Central Michigan University

Date: Jan 02 2004
Major: Education (This Major's Salary over time)
CMU is, itself, a fine school. Most of its buildings are in great, clean shape, the campus is pretty clean, and the teachers are, for the most part, helpful. The main library on campus is gorgeous and awesome, and there are plenty of places to sit outside (in good weather) and hang out without getting stepped on. CMU is clean, friendly, and feels pretty safe. Parking sucks, but that's to be expected.

My only real complaint about CMU has to be with its teaching program. The resources available in Ronan Hall for teaching students are, without a doubt, substandard when compared to the resources the rest of the university has. Ronan is haphazardly designed with very poor acoustics, shabby painting on walls, and bathrooms that look like they were designed in the 40's. Scary stuff.

All of that aside, the elementary teaching program is full is spirit-breakingly-boring-and-tedious busy work. Wait 'til you take Foundations in Semester Two of your program—you'll be amazed at how many people there are who went through the program, decided that teaching sucks, and plan to work in another field altogether.

On the plus side, though, you take your classes as part of a cohort—that means that you have, essentially, the same group of twenty-or-so students in all of your TEPD classes. It's a nice support system, and almost everyone is quite willing to help each other out.