Hood College

Date: Dec 05 2008
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
If you are looking for a place to party don't bother coming to Hood. Basically, if you want a social life while doing well academically, don't take any more than the minimal amount of credits.

Academically, Hood is pretty hardcore. There is only a small amount of professors that aren't up to par, but I think this is present at all colleges and universities. Mainly, the professors are all very competent and willing to help. There is a lot of focus on essay writing and free response tests, with little busy work. The professors generally don't care if you have ten tests in one day or ten essays due, they expect you to turn in A level work with no excuses. I often feel like I'm going to have some sort of mental breakdown during the last few weeks of the semester for the ridiculous amount of work assigned to me.

Many of the campus' reigning traditions have gone away drastically in the past few years, making campus atmosphere and school spirit nearly non-existent. This is rather unfortunate and it nearly makes me want to transfer immediately when I see a University of Maryland football or basketball game with all of the people cheering and shouting how proud they are to go to that school. Extracurricular activities are the same way, for they seem very exclusive and for only a certain type of person. Maybe somebody else has a different viewpoint but this is just my opinion. People are definitely cliquey here because the campus is so small and we do have our share of bratty rich kids who have no realization of the real world, but there are very many friendly people here too. As far as dorm life goes, the only fun anyone ever has is drug related. Everyone pretty much bonds over alcohol, cigarettes, and weed, and if you don't do any of the above, you aren't really integrated into the social scene (like me). However, there are some campus activities that don't involve these things that are a lot of fun.

The campus is beautiful…but only from the outside. The dorms are completely run down with the exception of Shriner, and many have not been renovated because the person who previously gave them money has died and the little thing called Hood was basically broke a few years back and is finally earning money again. The lounge areas are cheesy and kindergarten looking in theme. Smith Hall is pretty much disgusting and Coblentz has an ant issue. The dorms are so overcrowded that they kicked people out of the dorms to make room for the freshmen. However, there is a benefit to this, for Hood has a deal with the apartment complex across the street where you only pay room and board and are allowed to be exempt from the meal plan, which is a great deal in comparison to getting an apartment in the area. Hood also gives furniture which is brand new to the people living in the apartments. The academic buildings for the most part look very outdated but do have updated technology in most of the rooms. The Hodson Science and Technology building is beautiful and very modern looking, which is great for science and math majors. The gym however disgusts me. It is basically falling apart and they keep saying that they are going to renovate it year after year but it never seems to happen. I think it's horrible that Hood Basketball games are at TJ High school and seems really unprofessional to me.

To be honest, the only reason I have stayed at this school is because my department (psychology) is so amazing. All of the professors are delightful to talk to, have amazing stories to tell, are accomplished researchers and are very prevalent in the community, and are just plain wonderful at what they do. Thats the same for all of the professors here.
So my final advice about Hood is that it is a great school with some great professors, but I would advise people to commute or get off of on-campus housing if they want to avoid below average living dorm conditions. Otherwise, it is a great school.