blue Grass and Casa Loma Apartments. Any recommendations or advice on these or other places would be super helpful!

Looking forward to hearing from you all. 😊

I am currently looking at apartments for 2025-2026. Can anyone speak on Cooper Beach, Reserve at Mount Pleasant, casa Loma, and the lofts on Brookfield. Recommendation, who to avoid. I will be coming from Montana. Thank you in advance

I am thinking of going to Central next year and I’m wondering how the music program is. Some pros and cons. What your classes are and what they’re like. Thanks!

Hey all, I am looking to move to the area, and I was hoping for some recommendations on decent places for a late 20 something to potentially live?

Literally sounds like a slogan for a kindergarten. “We do” fingerpaintings. “We do” arts and crafts.

No wonder enrollment has been declining for nearly a decade straight when the marketing materials make it seem like a school for neanderthals. The university should fire their marketing staff and demand a refund from whatever agency replaced “fire up” for that trash.

Looking ahead to next semester - how is MTH 113 Math: A Modeling Approach? I’m an online student and graduated from HS almost 20 years ago. Algebra has long since been forgotten so I thought maybe this would be a better choice? Any insight? Thanks!!

Me!! I'm excited start fall 2025 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

I applied for CMU today and I am so scared. What should I do? What are usual red flags people submit when they get denied?

Just something that's been on my mind for a while, especially after I saw this a while ago: https://www.cmich.edu/news/details/research-funding-up-48-percent-in-new-record

$299k for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is not a lot of money, especially since the most popular undergrad major (Psychology) is within that college.

I got a fellowship myself, but I'll never forget my advisor nearly telling me to NOT go through with it despite the jobs those fellows got after graduation to fulfill service requirements. In fact, I actually got my service fulfilled via an outside teaching gig I took last academic year and maxed out on the service I can get before I graduate.

Why do so many departments discourage applying? Especially since getting that sort of funding can build a CV (and a resume potentially) for both the student and faculty? I'd like to know.

I absolutely love the food in the Merrill mobile order place, especially since being in Sweeney is close by. How do they change their menu around? Some stuff they keep permanently (the burgers, chicken tenders, milkshakes, etc) but I was wondering if there's a voting system to bring certain things in? I LOVED their spicy crispy chicken sandwich and I haven't seen it in months. Just was wondering if anyone knew how the system worked!

Hi everyone, went here from 2014-2016. Does anyone happen to know where I could find the recipe for the Mac and cheese soup from the RFOC days? Nothing hits the same as this exact recipe

Hello! I submitted my application for the centralis scholarship and was wondering what past acceptees and current prospects had for grades and the creative piece. I had a 4.04 and a 1290 and used a coding project for my creative piece.

Thank you!

i applied to CMU barely two weeks ago. that was fast!

Hey y'all I am a transfer student coming from Texas and I received a financial aid package. I was quoted 14000s but with my scholarship it bumped it to 12000s is that price range to be expected for one semester or is that for a school year fall and spring.

Hi, I am currently looking for a roommate to renew my lease at Jamestown Apartments for the spring 2025 semester. The apartment is Two Beds and One Bath, and is on the top floor. I plan to renew the lease in December. Feel free to ask any questions and I will answer to the best of my ability

Hi! I'm a current high school senior who was just accepted into CMU. I am trying to decide between committing to OU (Oklahoma university) or CMU. I was wondering a bit about the meteorology program. What is it like? Is it a good program? Also, how is the school as a whole? What is the atmosphere like? Is there a lot of stuff to get involved in?

Thanks in advance!

In the fall of 2017 I visited a dear friend for 10 days who had moved to Arkansas. We had grown so close over 13 years that I named one of my children after her (same middle name). During my visit, I was made aware of a topic in her family life that tugged on my heart so much that I chose to bring my concerns about how it was being handled to her. My mantra for the many days we on and off again discussed the topic was “But Jesus”. The day before I was scheduled to go home we were discussing it one more time. This time things got heated on her end after I had the audacity to point out the Bible to her. Then she said something that shut the conversation down and rocked my world. I didn’t quite get the gravity in that moment, but slowly it sunk in over the coming hours, days, weeks, and months. It caused me to rethink everything about our friendship and the church. That day in her attempt to show me how much closer to God she was, or maybe just to put me in my place; I’m not really sure. Either way she told me that in the beginning (and maybe the whole time, I don’t know) that the church had assigned her to me, so I should not be trying to teach anything to her, it was she who was meant to teach me. You see my lifestyle & beliefs put the church and it’s a message at risk because of my worldly upbringing. She had been assigned to me to keep tabs and keep me in line. Think preemptive damage control. 

