Hood College

Date: Aug 07 2008
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
I went to Hood for one year (this past year, 2007-2008) and can say that it was definitely an interesting experience.

Academics wise, I found all the classes I took to be amazingly easy. I took classes both in my major and out. I'm more of an english/history person, but I found myself getting As in intro level science courses (something I did not expect). There was too much hand holding, extra credit and extra help in general. That was not part of what my opinion of college classes should be like.

Overall, the professors were very friendly. There is one english professor, however, who is old and quite insane. She told a girl in my english class that she was stupid and that her parents must be idiots. If you're going to be an english major, this professor will be unavoidable so you'll just have to make the best of it. However, my Latin professor (who is no longer there) was fantastic and really helped me to learn a lot.

One thing you have to know- do not underestimate the size of the school. Everyone will know everything about you. Want to get drunk and pass out in the hallway saturday night? Want to sleep with your best friend's girlfriend? Trust me, by monday morning everybody will know. You will know the names of virtually everyone in your class. Don't like seeing the same people day in and day out, never meeting anyone new? This might not be the best place for you.

Frederick is an amazing little town… if you're over 21 or have a family. There is absolutely nowhere to go. Downtown Frederick is nice, but it's clearly a tourist attraction and not meant for college students. It's full of expensive stores and dining options. The only places I ever went were the grocery store (which I now know inside and out) and the local Taco Bell. If you want to go out dancing or anything like that, your best bet is Baltimore and it's not really close by.

Safety was never really an issue for me. I felt like I could walk around at night by myself and I didn't feel threatened. There aren't any emergency call boxes that I noticed (maybe one or two on the outskirts of campus) but the whole area just felt very safe to me. It's near a whole residential area right off the highway, so there's hardly anyone walking around outside. Campus safety is always zipping around in their PT Cruiser as well.

Food.. sucks. But that's college in general. People will steal whatever they can get their hands on as well. They don't let you take food out but you can wrap things up and put them in your purse and nobody will say anything.

The college in general is broke. Dirt poor. The dining hall needs serious renovations to get rid of the mold in the basement. All the dorms spare one need renovations; they are crumbling and falling apart. Do not be fooled by the tours- the tour guides will only show you the nice parts. They will not mention that the college was bankrupt only four years ago and that's why they had to go from being all girls to co ed. This is something I learned within the first month of school and it did not make me too happy. Also, they recently raised tuition by $5,000 ish and I bet they'll do it again soon.

I decided to transfer after one year because the environment just wasn't good for me. I mostly only loved Hood because of the friends I made and the professors, but I didn't feel like the education was top notch at all.