Western New England University

Date: Jul 24 2010
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
WNEC is probably the best non-elite small college in New England. It isn't Amherst, but it's also not a diploma mill like some of its competitors in Connecticut. The campus is gorgeous and the faculty really care. They give their home phone numbers out to students on the first day of class, so there's no excuse for incomplete homework.

The administration seems a bit behind the times in some ways, but they are constantly expanding and modernizing the buildings. WNEC's neighborhood in Springfield is very nice. It's on the very edge of the city—about as far as you could get from downtown trouble spots. I never felt unsafe there at any time day or night.

Academics are often harder than students expect and many lazy students drop out early on. The faculty say that the quality of student coming onto campus increases each year and that's why they are pushing students harder. Students who might have been able to skate by 20 years ago will probably flunk out in the first semester today. WNEC seems to admit a lot of under-qualified students, then watches as they drop out and are replaced by qualified transfer students.

The engineering program has a national reputation and the curriculum is brutally hard from what I've seen. The faculty give the engineering students a lot of TLC, but those students still don't have a life outside class.

I most enjoyed that I could take an accounting minor as a PoliSci major without extending the time required for my degree. I don't believe that you can mix professional and liberal arts classes as much at other schools.