I was quiet the remaining hours of my visit, then hugged her and said goodbye at the airport the next day. I made the choice to go no contact for a few days while I wrapped my head around everything that was said. Then one question turned to another and another and the next thing I know a few months had passed and I still had not spoken with her since the goodbye at the airport. No calls or texts. I was still wrapping my head around it all. About 6 months passed and I finally felt led to reach out and discuss some of the things that had me spinning and had kept me quiet.  I spent the next few weeks praying about what to say and not to say. I wanted a conversation and answers, but I also wanted to honor God in it all. Then right when I was about to reach out, a story about the church caught media attention and I knew that I couldn’t reach out at that moment because she would never believe my heart. In hindsight that was a good decision because years later I found out that she had actually blamed me to some people for the whole media hubbub and thought I instigated it because of the things she said that day. Nope. Not me. I wasn’t brave enough to discuss my story publicly, and I haven’t been until now. 

Some quick hind story. We had met at the church in 2004, and even though some years later she moved out of state, she still kept her church email and stayed weirdly in contact with the church leadership while she built a new life in Arkansas with her husband and daughters. She even sang with the worship team any time they visited, and rented their house out to members of the church for years. Shortly after we met I went on bedrest for 19 weeks. I knew the church had asked her to coordinate full time care and meals for our family. We had a 2 & 5 year old and then this baby on the way. I was at risk of hemorrhaging because of a placental abruption so we needed help getting the kids to and from school, cleaning the house, and some meals while my husband was at work Mon-Fri. As well as someone to hang with me to make sure I stayed flat and didn’t bleed to death. This is how I thought we built our friendship; through these many hours together. Some who are familiar with the church may be wondering why I was assigned to her vs being cast out and asked not to return like so many others. I firmly believe this is because the church was trying to "save face". You see, unbeknownst to our family at the time, in the 6-10mths prior to me being assign to her, the church began defending its first round of rumors that it was a cult based on allegations of asking people to leave, call of weddings less than a month before the ceremony, refusing to marry others that did not fit their perfect Christian vision, and various other controlling behavior. My husband and I were actually one of those couples who were refused a wedding at the church because it was the second marriage for us both, and we each came to the table with a daughter of our own, but that’s another story for another day. 

When it came to the church I had always known something felt off about what we were taught and would joke about it being cult-ish. For example one day the leadership said we as a congregation needed to be more intentional and God led with our time. Everyone, and I mean everyone ran out to buy a planner that week. Next thing you know if you were not asking 2 months in advance no one would ever be available because they hadn’t had time to pray about it being God intended time. Then about 6 months later in service a leader said that people were being too legalistic with their time and not leaving room for God to move in the moment. By that time I had been trying to convince my husband to leave so I had been pointing some “weird things” out to him. During that very message, I leaned over and whispered, “you watch by next weekend no one will have a planner”. Sure enough, you couldn’t get anyone to plan anything. Not even to accept free tickets for a Christian concert the following weekend when our daughter was in the hospital. Why, because what if God leads me to something else that day and I have scheduled something and now I could miss a God movement in my life. There were other things as well, but it took years after we left to start unpacking those things and there just isn’t enough time for that story today. Thankfully our family left that church in 2010, but it wasn’t until the events of 2017 that really had me rethinking every aspect. 

As the media fallout happened early the summer of 2018, I kept quiet, but read through the online posts, watched the media coverage, and kept an eye on the private group chats I had been added to. I realized that my gut feelings and experiences were not just mine. That’s when I really started diving deeper into what the church was about and our experiences. It was so much deeper than I imagined. I have spent the last few years reexamining what I believed about my faith, my God, what was and wasn’t true, who I was as a mother, a wife, and as a friend. 

For starters I had always thought the church was strict, and that some of their beliefs I didn't resonate with; especially raising daughters. But it wasn't until then that I realized the church was not God led and was probably an actual cult. Not the Charles Manson or Kool-Aid drinking kind of cult that most people think of, but it was a cult. As a matter of fact based on my research I have believed for a long time the church we attended was directly tied to the IBLP (Institute of Basic Life Principles) and Bill Gothard himself. Now some are probably thinking, but the majority of the women wore pants, some had jobs, no one wore funny matching pilgrim style clothes, etc. To that say, nevertheless for the past few years as I have been researching what we were taught and some of what has come out in the world about the IBLP. I believed it was an IBLP “covert” church. Same messages and practices just watered down to meet us as a community where we were at. The church didn’t start that “weird or strict” it slowly added more and more over time to align themselves with the Gothard doctrine. Also, within the church there were “levels of buy in”. Some gave every penny and moment they had to the church, but stayed single. Some worked even though they were a mother and wife and sent their kids to public school. While others homeschooled all 6-10 of their children and never spoke above a whisper. We had 5 children (plus one miscarriage) and probably would have had more if it had not been so dangerous to my health. The church was great and meeting you where you were at and then building from there as much as they could until you either broke and submitted completely to God's will or left the church and were excommunicated to the point that people in Meijer would turn the other way if an “apostate” walked down the same grocery aisle as them. That's why I call it "Covert IBLP", because it wasn't the stereotypical IBLP. The leadership always agreed their religion was strict, but was quick to point out they were not as crazy as what we have all heard about in the news or watched on 19 Kids and Counting. Plus, didn’t you want to be a Jesus Freak?

