Villanova University

Date: May 01 2007
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
I am a graduate student, to complete my degree this month. I am an out of state student, and I went to a prestigious Catholic university for my undergraduate degree and graduated with honors. I received scholarships to all programs I applied to, and attended Villanova due to personal reasons, to be near my significant other. I have regretted my decision ever since I got here. My classes were a joke. They were not only not challenging, but many of the professors were condescending and tended to give final grades based solely on whether or not they liked you. The program administration was terrible, and many students were extremely unhappy with their experience. The problem with transferring in graduate school is that most credits do not transfer, and once you have applied for a scholarship and turned it down (at another school), it is unlikely that same school would offer you a scholarship if you applied again. As a result, you pretty much feel stuck once you get here and decide you don't like it. I had a wonderful undergraduate experience, so this experience was extra disappointing, considering how much I love my alma mater. That said, from what I understand, the undergrad experience at Nova is definitely a lot different, so if you are thinking of attending for undergrad this information may not be very helpful for you. Furthermore, the politics within my program were unbelievable; it was like high school all over again. Everyone was talking behind everyone else's back. The full time professors and staff treated the GAs like children; GAs were little more than gophers and personal assistants. While every graduate program is different, I would caution potential graduate students, especially those who are not from the area, to really investigate their options carefully. If you do not plan on staying in the area, go with a school with greater name recognition—it really does make a huge difference in your job search.