Mercyhurst University

Date: Jul 22 2004
Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
The thing you have to realize about Mercyhurst is that it is (obviously) a college, and anywhere you go you'll find people that either love it or hate it. It seems that a few other people weren't too satisfied with their experience at the 'hurst; I on the other hand love it. First off, mercyhurst is a pretty small school, some people don't like that too much, but I think thats what makes it such a great school. The size of the school allows you, in my major at least, to have smaller classes which lets you have more interaction with your teachers and also lets you get to know the kids in your major pretty well. For example, in one of my bio. classes I there were about 12 students ( I think most classes at the 'hurst are about 30-40), some of my friends at bigger institutions had the same exact class but with 200 or more students- I was able to ask any questions I had and have them answered directly by my teacher, not a TA, where as my friends said they felt lost in the class. Another great thing about the biology department is the faculty; they're willing to help you out in anyway possible and when it comes to applying to graduate/medical/dental, etc.. schools they'll bend over backwards to help you out.

On the social aspect, its true that Mercyhurst isn't exactly a melting pot of diversity, however in my experiences Ive found that, like at all colleges, it is what you make it. Some people complain about being bored, but only boring people get bored. The social atmosphere is pretty solid, its damn easy to make friends, drinking buddies, hook-ups, or whatever it is youre looking for. As far as the bar scene there's some pretty decent bars both near and a little far from campus. There's lots of snow so skiing is pretty good and when its nice out.. ok which is like the first and last 4 weeks of the year.. you can always head down to the beach on lake erie. Mercyhurst DOES have a fair amount of intramural sports like soccer, flag football, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, open skate nights at the ice center and also a number of clubs like SPAN (where you go hiking/camping etc..) equestrian, etc.

Also, Mercyhurst DOES have decent athletics. Ok so maybe the football team isnt the greatest.. but they're getting better, but teams like men's and women's soccer are nationally ranked every year, both men's and women's hockey are D1 (the women finished about 6th in the nation), the women's crew team won the d2 national championship, and men's lacrosse has made it to the final four in d2 for the past two years finishing 3rd in the nation.

So over all I think its a great school, but take a visit and see for yourself.