Merrimack College

Date: Jan 02 2010
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
Even though I have had some decent professors and have met a few good friends here, this school is not worth the money. The ?sticker price? is around 40 thousand, and if you don?t have a scholarship (sports or otherwise) you?re looking at roughly 24 thousand a year. Like another reviewer said, I wonder where all the money goes. While it looked like a promising school during the tours and other visits, nothing was really exceptional about Merrimack, and it certainly isn?t worth the high price. The social scene sucks, professors in general weren?t all that outstanding in my experience, and the campus is dull. One thing about the social scene is that there really isn?t much to do. North Andover has nothing to offer the college student, so if you don?t have a car or don?t feel like going to Boston (a 20 minute walk and then another 20-30 minutes on the train), you?re stuck here. Drinking in the dorms gets old fast, and chances are you would get caught if you were being loud, even outside of quiet hours. If you?re not a big drinker (like me), other ?fun? usually involves movies, xbox, and wandering aimlessly around the tiny campus, at least that?s what most of the people I met did on weekends. There are some student clubs and intramurals, but none of them interested me. Many people also chose to either go home (a ton of students live in the north shore area, or less than 20 minutes away) or visit friends at another school, so it sometimes became a ghost town on weekends. Academics aren?t much better; the professors aren?t terrible, but they?re not all that great either. Even worse is that they switched to a 4 course system, as opposed to the 5 course, so you?re getting less education for your money, and if you do poorly in a class it matters a lot more GPA wise, if that matters to you. And another thing, the acceptance rate is 79%, higher than both Bridgewater State and UMASS Dartmouth (check collegeboard.com if you don?t believe me), so it?s obvious that the college is getting desperate and will let almost anybody in. I am happy to be leaving after one disappointing semester and after having given this school many chances to impress me even a little bit. I gave it a chance, but I do not see myself spending my college career here and I do not want to waste any more time or money at this school. Basically, read the other ratings and that will give you a very good idea of what it is like here, except some of the positive ratings sound like they were written by an admissions counselor or something. Hopefully my next college will be better, I can?t imagine it being much worse than Merrimack, and if it is at least I won?t be spending 100 thousand on a mediocre education and a degree that will get me nowhere.