Part of the reason I have felt the church was tied to the IBLP was based on the fact that many of the literature and teachings have been exposed over the last few years as original IBLP teachings. For example, all women soon to be married or already married (before attending the church) were given copies of “Created to be His Help Meet” by Michael and Debbie Pearl. All women about to have children (or those who had children before coming to the church) were given copies of “How To Train a Up Child” also by the Pearl’s. I remember women leaders teaching about the “characteristic qualities of Christian” and passed out the charts for us to keep in our bibles. Some leaders would check to see which God principle laid on you that day/week or forced you to keep a journal they were allowed to read. Leadership regularly taught about the “umbrella of protection” and so many more examples it would take hours to name. If you had coffee or dinner for the time with someone the "normal" first get to know you question was "Tell me about your faith journey". Then there was the time I met the Duggar family on a different visit to Arkansas and went to their home to learn from Michelle.

In my very private and selective discussions over the last couple of years, some people have asked if maybe the church wasn’t IBLP but rather, borrowed some of the IBLP’s literature or material that also met their narrative. I have always acknowledged that as a possibility, but said that it all seemed too coincidental. Then today, cleaning out our storage room I found the final piece of evidence I will ever need to connect the dots from The Young Church aka The New Grace aka Grace Church in Mt Pleasant, Michigan directly to Bill Gothard himself and the IBLP. This week while cleaning out our storage room I found a book Gothard wrote. Not only did I find a copy of one of his books, but it was signed by him with a personalized message written. I had always thought Gothard looked familiar, but was that because of the media coverage on the IBLP or because I had met him? So much of my time at the church was a blur of traumatic memories. However, here it was; physical proof that Gothard at some point had visited the church or been at one of the retreats I attended and had given me his book. This proves to all the naysayers, but more importantly proves my gut was right all this time. It is oddly satisfying to be validated yet also sickening that for years I raised my 5 daughters following that man’s principles. Principles that inevitably left our family broken while we sought out God's real truths amongst the quicksand of self-serving patriarchic teachings they shoveled in simultaneously.

As for that “friend”, we have never spoken again. With God's help I have come to the realization that I WAS 100% her friend, and there were tidbits of real God spoken truths through knowing her that did bring me closer to Jesus. I am honored that she helped lead me to Christ, and that my daughter shares her name. I am also glad she helped baptize me, and I proudly display the plaque I received to memorialize the day. Why, because my heart was real and pure when I made those choices. Yes, I feel this way even knowing she was never MY friend. I feel this way knowing the truth that I was no more than an assignment from the church's leadership that she discarded the moment she realized I was a “jezebel who strayed from God” and that she no longer had control of my thoughts and life’s direction. I have heard (it's rumors only) that she still lives on the compound I once visited her at in Arkansas, and has a slew of “believers” living on the property that she leads with her visions from God all while having close contact with the church still to this day. Although I have zero human desire to have her in my life again, I am thankful for the time she was in my life.

And the church? It still practices today smack dab in the middle of the main drag in town. They mostly are still preying on young families who are looking for something “missing”  in their lives or they prey on unsuspecting college students at CMU who happen to stumble in their building on their hunt for a caffeine boost. To be clear, I don’t know if the leadership actually bought in 100% of what Gothard teaches and they truly thought they were doing God’s work, or if they actually knew everything they taught was not from God. On one hand I pray their hearts were and are in the right place even though the teachings are not. What I do know is I came to my real faith in the 6 years we attended the church, and I found some real God nuggets amongst the muck while there. Unfortunately those truths were few and far between or were so bastardized beyond recognition that many who escaped Grace Church have turned on God completely; which is heartbreaking.

I know I don’t have all the answers and I don’t have everything together. I probably still need to unlearn a lot of what was indoctrinated but I don’t realize its connection yet. Either way I have had to apologize for those that my ignorance alienated or hurt, especially my children as I realize the cult and its teachings for what it was. As for today, I feel lighter than I ever have.

#GraceChurchExposed #IBLP #GraceChurch #TheNewGrace #TheYoung Church #HowIRealizedIWasInACult #SpeakUp #IFoundMyVoiceFinally

I'm a prospective transfer student majoring in physics and minoring in chemistry. How's central's physics department? I plan on doing a doctorate in computational physics, not at cmu, so I would like to get a few graduate level courses in in my senior year if possible. How big is the department? If there's only a dozen other students, grad and undergrad levels, then likely I'll look elsewhere, I don't mind a school that's run on a shoestring budget but I do mind when they cut corners that negativly impact students. I got into U of M but if I go there my entire senior year will be paid for with debt and I'm not eager to do that. As of now central and U of M are the two schools I'm giving the most consideration to.

Hi everyone! If you don't mind please take the time to take my survey for my capstone so I can graduate lol. The survey shouldn't take any longer than 5 minutes out of your day if that.

https://cmich.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8A1kxvTmuS2AkXs