Marymount University

Date: Jan 20 2012
Major: Design Arts - Industrial Design/Graphic Design/etc (This Major's Salary over time)
I knew almost the instant I started classes that I would be transferring out of Marymount ASAP. First, lets start with the student body. If you're highly intelligent (like I consider myself to be) you will be frustrated with nearly everyone you meet. I don't know how many times I've had to help friends spell words that I learned to spell in elementary school, or how many times I've 'face palmed' at the down right stupidity of my peers. Half of my history class didn't know WHY THE CIVIL WAR WAS FOUGHT! But hey, maybe you don't mind being the smartest person on campus, but then you have to deal with the snobbishness. With the constant teasing and gossip, I feel like I'm still in high school. Most students come from either a very wealthy home or at very least act like they're some hot shit.

Being located so close to DC, you'd think that most students would spend their free time and weekends going to the many events and clubs in the city, but that is not the case. Many, many parties are thrown Thursday-Sunday, most of them either being broken up by the police or someone ends up in the hospital due to alcohol poisoning or drug overdose. Oh, and drugs are VERY easily found on campus. While pot is the drug of choice for most (seriously, like 95% of the student body smokes) PCP and angel dust have also been offered to me on many occasions by the campus drug dealer.

On to the dorms: I live in Rowley hall, and can say from experience that if you can commute, then do so. I have lived in two rooms of Rowley (switched rooms due to roommate issues) and both have had an odor that I couldn't get to go away. Still can't figure out what they are either. The first room smelled of fish from day one, and my current room has a mixture of a musky old food smell and that 'bad pot' smell, but that may just be my new roommate. The bathrooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors are not pleasant, as every time I have had to use them they had a horrible odor or there was piss on the floors/sinks/showers. On the 4th floor, however, I have not had a problem. The bathrooms are usually pretty clean and never smell. But, unfortunately, the fourth floor has a few issues. First off, getting maintenance to come up and fix anything is nearly impossible. My wall lamp sparked out and nearly caught fire and they only fixed it a week later, leaving me to deal with the fear of it happening again. We've had the pipes in the ceiling break on a couple occasions, flooding the hallway. And if anything gets on the rug in the hallways, your best bet is to try to clean it up yourself. We had a girl throw up and no one did anything about it for 3 days. The hallway STILL smells of vomit. My friends in the other dorms say this is common in Berg and Gerard as well. If anything, Butler is a decent hall.

And finally, academics. During high school I was dual enrolled in my local community college and got a lot of my core requirements completed through that. I can honestly say that I felt more challenged at my community college than I have at Marymount to date. The classes are sub par and taught by professors that teach at multiple schools in the area and are only on campus for a very short amount of time. And the fact that you are REQUIRED to take Theology and Philosophy is kind of a waste of time. (Personal opinion.)