The University of Memphis

The University of Memphis is a very bad University which just did not grown with the times. There was a prostitution ring being run out of the University Center for over 13 years before anyone stopped it, and I learned that from the University paper-you can look it up on the Daily Helmsman online if you do not believe me. The crime is scary because there is a ton of crime all throughout the University and its surrounding areas. Memphis has one of the highest murder rates in the nation, one of the highest rates of crimes against women in the nation, and the second worse unemployment rate in the nation-so really think of this if you want to come here.

A very fair amount of the faculty and staff do not have the kind of educational backgrounds one would expect at all. The lady who runs the Student Disability Services has a BA in DRAMA! And good luck obtaining any kind of help from her. And I know of at least one Literature professor who has absolutely no educational background at all in Literature.

Because there is, sadly and downright sinfully, a lot of self imposed institutionalised racism in Memphis- you will not really learn a lot as an undergrad if you have a humanities based major. I had countless Instructors tell the class that they are going to explain "X" concept as though the class was comprised of third graders. And, I have had countless Instructors read from the teachers manual of the textbook and dictate what will be on a test by reading from the test itself. The Instructors do this because there is a very low rate of literacy in Memphis and most of the Memphis High School grads have the equivalent of an eighth grade education.

There has been a lot of cheating going on in the public schools here, which has been reported by the local paper, where teachers have tried to cover up poor "No Student Left Behind" test scores in order to force students out of high schools with very bad academic skills.

This is a city which is collapsing in on itself because it is bankrupt and I really do not recommend coming here at all. You will learn things most folks learn at high school and be prepared to sit in classrooms made for thirty people which have up to forty five or fifty people crammed in them. The University of Memphis used to be called Memphis State and please do not let the name change fool you, it is still a PUBLIC university.

For financial reasons, the President of this University is obsessed with sports at the full expense of academics and everyone is paying a price for that. There is a Fed Ex Institute of Technology building which is a white elephant which cost all of us students a great deal because a lot of academic programs were cut so this building could exist for no real gainful reason. I think that this University needs a total overhaul from the President on down because it is apparently just a University for sports players to go to for free and for people who can barely read.

If you are a parent, please do not send your child here. It is too dangerous and you will be very behind when you go to grad school, trust me on this. Also prepared to have really weird charges pop up towards the end of the school year with no explanation. This school is too far gone and please go to CBU, Rhodes, or anywhere else but here please.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2010

Scholastic Success: A+, Education Quality: F

I attended the University of Memphis for two full years before transferring to a better (private) school. I had nice expectations at the University of Memphis that were unfufilled. I spent every summer of my life visting my grandmother in Memphis and my own father grew up in Memphis, so I knew what to expect of the city. I freely admit that I was just naive because I really figured that a University would be challenging, but I was sorely mistaken. If I had kids I would rather they not attend the University of Memphis and here is why. At the University of Memphis you learn what most everyone learns in high school. I spent two full years learning almost the same things I learned at my public high school in my hometown in Nashville. I atended every class and made the deans list every semester I went there. Then you can work hard to get an undergraduate degree, then you go to grad school at the University of Memphis to learn what most folks do at the Undergraduate level. I was an English major and what I just described is how the English depratment is like. I do not understand why anyone would bother going to the University of Memphis because I really did not learn anything at all that I did not already know and was oftentimes left wondering why I was bothering. And this wondering is what has led me to finish my schooling at a private University. The University of Memphis is the last place University in the entire state of Tennessee for graduation. That is right, it is the last place University for having people graduating and I really think that is because of how they teach everything like high school, even their honors classes.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2007

Innovation: A, Education Quality: F