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Sort By: [Date] [Major] [Rating] Political Science  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Not so bright I am a senior, graduating in May, and I am majoring in "government" not "poli. sci." Hampden-Sydney College is amazing. The faculty here care deeply about the students and are generally extremely fair. The people here, for the most part, are friendly and everyone who I have invited down to visit from other schools (JMU, WVU, UVA, VCU, VT, SBC, LU, LU, etc.) have told me so, especially compared to the schools that they attend. We are taught from day one as freshmen to say "hello" to every person we walk by.....I found out quickly that people at other schools look down upon that; I value this the most about Hampden-Sydney. The degree at H-SC is rooted in liberal arts and is broad. This is both a blessing and a curse. As a government major, I do not learn voter patterns, I don't crunch statistics, I don't study in-the-moment politics, forgetting about history, thus settling for an ideology set in progressivism and revisionism. I instead studied extensively the origin of societies and the notion of human rights, the nature and constitutionality of all facets of American government, I have studied all other forms of government from all over the world and from many, many philosophers and writers, and, most of all, I learned how to schmooze. While I may not find a job as some lackey on Capitol Hill pushing papers and doing the business of some partisan leader right out of school, I'll be able to pursue a wide variety of occupations that require my great "bullshitting" skills. Let's face it, it takes charisma and rhetoric to get your boss to change company policy, broker a multi-million dollar deal, or move up the ladder. Administratively, however, H-SC is extremely lacking. The Financial Aid Office is full of middle-aged women who, even though they have the most important job here, could really give a damn about their jobs. They yank and pull students around and communicate extremely vital information to and from students extremely poorly, losing faxes, emails, and even mail; they even fail to contact family members regarding financial aid. Almost every student here has a horror story involving that office. The Business Office isn't much better; Rosa Thomas, the head, is extremely cross and offensive. She is very abrasive to students and their families; if you want her to do anything, you have to be abrasive back. In addition, our Deans here were recently caught in the act of trying to subvert our faculty and Student Government by stiff-arming them and illegally trying to coerce them into passing certain policies. The Student Body rose up with the entire faculty in solidarity and currently some internal changes are underway. The biggest internal problem here is our president, Dr. Christopher B. Howard. The Dr. is clearly here to provide for himself the basis for a higher career, most likely a political one. He has used our money here to renovate his house and expand his already large driveway (this is the tens-of-thousands-of-dollars range, if not in the hundreds-of-thousands) while we are struggling to get funds for classrooms, teachers' salaries, technology, and the rest. Our dorms are in horrible condition as well and only minute attempts to renovate one have been made. Christopher Howard is also extremely shady. His demeanor cries out "politician." He'll say one thing to your face and then go and talk bad about you behind your back to another group of individuals, even in public. He's just an extremely fake man. His friendliness and sincerity are forced and everything about him screams ulterior motive. It's hard to find a single student on this campus who likes him or believes that he has the best interests of this campus at heart. However, let's just say that I don't believe his stay will be very long after this year. Socially, I think H-SC is great. Yeah, it's in the middle of BFE, but once you get used to that you'll love this place. Given the HUGE crackdown by President Howard (he's using the Deans to do this and ordering our once-friendly police force to arrest students on silly, even trumped-up charges now) H-SC is still fun. The guys you'll meet here will be lifelong friends. Dead weekends (meaning no parties at the frats) are always the craziest, seeing how everyone has nothing better to do than to black out and act retarded. Girls DO flock in by the busload on weekends and many are single and DTF.Also, the values that you are instilled with here will be with you the rest of your life. People out in the world (especially women) will tell you that H-SC men can be picked out in a crowd; not by what they wear, but by how they carry themselves and act. Education Quality: A+, Surrounding City: D Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Apr 03 2012 4th Year Male -- Class 2012    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=86353&uid=1405'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save Philosophy  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Quite Bright First, let me talk about the positive aspects of the University. The campus is beautiful and historic. The faculty are top-notch, approachable, and helpful--tenure for professors is not based on their academic publication history, but rather their teaching and relationship with the students. Academically, the school is great; however, and this is important, grades are not inflated and most students graduate way below the median for universities in the United States. Now, the bad part. A H-SC degree has prestige only to old white men in Richmond, Norfolk, Lynchburg, and Roanoke, VA. To younger generations in Virginia (people who did not go to the school), the degree implies your (a) the idiot, alcoholic and drug addicted son of an upper-class preppy family, (b) a close minded racist, sexist, and self-absorbed elitist; and (c) a jerk who lacks self-awareness with an undeserved/unearned sense of entitlement. To people outside of the state, H-SC means nothing. At all. They don't know what it is, and explaining it is painful. The stereotype of H-SC is unfair to most of the students. But the more visible elements of the H-SC community not only promote the characterizations, but embrace them as positive qualities. The school's community considers itself elite, and preaches to the students how elite and meaningful the H-SC degree is. The reality, however, is that the school is not elite; a degree from Roanoke College, Elon University, Alabama, Florida State, Ole Miss and even WVU (schools that are easier to get into, easier to stay in, and easier to get higher grades) means more because people have actually heard of them. Add on top of all of this the experience of H-SC as an all-male school located in one of the poorest counties in the state, that has horrible food served by angry workers, and an "honor system" that prides itself on kicking students out for the most inane "violations" (like lying about being sick) while simultaneously tolerating (if not promoting) excessive hazing and drug/alcohol abuse, and you've got a school that is so far separated from reality and, consequently, unbelievably inept at preparing "young men to be good men and good citizens," that I couldn't, in good conscience, recommend this school to someone I cared about. Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: F Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Dec 03 2011 3rd Year Male -- Class 2013    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=83384&uid=1405'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save Economics  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Quite Bright I should have focused more on my education. I recommend getting involved with the many opportunities that H-SC offers but not at the expense of your academics. Only do what you can handle. I recommend that you take advantage of every networking event that H-SC offers. Attend, at least, one etiquette dinner and one job fair while you are there. Starting Job: financial services representative, Preparedness: B+, Reputation: A Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private) Sep 25 2011 Alumnus Male -- Class 2000   Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=81297&uid=1405'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save  Prev    Select Page:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7 ... 8    Next

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