Iona College

Date: Jan 05 2012
Major: Finance (This Major's Salary over time)
I came to Iona in 2008 and I thought it was going to be a great experience. The tour guides were very enthusiastic about the college (which you don't always find to be true on some college tours) and the campus is beautiful (this hasn't changed thankfully). However, they are lying through their teeth to everyone that takes their tours.

This school simply can't live up to its reputation. I used to think the business program was pretty good and was happy with my decision to attend Iona, but after two years I became very disgruntled with the business program. It is greatly lacking in more than a few areas. I wish I would have known about this website when I was applying to colleges. I would have made a different decision. By the time i realized that I had made the wrong decision, I didn't have any way I could afford to transfer out of the school for a better university.

Academics are said to be excellent. This is a lie. Most classes are incredibly easy to skate through with minimal effort. I honestly expected that the workload would be more challenging and would teach me time-management among other things. This never happened. I took 6 classes (you need 4 classes a semester to be considered full-time) through most of college and had a lot of free time. Studying seems to be optional in most classes. The professors claim they want you to study, but they rarely will test your knowledge of what they wanted you to study other than on exams. You are rarely penalized if you can't answer questions (even in 300 and 400 level classes) that are sometimes based on material from 100 or 200 level classes. They don't promote a desire to learn in their students, which is evident in their students' demeanor in class.

They recently instituted a mandatory attendance policy due to the lack of attendance in classes. It has improved attendance but has not led to better learning. I can tell that many of the students never look at the material outside of class and just find people to cheat off of before the exams, which in general are not that difficult. Most professors could care less if you use your phone during an exam and rarely punish cheating which runs rampant.

Most classes require that you work in groups for a project that counts for a large portion of your grade (30-40%). The students will generally put a decent amount of work into these projects and they are good for those who want to be thrust into a leadership role in small groups (2-6 people).

The social life is terrible. This is a suitcase school. For your own good, don't believe the people, who say the students stay on weekends. This school is a ghost town on weekends. The students, who live on campus, display a strong need to be around their families and friends from high school at home rather than on campus, which kind of defeats the purpose of living on-campus. My advice is to join a clique as soon as you get there or you will be excluded from just about everything that happens around campus.

Proximity to NYC is great but if you are broke it will mean nothing. There used to be a good number of bars on North Ave. but that is no more. Beechmont, Spectators, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Smokehouse (beer and wine only) are the best places to go for drinks; however, they are all pretty strict with carding given their proximity to a few colleges. (Iona, Monroe, etc.)

Drug use is pretty high on campus. It is very easy to get pretty much any type of drug you want. Most likely someone on your dorm floor is a drug dealer.

Your roommates will probably suck freshman year and the administration is less than willing to help you switch unless you are in grave danger in your current situation. The switching process can take over a month. The rooms are way too small. You will literally be stepping on each other in some of the dorms. Single rooms, a few double rooms, 5, 6, 7, 9, or 10 people rooms are available. They give you a little more space for 6-10 people but not nearly enough to be comfortable. There was a new dorm planned but the town council voted against it since the surrounding residents are not fans of the students. This is a red-flag in my opinion that the residents that surround a small college (about 4,000 students) are pissed off with a student body that generally isn't around the campus outside of school hours.

Food selection is pretty good on an off campus. Quiznos is on campus. The delis are great for sandwiches and beer. The pizza is good and one of the best places on the meal plan is Smokehouse Chili Grill. Food is pretty expensive wherever you go but they have some cheap options at most places.

Overall I would not recommend this school. You can get your money's worth elsewhere.