Mercyhurst University

While this school is great, and I love being here... there are many issues with this place that aren't talked about.

One, parking is hell. They sell way more parking passes then there are places to park. And since students are required to live on campus this is a major problem that affects the entire student body, faculty and staff. In the next few years this problem is about to get a lot worse, due to the merge with Northeast coming up.

Two, while the food is often great, especially at the Grotto, most of the options are fried or greasy. It is hard to know what exactly is in the food, and athletes often complain that the options are too limited. If you have diet restrictions or allergies there is only one option for you, the Clean Plate with ZERO variety.

Three, the health care here is horrid. Yes, the health center and counseling center are free for students BUT when you go there, the help is very limited. They provide you with supplements and nasal spray. That's it. And then, theres counseling center. They are great at handling homesickness, minor depression, and generalized anxiety. But they advertise that they also address PTSD, major depression, eating disorders and such. However, when you come to the person who is supposed to counsel you on Title IX matters, they tell you it's your fault.

Also, the campus is extremely inaccessible for physically disabled individuals. The elevators are broken or breaking and there are barely any ramps. They only address two out of the thirteen categories of disability, that being autism and developmentally delayed. In addition to that, when you have a learning disability and are having trouble in classes they suggest you get a tutor and do not enforce adaptive curriculum. There is an ADA violation occurring right now that is not being addressed. Special needs professors have been lobbying for change for a decade and nothing has changed.

When you have IEP and 504, they provide you with regular resources that the campus already offers, there are no individualized resources for those who require that sort of thing. The campus in general is very ableistic. They do enough to get the label of a special needs inclusive college without actually doing the work.

Four, it advertises that it is extremely diverse. The Student union has all these flags representing all the countries international students are from, but you rarely see them around campus. These individuals are the hardest impacted by the insurance issues we have here, as they are often here on a scholarship and on an athletic team and do not have the funds for full coverage. Mercyhurst is below average in ethnic diversity nation wide. Racial diversity is also below average but real kicker here is 93% of professors are white.

Five, Mercyhurst is advertised as a liberal arts college but the art departments are extremely neglected. The art department is literally one hallway with two classrooms and one office for professors. The art therapy department has one classroom and one office. The dance department has two studios and no trainer. And then, there's the music department. You cannot join the music department if you are physically handicapped because there is no way for you to get downstairs. And every time there is a performance, you have to carry everything up three flights of stairs to the PAC.Over all, while Mercyhurst is an amazing school that I am proud to attend, it has several major problems that NEED to be addressed. It's amazing at projecting a great image and at doing everything to have good reputation. We have two events every weekend, and public speakers and performers from around the world. The campus is beautiful when you go through the front gates. The curriculum is great for neurotypical students, and discrimination of LGBTQ individuals is almost nonexistent. Money management is also horrible, they spend everything on comforts and for their image rather than necessities.

1st Year Female -- Class 1923

Education Quality: A+, Campus Maintenance: F

I'm on my third year, and I wish I never chose this place.
I'm an education major here on scholarship, and I'm only here because of scholarship. I chose this school due to several reasons, it's in my hometown, it's close to my home, I can commute, and scholarship. Due to health insurance reasons, I couldn't go out of state, so I decided to stay close to home.

I've had some really good professors, but most of my professors give me the run around, and try to "advise" me but, I end up feeling belittled. The Ed department is a joke. They love to brag about how they're in the top 50, but for me, I keep getting placed in daycares and pre-K, even though I've expressed interest in the older grades, or even special education. I'm not learning or doing anything that is going to be useful to me in schools. I'm almost halfway through my junior year, and I still don't now how to properly write an IEP, which is like the basics of being a special ed teacher. I've tried asking for advice on how to intervene with a unintelligible three year old, and the head of the department literally told me to have her point to shapes. The classes are the same regurgitated drabble we learned the year before, with nothing new or interesting added on. Then, the professors give us tests that pertain to nothing we learned, then wonders why we failed. I've had an Ed professor give back almost 10 points on a test because so many people did so bad. On top of that, for a very recent midterm, there was questions on the test that many of us didn't learn because we learned that in other classes, many of which we hadn't taken. Additionally, a rumor going around that two students, one who got a 100 and another who got a 98,these being the highest scores in the classes where everyone else got Cs and Ds, apparently helped the professor make the midterm. This was later confirmed by the students themselves, and no reprecussions were taken.

Secondly, I have an English minor in creative writing. That process, as a whole, was abysmal to go through. I tried to drop a class and replace it, and both my advisors had no clue what to do. I ended up figuring it out myself because both of them basically said "go deal with it". Secondly, niether of my advisors caught wind that I haven't done Beyond the Gates yet, which is a credit I need to graduate, until I already registered for classes. So I got placed last minute. Thirdly, the one class I wanted to take for my minor isn't even available, which I was never informed of.

The Laker Inn has really good food that is reasonably priced, much better in comparison to the alternative options, Egan/Grotto Commons and Ryan. However, they decided to close the Laker down in the middle of this November in order to make it into a pub, while closing the previously open all night dining hall at 4 in the afternoon, forcing people who want dinner to go to the much worse, much more expensive Egan or Ryan. This was never communicated to the students, so if you have the meal plan for Dining Dollars, you're out of luck and have to pay upwards of 8 to 10 dollars for food at night. In the laker, they would let you sit there without purchasing anything. It was a great place to hang out and study, especially if you are a commuter. Now, we don't get the choice at night. Instead we have to swipe in at Egan or Ryan, waste 8 bucks, and maybe they'll have a cup of soup you enjoy.

Most of the people here are inherently snooty, rude, or arrogant. I have a nice little clique of friends, but outside of them, I can't stand the other students. If you don't belong, you feel it immediately, and it will be known to you by other students. Clubs are lackluster and don't really encourage you to attend, especially if you don't have a friend going in.Overall, I feel underprepared, underappreciated, and exhausted from running in circles trying to find something worthwhile about my education. I don't feel prepared to go into the real world, or even student teaching, at all. I wish I had chosen to go to a different school. This school is pretty, but don't judge a book by it's cover.

2nd Year Female -- Class 1922

Campus Aesthetics: A, Education Quality: F

I am from Erie. Born and raised here. I thought Mercyhurst would have been a great school to go to due to the fact that's it's a smaller school and thought small the better for a student to teacher ratio. I had some really great professors but for the most part they sucked. They were unreasonable, unreliable and did not care about anything or anyone but themselves. I have been stood up by professors on many occasions. I even sat and waited for a professor one time for over an hour. Sometimes I was unable to study after hours due to the professors not being around to ask questions.

I never ate the caf? food, I always packed my lunch or brought food with me (it was too expensive).

People there are very snobby, they are not open to talking to others unless they know you, if you're quite or shy for get it they won't give you the time of day. In my major no one even talked to me. My professors for my major were a waste, not helpful, did not help with getting classes. I got put into an Education class because there was nothing I could take at the time. I was NOT EVEN an EDUCATION MAJOR!!!

My biggest problem was this: On my fieldwork there was a miscommunication between my supervisor at my fieldwork and my professor at Mercyhurst which lead me not to graduate with my peers. I also had some issues with my professor talking bad about me behind my back to other staff and students.

I would not have ever waste my time or the money to attend this school. I felt that students should be number one. My major did not care weather I passed or failed my classes, they just wanted more money.

3rd Year Female -- Class 2014

Campus Maintenance: A-, Education Quality: F