The University of Redlands

Date: Jul 22 2011
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
My major is Environmental Science and my minor is Biology. Since Environmental Science is part liberal arts part science, it is generally okay in terms of standards. In terms of Biology, the Biology/science professors here kind of suck. If science is your main focus, do not go here.

A warning tip if you want to pursue a B.S. in Environmental Science and then a M.S. in something related to it: this program has been severely modified. Before we were expected to take Chemistry classes all the way to O-Chem, basic Physics, Calculus, and Mathematical Modeling (as well as the basics of Environmental Science: Ecology, Impact Assessment, Biodiversity, Physical Geography, etc.). Now they have made the catalog to be in sync with Environmental Studies, safe for four classes. I was a transfer student who was trying to get into other programs, so luckily I have at least taken Basic Chem, a Biology series, and conceptual Physics.

Like all universities, there are good and bad teachers. But the Biology, math, and science teachers are known for really being crappy. They WILL help you, but the friendliness and clearness of their explanations is another tale. They have superb calculus tutoring services, but other tutoring services are small in number and hard to get.

The people are totally arrogant and sheltered. They are very conservative and generally Republican. They are used to being coddled by their parents. Seriously, no other university has parent/legal guardian signature sections on permission slips (except maybe community colleges where they allow high school students to attend).

If you want an excellent social life, come here (if you don't mind a plethora of snooti people or you yourself have conservative values). If you want a science major with small amounts of liberal arts education, don't come here. If you want friendly students, save yourself! Oh yeah - and don't leave anything like coffee mugs, laptops, cell phones, iPads, iPods, or anything remotely valuable unattended. There is a lot of petty theft here. I had my windows rolled down slightly on campus and someone jacked all of my cd's out of my car. And I've misplaced thermuses which never even showed up in the lost and found. They take them here!

The party life is great. Among students Redlands is a party school. Among employers it is prestigious for its rigorous academic standards. But even if you are a moderate partier, be careful not to party too much.

Ok dorms - I have never lived in a dorm here, but my friends do. I have lived in a dorm elsewhere. There is no other dorm on the PLANET that charges everyone in the building for maintenance costs. Here's an example - in the dorm I lived in, if a toilet broke because of old age they would just fix the darn thing. At Redlands they would charge everybody in the building a piece of the cost. And you get a lovely list of activities that will get you fined. The list is long, so keep note or you'll get fined!

Oh yeah, if you are worried about the Freshman 15 I'll tell you this: everyone loses weight here except the Freshmen in their first year. I'm being honest. I've dropped 10 pounds going here, and many residents and commuter students (beyond Freshmen) have reported similar results. There is a cafeteria with better quality food than most universities. As a result, people do not really gain weight here. But here's the catch - you can't gorge yourself. You use debit dollars to purchase individual items, with only dinner being all-you-can-eat (much to the dismay of the university which was blackmailed by parents into offering such a service). But seriously, who wants to gain 30 pounds during the school year?