Salisbury is a small campus with about 7,000 undergraduates and on my bike I can get from one corner to the opposite corner of campus in just over 2 minutes.  I always felt I would want to be at a small school, but within the first few weeks of being here at Salisbury I realized that the small campus was starting to feel confining and I also didn't want to see all the same people every day like high school.  There are certainly schools smaller than Salisbury but in the grand scheme of things, SU is a small campus.  While the campus is small (too small for me), the campus is aesthetically pleasing.  The campus is kept up well and during the spring the campus definitely looks good with the trees and flowers.  Salisbury is also in the process of building a brand new building for the Business department, which will be state of the art.  Perhaps the best thing they've done on-campus is that starting in August of 2010 the campus will become smoke-free.  I'm not sure how that'll work being that nearly a third of the student population smokes, but it is a good decision by the higher-ups at Salisbury.

The surrounding area is not good.  They tell you this in your freshman welcome weekend straight up.  The top members of the faculty tell you to not go out at night and they showed a PowerPoint presentation on the statistics of crime in the Salisbury area. 

The weather in Salisbury is awful.  During the beginning of the first semester in September and October it's nice, but from Halloween to early-mid April it's horrible.  The weather is inconsistent as it'll rain for a week straight; it'll be inconsistent from day to day with it being 35 degrees one day and 75 the next and then back to 45 the day after that.  The rain in Salisbury isn't just rain, it is cold rain and when it rains it is freezing cold.  While there are numerous weather inconsistencies, the one consistent aspect is the wind.  30 MPH winds are normal and riding my bike becomes a chore.  The thing is the wind doesn't always go in one direction either.  I've seen flags looking like they were being tossed around.

I wouldn't call the classes at Salisbury challenging, sure the tests can be hard and some of the material could be hard to understand, but the classes are not that much more difficult than high school, and the classes I've been in have been no bigger than 35 people; also just like high school.  First semester I had the worst teacher I have ever had, he did not follow his syllabus, he spoke broken English, he didn't care about the students, and called us out for not getting into big debates and said coming to our class made him sad.  The reason for the class not being an engaging enough was that the class was a 101 class and the students, myself included, had limited knowledge on Political Science.  My professors for the most part have been good, but it is been a mixed bag.  This semester I had one that did not care and another that was a grad student ready to get out of Salisbury.  The other two were older but very passionate about their subjects, Sociology and History, and I enjoyed each class this semester. 

The food on campus is not the best but not the worst however, the problem is that there is limited eating.  I understand that SU is not a large school, but on-campus they only have one “restaurant-style” place and one small cafeteria along with a coffee shop and 4 satellite dining food stands around campus.  With the limited on-campus eating, the lines get long and it gets real crowded really fast, especially around lunch time.

Of course we all have heard the reputation Salisbury has as a party school, and I can assure you that whatever you have heard about SU's party scene, its worse.  It is literally out of control.  It is my theory that the school's proximity (40 minutes) to Ocean City and the beach attracts the kids that want to party and “have a good time”.  Every day of the week there are parties going on at all times during the day.  There was a party going on in my off-campus apartment at 3 in the afternoon on a Tuesday afternoon one time.  There is also a HUGE drug problem in Salisbury on top of the HUGE alcohol issue at Salisbury.  The lacrosse team is known to have multiple drug users on the team, as I've been told by upperclassmen I work with that they've been to the lacrosse team's parties and each party had a line of cocaine at them.  Most of the time the coaches and administration just turn a blind eye because the lacrosse players and football players as well are treated like heroes on campus.  This special treatment goes to their heads and gives them their inflated egos.  I am a former lacrosse player and I love the sport, but the players have turned me off from supporting them at Salisbury because of their actions.  They walk around campus yelling and laughing hysterically wearing tank tops, hats on backwards, with big sunglasses like they are stars.  The football players are also bad.  They walk around in their practice jerseys, they are loud and obnoxious in the cafeteria, and are for some reason revered by other students.  The problem is that on the Eastern Shore of Maryland there are no other sports, so for a lot of people Salisbury's D III sports teams are the main attraction and the athletes here don't have to deal with the reality that they're Division III athletes.

I work with Campus Police so I know first-hand how bad the parking situation is on campus.  I get complaints all the time, but I tell them that while I agree with them, it is something we all have to deal with.  The lots that students are allowed to park in get full by 9 in the morning, after that good luck.  Faculty is always complaining about parking as well, they have 3 lots designated for them only, but complain about a visitor in their spots or when there was snow on the ground they complained about them not clearing the spots well enough. 

The bottom line is that the students that love Salisbury are the ones that love to drink and party and care about the rest of their lives later.  Students at SU are not the brightest as the requirements to be accepted are not difficult to meet.  Nearly all the students I have met or overheard are talking about beer, partying, surfing, or sex, and the student community at Salisbury is certainly close-minded as a whole.  The students are apathetic and just want to party, and I am truly concerned for the country when I realize that these people here at Salisbury are going to be in the real world serving all of us in the near future. 

I finished my freshman year at Salisbury and the moment I left, was the last time I will ever visit the Eastern Shore let alone the town of Salisbury.  I am transferring to the University of Maryland in the fall and I could not be more excited for that opportunity.  I'll be able to be within driving distance from home, UMD has a Criminal Justice program which SU does not, and the campus at UMD is obviously far bigger.  Maryland will be a great fit for me, and Salisbury was an awful fit.