Franklin and Marshall College

Date: Apr 30 2012
Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
I started at F&M as a freshman in Fall 2007. The academics there are great - small class sizes, great faculty accesibility, and it's relatively easy to get involved in research, local projects and activities. If you want to do well, you can and will - this is the type of place where you get out what you put into it.

My only objection was the student body. I made a few good friends through competitive sports, my classes and extracurricular activities. However, I found the rest of the student body, in general, to be uninterested in learning, close-minded, mildly racist and tiresomely homophobic.

While I am obviously generalizing, I can point to a few events that support my beliefs. At one point during my sophomore year, there was what appeared to be a racially-motivated verbal and physical attack on several minority students by other F&M students (it was in the news - just google "F&M" and "racism.") I felt that the administration handled this situation poorly in terms of transparency and fostering an initative to prevent things like this from happening in the future. In terms of homophobia, I generally felt like F&M was not a safe place for LGBTQA students because of the testosterone-charged greek culture that dominated campus life: Hearing a group of frat boys tossing around words like "faggot" and using the word "gay" pejoratively, in passing, was not uncommon. Because I grew up between several diverse and liberal cities, coming to this type of conservative, homogenous social environment was an absolute nightmare.

In the end, I felt that the student culture at F&M was detracting from my overall educational experience and happiness and I transferred out to a university that had a much more progressive and intellectual student body. My decision to transfer was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life (I graduated in 2011 from my new school and I have no regrets in leaving F&M). Of my closer friends who attended F&M with me, two of them also transferred out (one for the same reason as me), and both were happy with their decisions. Hopefully this review will be helpful for incoming students or students considering transferring - I wish someone had let me know in advance.