Marymount Manhattan College

Date: Nov 03 2008
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)
I will start off by saying this; the last word I would use to describe Marymount Manhattan is academic. To give some background on my self: In high school I went to a continuation school; after that I went to a private two year college. After graduating with an AA, I started my own marketing, advertising, and consulting firm in Los Angeles that was quite profitable and successful. I have been bi-coastal all my life (parents moved to Long Island when I was in high school) and I decided to go to New York and finish up school due to personal and economic reasons.

I wanted to go to a school in Manhattan and all I knew of was NYU, Pace, and Marymount Manhattan. After viewing Pace, I was not impressed and I felt NYU would be a little too scholastic for someone just coming back to college after a hiatus such as mine, so that left Marymount Manhattan. After traveling to the Upper East Side I found the area to be very nice, and the school to be very pleasant “ but I visited during the summer and did not meet (or see) any of the students.

After deciding on Marymount Manhattan I rented an apartment right down the street on 70th and 2nd so the commute to class was literally a minute stroll. I have lived alone most of my adult life and the dorms were not an option; I was 22 at the time.

The information Marymount provided me painted it out to be a very diverse communications school. They requested I write a brief essay regarding how I enjoy diversity. After arriving at ordination I was a bit confused, I thought I accidentally entered an all female facility. I later found out that the student body is 70% women, 20% men and 10% straight men. After socializing with many of the students of all ages from the college I learned they were into performing arts, something that I have no interest in unless it is profitable on my part. Most students I met were Caucasian and from the tri-state area. That does not meet my definition of diversity.

After a few weeks of attending classes I realized I have had more “real life experience then my instructions. As a reference I have worked with Home Land Security on the development of RFID modules for shipping containers, my Los Angeles based firm has put many models on the cover of magazines and plaid a major part in the productions of top rated MTV television shows. I then had an instructor from Africa (who had an almost inaudible accent) lecture me about organizational communication. If he was suddenly put in charge of an organization that grossed over half a million a year he would most likely be bankrupt and arrested within a month. His long useless lectures had nothing to do with the class material. The things he said for the most part were common sense “ he spoke to a group of Americans as if we just came to this country and did not know the customs, it was bizarre in my opinion. As an example he lectured for an hour and a half about ties and tucking in shirts and how they will help me in a “real life interview

I found many of the students there to either be very closed minded or their mind so open that their brain had fallen out. Moderation does not seem to be a word in the Marymount Manhattan lexicon. The average students at Marymount (ages 18-21) seems to be more immature then others in their age group. Most of the students are not employed, and if are, they work very minimal hours.

After speaking with female students who were more interested in academics then dancing they alerted me of the disturbing fact that many dancers were bulimic. They also alerted me that this occurred in the dorms and in the public campus bathrooms. I cannot speak much on this matter due to my lack of first hand knowledge but I can say I have not seen any support groups or consoling offered by the college. To the best of my knowledge the college has not even acknowledged the issue.

One of the main issues many people have with Marymount is the homosexuality. When I walked into campus for the first day of classes the thought that went thought my mind was, “This makes West Hollywood look like Texas. The Marymount Manhattan Welcome Bag I received contained two condoms and two packs of lubrication. Anyone who is the slightest bit homophobic should treat this place like it was the plague. I would imagine this would make many males living in the dorms uncomfortable.

I was so fed up with the college (I have come to use that word loosely since I became a student a Marymount Manhattan) that I did not really check out any of the clubs or groups but my guess would be they would have something to do with performance arts, I am very doubtful if it would of provided me any useful networking resources.

I found the most interesting part of Marymount Manhattan is at the restaurants on the Upper East Side surrounding Marymount Manhattan, in the past 5 months I have met three waitresses, a waiter, and a hostess who were all graduates of Marymount Manhattan “ they all have been working at their respective establishment for over a year and a half. This just shows how far Marymount Manhattan can take you (physically and professionally).

The first couple of weeks of classes I heard that 20% of the new students (freshman and transfer) left, I feel like I have done the same in retrospect. I believe there is somewhere on the order of 2000 full time students and I would say well over half of them are dance or theater majors.

The upside to Marymount Manhattan: it is in Manhattan. I have had much more fun going out to clubs and bars with people I have met outside Marymount. A note to all the straight males: just because there is an overwhelmingly high percentage of women attending Marymount Manhattan does not mean you will get laid any easier, you are still in New York City.

A side note, the security is a joke “ none of the unarmed guards there would be able to stop any intruder over 150lbs (There are very few students over 150lbs). I have also been very generous with my ratings of the institution due to the fact that I have went to high school at a continuation school where 16 year old kids were snorting cocaine off of their notebooks. Even with my previous experiences I still find the academics at Marymount Manhattan to be subpar, even to that of my continuation school. I was generous with my ratings due to the fact that I have not witnessed any serious drug use such as methamphemine or heroin and everything is very peaceful.

I honestly feel like I have been cheated out of my money and time, I blame myself for not researching properly before I enrolled. The school advertised its self as diverse “ it is anything but. They make no mention of the extreme female to male ratio nor do they inform you that most of your fellow male classmate will be homosexual (not that theres anything wrong with that). I do not consider Marymount Manhattan to be an academic institution. I cannot comment first hand on their performing arts, but I am sure the waitresses at The Beach Caf (70th and 2nd) and Cinema Caf (70th and 2nd) can. I have also worked in the entertainment industry and speaking from first hand professional experience “ no one I have met from Marymount Manhattan will “make-it without excessive blind luck. I would strongly urge anyone looking into this college to simply look the other way.