Christopher Newport University

Date: May 13 2009
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
After attending CNU for one year, I can not express how happy I am to transfer.

Positives: The Campus looks nice.

Negatives: I don't know where to begin on all the negatives. I could write 3 pages full of things that have caused me to decide to leave CNU as fast as I possibly could. I will start with the students. Most of the students at CNU are VERY conservative and close minded. If you are not totally conservative, white, Christian, and rich, you will have a tough time making friends. Being from Nova where there is a lot of diversity, I found it weird being surrounded by people who are all exactly the same. I am white and Christian, however not close-minded at all. When I first got there, I tried to be as friendly and outgoing as possible, only to find that people reciprocated with a snotty, off-standish attitude. People were NOT interested in making friends, and if they did not know you already they had no interest in meeting you.

Academic Life: Nobody outside of Virginia has heard of CNU, and even a lot of Virginians have never heard of it. CNU does not like this. When I received grades back from professors, I found it bizarre at how harshly graded some of my assignments were. It's no question that CNU is out to make a name for itself academically speaking, and therefore professors are extremely unfair graders. Luckily for me I studied every single night in order to attain a high GPA so I could transfer out. You might find yourself doing the same.

Campus: Yes the campus is nice looking. But let's be honest, what college campus isn't nice looking? I'd say 90% of campuses across the U.S. look very well kept and well manicured. Campus asthetics are pretty much all CNU has got going for them. The Freeman Center (the college gym) may seem nice at first, with a wide variety of equipment, however it is way too small. If you go at a peak work out time, you will find yourself waiting for an elliptical or a weight machine.

Food: The Campus food is absolutely HORRIBLE. I can't stress this enough. You should invest in a year's supply of pepto bismol before you come here, because you will have indigestion, heartburn and diarrhea at least 6 days a week. The one day you don't is because you ate off campus or ate grocery store bought food in your dorm. As a freshman you are required to spend $1560 per semester on food that is barely edible. Numerous times I found hair and other assorted objects in my food. At least there is a wide variety of nasty food you can eat. You will gain way more than the Freshman 15 by eating this campus food. It is all Southern style with extra grease and oil.

Dorms: Most people have the misconception that the dorms at CNU are 5-star hotels rooms. Not at all. I lived in York River, where a lot of Freshmen stay. I literally have seen closets that are bigger than my room was. Not to mention I shared it with someone, as well as a tiny bathroom with 3 other people. At least I had a view I guess? It is really luck of the draw on room assignments. You may get a big room on the top floor with a lovely view of a gas station and construction on Warwick Blvd. But Dorm Life is NOT a good reason to choose CNU.

Surrounding City: Newport News is a dump. Honestly. The Warwick Blvd Construction Project causes a ton of traffic and there is nothing to do, just a suburban town. The one nice place is Huntington Park on the James River, about 4 miles from campus. It is a very nice park that not many people use, and I definitely enjoyed going there often. But other than that, there's nothing exciting. The local mall, Patrick Henry mall, is pathetic. Crime wise, it isn't the safest place around. In short, NN is lame.

Social Life: Let me tell you about the so-called "party scene" at CNU. Before I went to CNU, I had been warned by several people that CNU was a dry campus, and that the social life was not all that great. I ignored these warnings, and told myself that I was sure I would find good parties anyway. When I got to CNU, I found that parties consist of a guy-girl ratio of about 70-30, a keg that is tapped by 10:30pm, and overcrowded rooms full of bad-attitudes. Not to mention that they are all of campus, and you have to find a ride to get there. This creates the problem of drunk driving, and unfortunately a student was killed by a drunk driver during the first semester. Second semester, I stopped partying completely. I found that it was more fun to stay in my dorm and watch a movie then to go to a CNU party. It was that bad.

Alcohol policy: Heed my warning, CNU IS A DRY CAMPUS. It is not worth it to drink in your room, period. Unfortunately I got slammed with an alcohol violation that landed me several hours of community service. Long story short, I was not responsible at all but still got punished for being aware that others were drinking. Other reviews have said that RA's and Resident staff go looking for underage drinking in the dorms, and this is completely true. Every night, there are "hall checks" in which dorm staff go searching for possible alcohol violations. It is absolutely ridiculous. Oh, and an article in the CNU newspaper stated that the University Board recently voted against changing the dry campus policy. Looks like CNU will continue to be dry for quite a while. What a perfect time to transfer!

Overall, I found my experience at CNU to be a very negative one. I wasted $18K to come to this place and be unhappy for a very long 9 months. While my review may seem biased, consider this: I came to CNU with a positive attitude, and was determined to make it the best college experience possible. Unfortunately, it did not matter. All of the negative aspects of CNU surfaced as the year progressed, no matter how hard I tried to enjoy myself. When people come see tours of the school, all they see is the nice campus. They do not see all the underlying awful things CNU has to hide.

Think long and hard about coming to CNU. If you are coming because you did not get into Tech or JMU, just go to Radford, VCU, or ODU. Those schools will provide you with a much better social life and you will actually enjoy your freshman year. I would not recommend coming to CNU to my worst enemy.