Luther College

Date: May 12 2007
Major: Social Work (This Major's Salary over time)
Most of the people at Luther are great. I sometimes find it hard to break the barrier between acquaintance and friend. It seems that Luther can be quite "cliquish."

However part of that is I'm not in the music department. If you plan to be a music major or participate in choir/orchestra/band you'll fit in perfectly here! This campus REVOLVES around its music program. The school has no problem adding another faculty member to the music department, but it's reluctant to hire anyone for another department. We have 3 professors for Social Work and have been requesting a 4th one for a long time as the major has grown, but the college refuses. It's really frustrating if you're not in the music department at Luther.

The registrar's office and financial aid can be pretty frustrating at times, but other times, very helpful. I guess it just depends on the mood they're in and how you approach them. I have had both positive and negative experiences with them.

The Social Work major is fantastic! We have 3 fabulous professors who work hard for the students and try to make this the best experience for us! The major is also small, so we're a really tight knit group. If you plan to be a social work major at Luther, get on the ball FAST! This is a pre-professional program so there are a lot of required courses you have to take and take in a certain order. Coming in, take Intro to Social Work (SW 101) your first semester and do your Social Work Field Experience (SW 102) your first J-term. That will make sure you're on the right track.

A lot of students will complain about the paideia program. It is a lot of reading and some professors are forced to teach it, but I think it's getting better with fewer required texts. You will be required to read a text the summer before coming to Luther, that can be frustrating. If you can, take Paideia with Novian Whitsitt, he's amazing, or David Faldet, they're both really good.

The campus is beautiful and there's a lot to do around campus on the weekends. They have $1 movies in the Olin building!! There are a lot of entertainers that come to Marty's, the cafe in the basement of the Union, which are a lot of fun to go to. They also try to bring in a lot of performers like a hypnotist, acrobats, bands, singers, operas, plays, etc. - and it's all free if you pay your activities fee at the beginning of the year, which is totally worth it!

There's a lot of drinking on the weekends too, but I find it easy to find stuff to do without drinking. If you want to try to avoid drunks altogether, sign up to live on a Wellness floor so you don't find vomit in the hallways, etc., which is not really that common actually.

This school is very unique in my opinion - I don't know if I would come here again if I got the chance to decide again. It's been a great learning experience, but I sometimes wonder if I would've been better at a different school.