Champlain College

Date: Jul 03 2011
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)
I am currently returning to Champlain for my sophomore year this september. I am a communications major and overall I am happy to have chosen Champlain and can't wait to return. First off the state of Vermont and specifically the "city" of Burlington are beautiful and a great place to attend college. I put "city" in quotations because it is only a city by Vermont standards. Coming from Jersey or any other metro area Burlington is more of a large town than a city. Friends and students from smaller towns in New England appreciate the size and population of Burlington a bit more than me, but any person regardless of where you come from will feel comfortable in Burlington because it has everything you could ask for. The downtown area and church street provide the lively city feel while the ski resorts and hiking areas outside the city gives the area the perfect balance of nature and civilization.

Personally I did not want to attend a smaller school like champlain when first starting my college search, however UVM which is actually right up against champlain campus at times, gives Burlington the big college town feel with the groovy uvy having around 12,000 students. Making friends outside of Champlain is a great idea and luckily my good friend from home attends UVM so we often chill at each-others schools and dorms. So regardless of what size school you are looking for both large and small college experiences are offered in Burly. If you want to keep it small with champlain's 2,000 undergrads, you dont have to bother with the big UVM up the hill.

As for the boring and least favorite part for any student the academic work, teachers, and classes are all manageable, enjoyable, and educational…some more than others. The COR program you may have heard about is a terrible idea and one of champlain's biggest problems, along with the lesser problem of parking. The COR classes basically means each semester you have 2 mandatory classes everyone in your grade takes at the same time. It gets annoying, but some of the COR classes aren't that terrible, the fact you cant pick 2 out of your 5 classes is the worst part.

I cant speak for any major other than my own, but I am extremely happy with my decision to major in communications. Both advisers for communication students are great. I have taken a class with my own advisor and he is a great teacher. The classes are interesting and after your freshmen year you have a better idea what area of your major you want to delve into.

Finally to adress some of the other comments and conceptions and misconceptions of champlain. This is a game design school which means if you cant stand videogame nerds (and i mean some legit redefine your definition of a nerd nerds) then stay away. Most are harmless and just keep to their click of meganerds and play league of legends locked away in their single in the basement (extremely accurate statement.) There are a lot of stoners (guilty) and some students experiment with other drugs and shit. I just stick to bud and beer but if you're for the war on drugs, again this school isn't for you. However if your openminded, outgoing, outdoorsy, want to have some of the greatest dorms possible as a freshmen and after, have a fair workload that allows you to enjoy your time at school, and have a great college experience champlain is the place.