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Sort By: [Date] [Major] [Rating] Political Science  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Super Brilliant In as much as education is concerned at Hampden-Sydney College, the qualities and benefits of such are limited due to the school's historical lack of funding, and students seem to spend four years in an attempt to actually learn, while faculty struggles to successfully teach. Each department has remarkable scholars and academics, but likewise you will find faculty and staff who appear entirely self-absorbed, career-minded, or outrightly malicious towards their students. While hard work is at times required, the curriculum often seemed to defy reason... the lecture hall is more reminiscent of an elementary school classroom - and professors, administrators, and students are all too willing to involve themselves in their respective personal lives like so many children running about during recess. But, this no doubt is due to the isolated, pretentious, and even unimpressive environs of "the Hill." Hampden-Sydney is not a "has-been" of a bygone, genteel era... For sure, there is a small number of people "on the Hill" that qualify as gentlemen, but mostly the sort you will find at that school are gentlemen in appearance only; actual sincerity and intelligence is of secondary priority to rather such base and servile qualities as assimilation, cowardice, and slander. But, it is indeed truthful when it is said that not everyone is cut out for Hampden-Sydney. During my time there, and as each year passed, it became more clearly understood that the Honor Court and other such institutions are relatively recent inventions, and often used as tools for social control, as opposed to instruments of character building or anything related to genteel notions of honor. At all times the school will snuff out and pave over any real kind of History or legacy that is inconvenient, or worse - fiscally detrimental. These observations can be made at and about any school, especially those as small and limited in scope as Hampden-Sydney. Thus it is difficult to see that the school is outstanding in anything other than its peculiar and fragile existence. It is the type of place you love to hate, yet it can be truly said that only those who attended can appreciate the good, bad, and ugly things to be found. Ultimately, the gates at the entrance on College Road shouldn't read "enter as boys, leave as men," but rather "abandon all hope, ye who enter." Preparedness: D+, Reputation: D Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private) Jul 07 2008 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='sr_comment.js?sckey=51781&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 Hampden-Sydney College has an excellent atmosphere of learning and gain person responsibility. However, the work can be difficult if you aren't prepared to study hard and give a tremendous effort in and out of class. Graduating is a hard earned privilege and truly has great value. The alumni connections are great, especially in Virginia, but HSC men are also found all around the US and world, too. Along with the Alumni connections, career services does a great job in giving students an opportunity to find summer internships and full-time jobs. Not all professors are great from every department, but almost all professors strive to help those that make an effort to ask for it. The economics department, which I strongly recommend, is one of the best in the nation. I also enjoyed taking political science, history, rhetoric, religion, and the foreign language classes as well. While getting a good grade (A, A- , B+, B) is difficult, it is far from impossible if one simply participates in class everyday and completes all assigned work. Many people in my graduating class graduated with honors, and the valedictorian had a 3.97 or something nearly perfect like that. Also, the campus-wide GPA has grown in the last year from 2.7 to 2.9 something. So, this shows that professors are being slightly more lenient in how they grade work. The faculty and staff are truly friendly, and there are many great students, too. The only real drawbacks to HSC is its remote location, near Farmville, Virginia. There is little nothing in "farm-vegas" but for a few restaurants, a 8-plex movie theater, a bowling alley, and a mini-golf course. Luckily, Richmond is just over an hour away, as is Lynchburg and Charlottesville. So, some better nightlife can be not too far away. Also, there are plenty of schools within an hour or two, (Longwood is 8 minutes away) and 5 or so all-female colleges are included in that figure. Girls do come from all around Virginia, and if there still aren't enough girls, take a road-trip to a bigger school and party. The party scene at HSC is good, not great. The fraternities host all of the big parties with bands and themes. That is where most of the single girls are found on the weekends. I originally had no interest in partying at the frats, but my desire for female relations provoked my interest, and I think that fraternity circle can be a cool place to party (but some frat-guys can be extremely rude and aggressive toward those they don't know). People do party in their dorms, but that practice is limited. Lastly, on the weekends, many guys think that it is their time to act ignorant. Fights happen, but typically are a rarity. But, campus destruction, bottle breaking, and even damage to personal property happens regularly, so people must keep an eye on their stuff and lock their doors, plus restrain one's friend(s) if they have consumed to many party favors. Finally, my advice to anyone going or at HSC is to learn a philosophy of total personal responsibility (don't let others make your decisions for you), work hard and consistently so you can afford a change to play hard on the weekends, and don't lie/cheat/steal (honor code). If you ever find yourself in predicament with police/deans or what not, always be silent (that isn't lying) or tell the real truth. Doing this will always serve you better than lying, and while you might get a ticket or arrested if you were doing something really dumb, if you tell the truth, the odds increase dramatically of not getting kicked out of school! Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: D Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  May 23 2008 4th Year Male -- Class 2008    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='sr_comment.js?sckey=47413&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 Bright Hampden-Sydney is an incredible school; however, it isn't for everyone. I would strongly recommend visiting and staying a night or two before you choose to enroll. The majority of the student population comes from Virginia, but there is also a significant amount of the schools population coming from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama. The student body is conservative, which is a rarity in academia. Hampden-Sydney is a very traditional school while I would describe some of the bigger state schools as conventional. Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: C+ Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  May 17 2008 2nd Year Male -- Class 2010    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='sr_comment.js?sckey=47068&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 Not so bright Hampden Sydney is no doubt a great school however there are allot of problems with it. Allot of these other reviews make Hampden Sydney look as if it is a gentlemen’s school which is just booze, girls, and guns... which it is really. Last year however there was a very large drug bust and the campus is now crawling with every kind of cop. sheriffs, state, Longwood cops, ABC cops, and even DEA now. Since the bust the wide spread all out partying which has made Hampden Sydney so famous is now dead. A rather unfortunate year to starts going here. No doubt that the best thing about Sydney is the friends. You build a great bond with the guys living around you. These other guys will tell you the all male campus is crawling with girls on the weekend... not completely true. I certainly still see at parties a 3 to 1 ration so still more guys. The girls who do come usually are girlfriends, or some girl from your high school who you invited to come visit. I don’t enjoy begging for girls to come and visit me. Longwood University girls come sometimes but it doesn't take them long to stop coming either. When it comes to academics Hampden Sydney is excellent. Teachers are always willing to help you. Problem is...the academics are to Hard. Allot people you know will dropout. When you first arrive you are told "to look too your right and then look to your left. One of you three wont be here for graduation". And they weren’t kidding. Highest drop out rate ever. If you are going to enjoy college and have fun, good chance your going to fail out. Getting the grade of B here is like getting an A+ somewhere else. Very difficult if your trying to transfer like many of my friends are. The school makes the honor code look like a big bad giant, it isn’t really. I understand what it represents but it just forces students to cheat and lie and get use too never telling anyone what they did. The surrounding town sucks ass of course, we are right outside Farmville Virginia so what do you expect really. If your one of those real smart guys you'll probley enjoy Sydney, but you'll be bothered by the drunk guys in your room on a Tuesday night screaming...haha. The school is considered a gentlemen’s school. It use to be. It use to sell tobacco and alcohol let you smoke in dorms etc... The school is starting to modernize causing it to loose its old gentlemen’s look. We still have a gun locker on campus but probley for not much longer. Most other schools would be amazed with what we were allowed to do a year ago. But with DEA breathing down the schools neck and NARC agents in the student body what can they do. School also is pissed at the frats because they were part of most of the drug bust, so school is closing down frats like crazy. Most don’t even have their party licenses anymore. They make the football games here sound so big and important.. but they really aren’t. Most of the people I know don’t go or go for a couple minutes. People are suppose to wear a blazer but I use to be the prepiest prepster at my high school and I don’t even give a dam about it. Hampden sydney’s alumni connections are strong but not as strong as they make it to look. For me I honestly don’t want to be struggling to stay in school when I'm paying 38K a year to go here. For me ill be transferring to a bigger school. Best things are the friends and the awesome professors. Problems are lack of girls, surrounding town, and the rather absent large-scale party scene. With out the good old days the school has very little to offer other than extremely challenging academics that are more or less likely to cause you to drop/fail out. If you want big parties and lots of girls go to a BIGGER school.... and save your parents the 38K a year. And these other reviews? These guys must be from the good old days or are members of the student senate? they sound very cheesy. Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: D Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Feb 21 2008 1st Year Male -- Class 2011    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='sr_comment.js?sckey=44604&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    Next

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