Correction from above: SATs were 2090.
I will most likely be transferring next semester. I was a politics major, but have switched to English/Secondary Education. There are a few problems I have with this school.Diversity: D. ANY diversity you see in promotional materials is staged. There are few students of color, asians, latinos, or foreign students. Almost all students are white, upper middle class, Catholic, and from suburban Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Because of this, in classes, there is little variety in viewpoint or past experience. The lack of diversity translates into a lack of opportunity to truly grow as a college student.
Religion: I don't feel that I can give an accurate grade, as this is entirely personal. When I toured Saint Anselm and went to prospective student events, the religious aspect of the school was heavily downplayed. In reality, there is a large theology requirement in the core curriculum, but more importantly, the Catholic perspective is pervasive in virtually every class. The Humanities program, while fantastic in theory, carries an enormous Catholic bias, and includes such units as "The Prophet" and, "The Convert", both of which contain primarily Catholic texts, rather than creating an exploration of world religions.
Core: C. The core is very large, and with curriculum changes coming next year, it sounds like it will be getting larger.
Handicap Accessibility: D-. Though many buildings have elevators, almost all of them have stairs leading to the doors-- making the campus completely handicap inaccessible. More so, NONE of the freshman dorms have handicap showers. The campus is not crutch or wheelchair friendly.
The food is good. I would say 90% of the faculty are pretty excellent. Put aside any rumors of a dry campus. There are pretty big parties in uppers every single weekend, and it seems as though people are transported to the hospital about that often. I will say that the alcohol culture on campus is fairly healthy in that peer pressure is practically non-existent. The problem then is that there is nothing else to do. All in all, I can understand why other people would be happy at Saint Anselm. Simply put, I am not.
Articles
