University of the Incarnate Word

Date: Dec 21 2008
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
Although There are some good things about the Univeristy of the Incarnate Word, such as the professors and accesability to them and the academic prgrams, there are, unfortuantly, many things that the University lacks as a college.

For example, they tend to let things fall through as far as extracurricular activites go. When I atteneded there I tried ti join 6 clubs, all of which never met or when e-mailed or called, the organization leaders never got back to me. I think this is an unfortunate flaw because this does not allow:

1) The student body to meet eachother and therefore develop relationships

2) fails to enhance the academic experince

3) fails to deter soe of the most common reasons why students leave a college: because they are not being kept busy enough to forget about homesickness.

Another things that SEVERLY lacks is the mean plan. When I started at the university I put myself on a meal plan only for it to be changed during the summer. The news mean plans costs about $3,000 a semester which covers 15 all you can eat meals. This however comes with it;s hang ups. If you don't use the 15 meals over the duration of the week, they meals you did not use don't roll over you just lose them. Also if you use up the 15 meals before the end of the week, you can not use any fromt he next week. You just pay cash.

Which brings me to the crappy food. I once went down to the cafateria to get some turkey only to find that it was not even cooked all the way and when the cook noticed this, she switched the turkey out…but used the same tongs she used to serve the raw turkey to serve the cooked turkey. I have also, on a few occasions, found roaches in the salad bar. Not the mention that the food is awful as it is. I once bought a friend who came to visit me the food and out of a meal of Grilled cheese (only half melted), green beans, and pasta. He could only stand to eat the griled cheese because the green beans "tasted like plastic" and the pasta "was cooked to mush." And since most of the food places on campus are provided with things made from the cafateria, there isn't ANY good food anywhere. And you have to buy a meal plan if you live on campus.

The residents halls are also awful. For one, no room is the same size. some are way bigger and others smaller (even within the same hall) but the room price is the same. Also, the hall matience is awful. When I arrived at the university, my bed was broken and I could not sit on the end otherwise the matress would fall through the frame. I put in a work order move in day and no one came to fix until 3 weeks later. Also, on really cold nights, my roommate and I would have to bundle under 4 or 5 blankets because the school would not turn on the heaters in our hall. It was only turned onw hen my roomates father finally called and complained. We told our RA about this before hand, but she never got back to us. Also, on move in day my roommate and I decided we wanted to make bunk beds but to do this we needed metal pegs which our RA said she would find for us but never did. My dad ended up having to make the pegs for us but then no one ever came to put the beds up. Another thing about the residents halls is the lack of washing machines. In our hall, as in many others, there was one washer and dryer per floor (each floor holding about 24 people. Most of the time I had to go to a laundry mat to get mylaundry done.

Another thing lacking at UIW is their attendance policy. Although some teacher do not doe this, they are allowed to take points off your final grade for attendance. It is even school policy that if a certain percentage of classes are missed, the teacher may ask you to drop the class. BUT they themselves will not drop you from the class (like most colleges would) so if you don't go and drop it yourself, they will give you a failing grade as a final grade. It's another way they leach money from you. Not to mention they have a lot of bogus classes that you must take such as dimensions of wellness. That class was a waste of my time and I learned absolutly nothing.

And like any other school they try to take money from you whereever they can. When I withdrew from the university they had to go through my room and asses damages. At the beginning of the fall semester they give you a sheet and you have to go through the room and write down things that are already wrong with the room. I did that but was still fined for things in the room that were already broken and accounted for on the sheet already. They also try and get money from you when it comes back to selling books. I paid $300 for my books at the beginning of fall smester and sold them back before the spring semester and only received $95 for the book none of which were damaged.

And finally the last thing wrong with UIW (although I am sure there is more) is the lack of knowledge among staff about the rules and regulations. Their website is severly out of date, and if you asked 5 administrators the same question about a policy, you would get 5 different answers. For example, when I wanted to join a sorotiy, I was told you could not join one ulness you completed 12 hours at UIW (dual credit did not count) however when I filled out the application, they still let me rush despite the fact that all my hours were dual credit hours. Also even though in the rule book it states that you can not join a soroity until your second semester, I was allowed to rush in my first semester and no one knew if that was okay or not.

I believe the university's main problem is that they are trying to grow their student body without the proper facilities or organization that it takes. Unless you enjoy chaos and are only looking to get an education and leave, UIW is not for you.