Franklin and Marshall College

Date: Dec 07 2011
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
F&M is a decent school, but if you don't fit the F&M mold, you're likely to be disappointed. Grades are cutthroat in most majors, especially the sciences and business or politics related majors- prospective business majors even have to have one of the top GPAs in order to declare- and you're going to find yourself doing more work than you ever expected. I've done summer session, winter session, and a year off campus at other schools (one major state university and one community college), and though the quality of my work was the same, I got As for what would have gotten me Bs or Cs at F&M.

For me, the worst part of school is counseling services. Regular health services is fine- the doctors, nurses, and secretaries are all very approachable, and you can go about most health problems- but counseling services suck. The only thing they're good for is negotiating with professors if a student is struggling for psychiatric reasons. But they're only set up for an average of six sessions per student. If you're going through something even a little more serious and you're honest with your counselor, you'll be heavily encouraged to go on medical leave, and many students never come back.

As far as campus life goes…there are pockets of non-drinkers that you can hang out with, but even these pockets are getting to be more alcohol-friendly. Back in the day, the anime and gaming group was the place to go for sober activities (all night anime showings on Fridays, DDR club nights on Saturdays), but the non-drinking members have graduated, and now even members of this group tend to drink. Frat parties are overrated- you'll probably find yourself going to them with your hall mates for your first month or two, but they get old really fast. If you want intellectual stimulation, there are plenty of school-sponsored activities, and these are usually pretty interesting- the Writers' House in particular brings in really fascinating guests, especially if you're interested in writing or related fields. F&M is worth going to for the speakers alone.

The professors are almost always approachable, but you have to be willing to approach them. I've had some really rough semesters, and even when I've been at my worst as a student, I've almost never had anything bad to say about the professors. They gave me every advantage; I screwed up on my own. Unfortunately, some of the best professors in my department are no longer at the school due to leave, retirement, or lack of tenure, but even the worst professors at F&M are still pretty good.

The clubs are easy to get into, depending on what you're looking for. If you want to write for any of the school publications (the Reporter, the Dispatch, etc), you can pretty much just send an article to the editor or section editor and it'll get published. If you want to sing in the a capella groups or get into the theater department shows, there's a bit more competition. I can't speak for the sports teams, as I am not an athlete, but from what I can tell, the athletes themselves are the only ones who really care about sports.

The dining services tend to peak and flow. When I started, there was a Quiznos on campus, and KIVO's was a burger joint that was, unlike KIVO's, open outside of dining hours. Since then, Quiznos has been replaced by a wing on MBT (meaning that something that benefited the entire student body was removed in favor of something that benefited approximately one sixteenth of the student body), the food at D-Hall went through changes to make it better and then worse again, the Life Sciences Cafe became a sandwich place, a crepe and quiche place, and now it's back to a sandwich and salad place. After a certain time of night, the only place to eat on campus is Pandinis, which tends to be very unhealthy and very repetitive. However, Pandinis appears to be on the rise- they just put in a new salad bar that actually has really fresh and tasty ingredients, and I've been told that they plan to put in a fresh-ingredients Mexican food section next semester. So maybe things will be better in the spring.

Independent study is there for students who want it. There are plenty of research opportunities (or so I've heard, as I'm not in the sciences), and if you want to do an independent study outside of research, you pretty much just have to ask a professor in that department to advise you (and finding a professor that you connect with isn't hard, at all). I've done two independent studies since coming here, and I'm slated to do a third next semester. The first was a staged reading and editing of my first full-length play (written in a play writing class at F&M), the second was to write my third full-length play (the second also written in a different play writing class here), and next semester, I'm doing a staged reading of the play I wrote during my last independent, this time directed by another student (who is also getting independent study credit). F&M, largely due to its small size and decent student-to-faculty ratio, is just really good about helping students succeed outside of the classroom.

There's more I can comment on, but this review is getting to be pretty long, so I'm going to stop now. Basically, the school is good for some things and not for others, and it really depends on your personality. Don't go here if you have significant emotional or mental issues, as the academic stress and lack of support from counseling will make you feel even worse, don't go here for the dining plan, and don't go here if you're expecting to get easy As in every class. Otherwise, the school is great. If you have any more questions (about housing and other things), my inbox is open.