Washington State University

Date: May 29 2008
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)
I attended the Edward R Murrow school of communication during my stay at WSU. This is supposed to be one of the most prestigious comm schools in the whole country. I think the biggest problem this school of communication has is the lack of communication. This extends throughout the entire school system. The primary problem in this institution is the administration. Signing up for classes has got to be the single most unpleasant experience in my stay. The requirements were confusing to understand and not ONE person was able to clearly answer my questions. I was repeatedly told one thing and ended up having to do another. When the last semester came about I checked at the beginning to make sure I had all my credits needed to graduate on time. I was told I did. Two weeks before graduation I went in and was told I was lacking several required classes and would have to come back in the fall and probably the following spring. After confronting the administration about their misinformation about my graduation time they simply shrugged and claimed to not be at fault.

I have had my fair share of poor instructors and advisers at this school. The advisers are hard to reach, hard to set appointments with and often times they know barely anymore than you do about what type classes (A, S, H type etc etc) you need. I see the need for a well-rounded education but the sheer number of G.E.R. classes required for any given major is absurd.

I concur with some others statements about teachers being disinterested in students and having TA's teach many classes. Some TA's do a good job but most are in need of further education themselves and getting in touch with the main professor can often be an irritating task Either way, I'm not paying for other students to teach me.

This school is more focused on athletics than anything else. They are desperate to churn out the next big NFL name so that they can have a poster-child to talk about in order to beef up their football program. The athletics facilities are far and away the most advanced and cared for buildings on campus.

I'd also echo statements made about the surrounding city, if you can call it that. Pullman is a farming town that happens to be annexed to WSU. It's an exceedingly boring place to live. People wonder why WSU is considered a "party school". Well if you've ever been there you can see there isn't much else to do but drink and party. It's blazing hot in the summer (and few apartments have AC) and bone-chilling cold in the winter. (Winter = Oct - May in Pullman.). At least the rent is fairly reasonable in this town.

I saw some complaints about cops in Pullman. I never had too much issue with the police though there are a LOT of them. They seem rather aloof and apathetic usually. It's the parking nazi's that I find absurd. The parking enforcement is stupid. It's entirely favors those who have more money and parking passes are EXPENSIVE. This is not a school of academia. It's a little slice of Texas college football life in Washington State. It's the university all the rednecks living in Eastern WA aspire to go to. If you want a good college experience and quality education and aren't a bible pushing, potato farming, cow tipping republican asshole, by all means avoid this shitty school with pretty brick buildings.