I'm gonna start off by saying that I consider myself "quite bright" compared to most people I've met (not just in Arcadia. life in general).Not comparing myself to other people - I consider myself a little above average, but nothing too spectacular.
(I didn't visit the school before going. big mistake.)
That being said, I'll let you decide what to think of my review.
I was going to try to make this a neutral review but aside from the few friends I made, there's nothing really good about it.
This school is great if you want to study abroad.
If you DO decide to study abroad, do it your FIRST semester!
It's really affordable for Freshmen. (I'd like to say cheap but I'm poor)
I went for a semester, hated it and transferred.
I didn't study abroad.
First thing I noticed about the school was the obvious - girls everywhere and nearly everyone was white (like 15 black people).
Their "diversity" comes from the LGBT community which is mostly lesbians.
This school has almost NO guys, and if you do see a cute guy, he's probably gay.
DON'T get me wrong! I'm VERY open-minded but they acted as if they were cooler and better than straight people.
I remember being at an assembly and hearing two girls' conversation about how disgusting straight people are.
I'm straight and that was offensive.
I was actually already in a relationship during my time at Arcadia so I didn't care, but if I wasn't I'd care A LOT.
Moving on.
"Let?s talk about the social life again? NO SOCIAL LIFE AT ALL!!! I?m not looking for parties and people running around drunk, etc. but people at AU are super wack. They don't communicate and the school is just way to clique-y. Arcadia is good if you plan to study abroad and if you would like to become a PT. The school is extremely expensive ($43,000 yr), it's a little bit unprofessional, and the activities are corny."
I HAD to quote this review because it was on point (except for the parts I omitted about the people smelling weird and dressing weird. I guess everyone just smelled like smoke. (and I'm from NY so people who dress weird are practically invisible to me).
The activities SUCKED. They were so lame I don't know how to begin describing them.
Every time I went to an event, there was barely anyone there, and everyone that WAS there had their own group of friends (I had my own group of friends too but I like to put myself in other people's shoes so work with me here)
I remember going to French club and there was barely anyone there. It was totally unorganized to the point that it ceased to exist. Lame.
I'm a relatively shy person and I choose my friends carefully which is probably why I always make lifelong friends wherever I go. Even if it is only 3-5 people.
I like fake people as much as the next guy and Arcadia was full of them (but I guess that's everywhere)
The academics weren't really challenging. It was a toss between teachers giving you a lot of work and teachers giving you a hard time but pretending to be really strict.
I DON'T mind a lot of work, mean...it's college. BUT it should be somewhat difficult.
I'll give examples.
My English class: I'm REALLY good in this subject. I always get B's because I never revise my work but my professor was kind of a jerk.
For instance, if you forgot your textbook you were marked absent, like this was high school or something. I actually did forget my textbook ONCE but I'm a good kid (I read all the required work) so, after excusing myself to go cry in the bathroom for 2 minutes, I participated.
I got an A on one of my papers and he said "I now see what you're capable of so if you get anything lower than a B, I'm going to fail you."
I must have gotten a B on the final paper because I got a C in the class.
Did I fight it? Nope. I'm shy and not spectacular.
My International Business class: I learned NOTHING.
This class was a bunch of rude morons (this one girl was busy complaining to her friend that her mom wouldn't let her bring all of her Tiffany's Jewelry to school. OH THE HORROR.)
They gave the teacher a hard time by not answering her questions and making faces like they just REALLY didn't want to be there.
This is where I hated myself for being shy. Sometimes shy people come off as stuck-up, unapproachable and stand-offish. I think I contributed to this poor teacher's awkward teaching moments. There were plenty of people in that class who knew the subject but didn't participate because they didn't want to look "uncool."
Lame.
This school cared more about their study abroad program students than those of us that stayed behind.
Their marketing strategy is studying abroad for a good reason. That's the ONLY good thing it has.
Those of us that stayed behind.....the academics weren't too great, the activities sucked and so did the food.
The food was AWFUL.
Whenever the school was getting visitors, EVERYONE flocked the cafeteria because that was the ONLY time there was good food.
They reuse food like crazy.
Example: We had mozzarella sticks once. One day later, they were between some buns like a burger or something (I dunno what they called it) and a day after that, they were cut up into pieces for the chicken Parmesan or something. It was weird and not tasty at all.
I remember two students staring at food saying
"What do you think it is?"
"I dunno....uhhh...what do you call this?"
I didn't know what it was either and I forgot what the lunch lady said it was. I guess we'll call it Arcadia.
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