Goucher College

Date: Apr 12 2009
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)
I want to start out by emphasizing the importance of fit and match. Goucher College is definitely not for everyone. If youre looking for partying, night life, etc., you might find Goucher sorely lacking. Although Baltimore is accessible, Towson might not do the job for you. Also, if youre really competitive and want to be challenged like never before, Gouchers course work might not suffice.

Overall, I am personally happy here and most of my friends are as well. Teachers are very good and easy to reach. People are pretty nice. Theres also a wonderful vibrant, quirky atmosphere. Goucher is definitely not a commuter school. Although most kids are from Middle-Atlantic (i.e. MD, PA, NJ, and New York) states, about two thirds are out of state and its quite diverse. Im from the Atlanta suburbs, and three of my friends are from North Carolina. Ive met three people who live in the metro Atlanta area, so I dont feel totally out of place as a Southerner here.

The social life here could definitely be better. Big parties are hard to find, though a lot of people do small gatherings. The office of student engagement heard a lot of complaints about social life, and since developed programs for late nights and the weekend. They vary in how good and enjoyable they are, but some are pretty cool. Campus organizations and centers also take up events and there are cultural events pretty often. Thomas Friedman, Helen Thomas, David Plouffe, and Nobel laureate Wangarie Maatie all spoke this year. We had dance students who were doing their thesis put on shows accessible to everyone, and one such presentation included nudity. There are plenty of clubs to join on campus, and a lot of Goucher students do student government. In particular if youre into creative writing, Preface and Writers Forum are fun clubs. Environmental activism is also popular on campus. The bottom line is while social life could be more exciting, there are a lot of opportunities between events on campus and with extracurricular activities to have fun. To have a rewarding social life, you have to be proactive. But, its not much effort to do this. If you want to have fun things to do, check out flyers and mark things on your planner. Definitely also take notice at club rush to join organizations that interest you. Finally, a lot of people at Goucher dont really get out much. I strongly recommend going to Baltimore just to see neat events and places in the city and to avoid feeling closed in. The above might sound like a lot, but its rewarding and the truth is at most institutions you will not have fun if you just sit around in your room.

Academics are positive overall. Im a history major, and Ive loved all of my professors. Every history professor Ive had so far has been a very good teacher. One of the things that Ive loved about my department in particular is the emphasis on learning as a community. Working together as peers to learn from one another as well as from our professors is a big theme. In several of my classes, weve done workshops where we have gotten feedback from Princeton Review ranked Goucher #19 in the country on “class discussions encouraged and I think that most students definitely feel that in the classroom. Classes are small, theres a lot of personal attention, and interaction between classmates. This is a big plus. Some folks as mentioned above might not find Goucher sufficiently difficult. Several introductory courses in particular dont push students. The tests and assignments are easy. Another minus is class variety. Since there are a small number of students and faculty, there arent always a lot of class options. Some classes are only offered once every two years. I have felt like my seminars do push me, personally. This semester, Ive taken two seminars. The first six weeks, I was required to read a book a week. The second six weeks we are required to write a 20-25 page paper based largely on primary sources and original research. The work is supposed to introduce us to scholarly research. The process is different from writing papers in most courses. The philosophy department has several wonderful professors. Dance at Goucher is well-regarded, especially among non-conservatory programs. Science programs are pretty good and the school has very good placement rates for medical school.

Some other nice things about Goucher include rooms and food. Although its definitely not like parents home-cooked meals and variety could be better, the food is pretty decent by standards of college food. Stimson Dining Hall has a nice pasta bar. Heubeck does good food frequently. Rooms are fairly spacious, compared to some schools. There are also some good programs if you want to live outside campus but through board. DVA and DVC are nice places, though the former did have bed bugs problems.

One minus which is surprising is the administration. Theyre often disorganized and the way they do some things is a mess. For instance, when Goucher ran out of housing for students who wanted it, kids were arbitrarily assigned to off-campus housing. There were some kids assigned off-campus who wanted to live on campus, and other students who wanted to live in DVC or DVA. In short, they didnt handle it well. Some of us have found people like Scott Eckhardt whos in charge of housing and Pat Kelly at the registrar to be a pain.

If you want:

small school

good teaching

personal attention

a social atmosphere thats more by ways of small gatherings and cultural events than partying, fraternities, and big athletic events

campus/experience thats highly residential

then you might be pleased with what Goucher offers and find a pretty good college experience here.