Millikin University

Date: Sep 10 2010
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
Millikin was not my first choice school. The reason I went here was for the Musical Theatre Program. They have great fine arts programs here, but that's pretty much it. Let me start out about why the school is great.

Millikin offers a small classroom environment with class sizes ranging from 12-30, so your professors generally know who you are. The theatre and dance department is very good, classes are very relavent and challenging and they are currently working on building a new theatre and dance center. The campus itself is really pretty but there's only about 2 blocks of it.

Now for some not so great things about the Musical Theatre program… When I first auditioned for the Musical Theatre program at Millikin the staff wanted to make it clear that there is NO CUT SYSTEM. I have found that this statement is VERY misleading. At the end of freshman year, you have to pass "hurdles". If you fail to pass your hurdles, you are dropped from the program. The freshman class of Musical Theatre is 30… the senior class is about 12. I'm sure some people dropped, but every year these hurdles must be achieved to progress in the program. Rather than paying special attention to the students and nurturing their success in the program like many MT schools, it is immediately competitive. Freshmen are required to audition for mainstage productions and pass the Level 1 Curriculum for music students for their voice lessons; regardless of how much music theory training you've had in your life. So if you don't know any theory, you're pretty much screwed since you don't take that until your sophomore year - if you make it to your sophomore year, that is. Overall, the theatre department is great, with very nice staff (there are a few snooty professors, as to be expected with theatre) and it provides many performance opportunities for everyone on campus, not just theatre majors.

I'm deeply considering dropping my Musical Theatre major, so this is where the real dilemma comes in. If I were to major in another area of study, I would in no way get the same quality of education that I am receiving in my theatre courses. Professors don't stick around for too long - in fact, my current seminar professor is new and has no idea what the hell she is doing. She emails one of my other professors associated with the class for approval… when she in no way needs to. The fact that my professor revealed this information to our class is concerning enough.

Extra-curriculars are okay. There's a decent amount of organizations to get involved with and a lot of Greek Life. In terms of the party scene, the only thing there really is to do is go to frat parties, which to me, is pretty boring. There are really no huge parties either, considering there are only about 2000 students here. Sports teams are generally awful and football games are a waste of time.

The social scene is so cliquey, especially when you're in the theatre department. I feel like I'm in high school all over again. There's not much diversity, mostly it's a ton of middle class white kids. I haven't met very many bright people here as basically everyone who applies gets into the school and usually gets a pretty decent amount of scholarship so that they'll stick around.

The surrounding town is AWFUL. Decatur is an economic wreck. There's not much to around Decatur and Millikin advises students not to wander off campus because of safety risks. Merely wandering 100 feet off campus, I ran into a barren wasteland with a single shirtless drunk guy. I don't feel safe in this town or campus (at night at least on campus) and already there have been a few reported armed robberies in stores only a block away from campus. Creepy people walk in the campus town at all times of days and students barely use it.

Dorms are overpriced, especially for what they offer. They're not well-maintained and only offer a few crappy lounges and about two vending machines. The freshman meal plan is a ripoff and does not roll over your meals - if you don't use all 3 meals every day on cafeteria food, you're wasting your money. The cafeteria food is the worst I've ever experienced in comparison to visiting a few other colleges and offers a very slim variety of foods. Every other food place on campus closes at 11pm, except for Dominos pizza. There are very seldom options for food besides the cafeteria, subway, jimmy jons, dominos, 2 overpriced cafes and the C store (which barely offers anything).

I also feel totally trapped. There is pretty much no way to get out of this place if you live in Illinois and want to go home. Your best bet is to make a friend with a car who lives near you. There is no train station in Decatur and the nearest ones are in Champaign and Springfield. To get to these stations you have to take a grey hound from a really shady motel.

Overall, Millikin is a great school if you wish to be involved with fine arts or just want a small campus setting and wish to STAY on the campus all the time. There's not much to do in Decatur or really on campus either unless you take advantage of student life. There are a lot of frat parties, but nothing really huge and school pride/football games are basically non-existant. Don't go to Millikin if you're looking for the stereotypical college experience or wish to be apart of the community outside of you school.

I'll be transferring to a larger, Chicago-based school at the end of the year.