McDaniel College

Date: Sep 15 2010
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)
McDaniel's academics are truly amazing. Since being here I've re-discovered how much I enjoy learning for the sake of learning, so much so that I'm actually excited to go to class and do homework(!). All of my classes are discussion-based with heavy emphasis on ideas rather than simple textbook facts. Professors, who act more like mentors than just teachers, encourage students to think for themselves and become worldly individuals. If you're looking to expand your point-of-view, go on to graduate school, or if you just really, really love learning about new and interesting things, you've come to the right place.

With that being said, there are a lot of things I wish the college would improve on. A lot of students treat this place like it's an extension of their high school, so be prepared to face all the cliques and drama (I graduated HS four years ago so I'm completely over that mindset). Most of them seem too bogged down with Greek life or sports (or their cliques) that they rarely care about much else, not something I would expect from a school with such a strong academic persona. The only reason IMHO that McDaniel doesn't rank up there with Amherst, Skidmore, or Oberlin is due to all the people they accept, who in turn end up bringing the school down. Raise the admission standards and the college would have a much better reputation. That's not to say there aren't any cool or open-minded people here, but I feel the immaturity shown by a good number of students makes the environment much more negative than it needs to be.

Westminster isn't exactly a great town either (it can be rather sketchy at night). However, Baltimore is only a half hour drive away (DC is an hour south via rural roads), so you won't be bored to tears if you find someone with a car.

A word about the food: it's not as bad as the other reviews have said. Go to Sandella's and get a sandwich wrap or mozerella sticks if GLAR isn't appealing.

Same sort of thing with the dorms. They aren't as bad as you'd think. But again, leave campus and Westminster and hit up Bmore as often as you can to avoid going crazy.