Eckerd College

I will never forget my awful time there at EC. I came all the way from upstate NY excited to study marine biology only to find out this was just another mini version of high school, or a high school of "hippies". I came for their summer program before the actual term began where you took your choice of one course to take all day every day kinda thing. It was very bizarre and hard to choose just one from the huge selection of courses they offered. It felt like I was at summer camp. The people were immature, clicky, rude and close minded. I remember the recycling bins were always overflowing with beer cans and pot being smoked all the time. Sometimes I could smell it in my room..which was on the second floor. The paryting was ridiculous, people were so into gossip. Way too much. The guys I talked to were slimey and disgusting, treated women with NO respect, like meat. One girl got raped at a party while I was there...def made me feel real safe. Pot was always smoked at those nasty picnic tables. Drugs always around. If you didnt fit into their "hippie" style you really were just not noticed. I stayed in my dorm a lot, thankfully my roommate lived close by so I had it to myself. The dorms are disgusting, they shouldn't even be allowed for students to live in there anymore, the bathroom is so awful. I didn't even feel clean after showering, the shower curtain was a tiny piece of plastic. Having a co-ed dorm is also a llittle not okay, DEF not a good idea. I remember one kid and I getting into a serious argument about the army, def a "liberal" school haha not so liberal when there is no openness at all.

Good school for marine science, but the professors were bland and rude.
You need to stay on point with your studies to succeed and not goof or party off all the time like everyone else. Its hard not to get pressured or bored.

St. pete is beautiful, you need a car to get around anywhere if not you are locked into the campus its very tiring after a while. You tend to see the same people all the time and know everything that goes on wit heveryone...again high school scene. Rich yuppie faux hippies from the Hamptons???and elsewere really?! hahaha.

I stole a bio book from there once...he never even knew it was gone haha.
wouldn't reccommed it. too expensive for what they offer.
if you like the whole sublime-trippy-fake hippie rich kid scene go right ahead.
too much pot really made some kids lose education not gain it.glad i got out ASAP!!!

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

I went to Eckerd as a freshman and transferring was the best decision I ever made. I just graduated from another college--I had a job all set up for me. For the past 2 years at this other school, I was required to spent at least 2000 hours interning and working in my field of choice in order to graduate, and that doesn't include the professional associations that I am now apart of, and the network I have built.

And then I step back and take very, very serious consideration of the type of education I would have had at Eckerd. What an absolute joke! It blows my mind how, in the economy we are in, people are lining up for stuff like this. I paid at least a quarter for what it would have cost me to go to Eckerd WITH scholarship, than it did for me to go to a public university and get real world training. I have worked so hard towards building a resume before graduation and I STILL feel like I am behind!

If you are at Eckerd and you are not getting a degree in marine biology, you are in for a very rude awakening after graduation.

The school does not foster creativity, or open-mindedness. It especially does not foster personal or professional growth. At Eckerd, a person's value is based on whether or not you agree with certain liberal views. While I'm not a strict conservative, this really was off-putting to me. And I understand that there are drugs at every college, but at Eckerd it is not just present, it's encouraged. There really is no order there. The school I ended up transferring to had a lot of drugs too, but it was NOT encouraged the way it is at Eckerd. The result was a bigger school with less crime.Nothing wrong with not wanting a corporate job... hell, I'm not working a corporate job. I'm doing something that I love doing. But in order to get there, it required learning how to function at an adult level, and this is something that you will not get at Eckerd. I am currently working in Saint Petersburg with a few Eckerd graduates, and the lack of professionalism shows quite a bit. I hate to sound pretentious, but it's the truth. Save your pennies and go somewhere else. You won't regret it.

1st Year Female -- Class 2011

Faculty Accessibility: B-, Collaboration/Competitive: F

I HATE this school. I hate the people who attend and the faculty. Eckerd was supposed to be the place where students get the one on one time they want from a small college. What you get are self absorbed professors who only like you if you kiss their ass and stroke their ideals. They are not helpful in any manner. I go to class EACH AND EVERY DAY literally LOATHING to go. I cannot stand these people. If you dont smoke pot and you are not a liberal you will not fit in. The professors will actually smoke pot and encourage it among students. If you love your open minded strong willed child DO NOT send them here. All you will get are huge loan debt and a broken spirit. Being strong willed is frowned upon here, especially when your ideals are not what the professor believes. Eckerd College to me should be shut down and 4 years ago when the college was in the red and going broke they started accepting students with below average IQs just to stay afloat. Eckerd should not be a real college for this fact.

4th Year Female -- Class 2012