McDaniel College

Date: Oct 12 2008
Major: Video/Media (This Major's Salary over time)
McDaniel is NOT for everyone. It's an expensive, beautiful school in a not-so-great town. The campus is beautiful, with tons of squirrels and a lovely layout. For the most part, the buildings are well-maintained and very nice. They are constantly renovating and adding new things to the campus. The library looks great

Socially, unless you're a very cliquey person, you probably won't like it here. People group themselves and don't venture much outside of that group. Sports teams and Greeks are very, very cliquey. People here are generally friendly, but there are a lot of very strange and not-so-bright students as well. There's not a ton of diversity, and I'm not just talking racially. People typically come from middle/upper class families in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and New England. EVERYONE smokes, it seems. It's disgusting to see cigarette butts littering the ground and people lighting up right in front of building entrances. Beer/wine is the only approved alcohol on campus if you're 21, even though everyone drinks anyway. It's one of the only things to do.

The meal plan is HORRIBLE. Basically, there are three places to eat on campus, two of which you essentially pay in cash for. The main meals are in the dining hall and run by Sodexho. It's the same unappetizing garbage over and over (cheap fruit, disgusting main entrees, decent salads and desserts) If you want to eat something else, head to the Pub where you'll find chicken tenders, burgers and other greasy foods and sodas. The Pub does a fairly good job, but you have to pay in cash/debit on your card unless you want to use 4th meal. Basically, you get 32 4th meals a semester that you can spend at the Pub or the mediocre Sandella's in the Gym. NO substitutions, ONLY what's on the approved 4th meal list. It really, really sucks. Furthermore, Sandella's is run by complete idiots who wouldn't let me put ONE TOMATO SLICE on my poor excuse for a sandwich because I quote

This place would get shut down

The campus offers a sub-par amount of activities. There will be little events here and there like cookie-tasting, Oxygen bars, picnics, etc. but nothing too spectacular. You can join an OK club or play sports for fun. That's pretty much it.

The dorms for freshmen are bad. No air-conditioning in old, stuffy buildings with nasty bathrooms and no carpets. The rooms are decently sized but smell funny. I was lucky to get AC approved which helped a lot. The upperclassmen apartments are very nice, which is aggravating since most everyone else is stuck in crappy buildings desperately in need of renovation. (Unless you commute from home, the school requires you to live on campus for 3 years)

Finally, the academics are manageable and decent. Professors are a mixed bag of very sweet and helpful to horrid. There are a lot of required classes, including several gym courses that can be hard to get into. In fact, most interesting courses like Fiction into Film are reserved for juniors and seniors only, so you have to suffer through rather standard ones until then. You'll also be required to take a First Year Seminar course on whatever topic you get into. This too is a mixed bag. Some FYS are fun and easy while others are a royal pain in the ass.

I'm transferring and not sad to go. I know a lot of people love it here, and I really do think it's a beautiful nice little school, but if I had to spend four more years here I'd go crazy. Visit and see for yourself.