Saint Joseph's University

Date: May 02 2008
Major: Philosophy (This Major's Salary over time)
My father had gone to a Jesuit university and described it as one of the best experiences of his life and said that he had learned so much. That's a major reason I came to St. Joe's - plus they offered me a scholarship and material on the net gives glowing reviews. However, in my first year, I have discovered that creative, independent thinkers are not rewarded, that assignments must be completed to fit within the system, and even the Dean admits that this is not a competitive school - if you have the money, you can attend.

I have had to dumb down my writing for the majority of my classes and studying for tests seems to consist of basic memorization of facts, not knowledge and understanding of concepts. Some of the faculty are great, teachers that push you to perform your best; however, these are teachers that have the lowest ratings on ratemyprofessor.com. Students here seem to believe that grades should be handed to you on a platter.

There is little diversity: honestly, it seems that St. Joe's admits international and ethnically diverse students only to fill a quota. Most students are more interested in partying and getting drunk than actual academics - for class project and peer editing, I usually go to the writing center for actual input. A classmate once wrote

it is good you use quotations from the texts to support your arguments

as a critique for one of my papers.

All in all - disillusioned. I anticipated college to be some of "the best years of my life", and I don't see that here. Seriously considering transferring.