John Carroll University

Date: Jul 31 2012
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
I just finished my first year at Carroll. I'll be returning for my sophomore year in the fall, but hopefully I'll be able to transfer out this year.

Among the community of people who know Carroll, it has a great reputation. But the problem is not only do most people not know of it, but the reputation might be slightly overblown. The best school is the Boler School of Business where I've taken a few classes. They are good classes and for the most part well-taught, but the people who go to this school can be kind of clique-ish. Overall it's my favorite school, but I don't want to major in business.

That being said, there is nothing much else worth anyone's time here. They say the sciences are good, but most of the people majoring here want to be doctors and therefore are less serious about learning the material as they are earning A's for grad school. The other departments like English, Sociology, etc. aren't that great and I feel like I'm not being very challenged in any of these subjects. The professors are a hit or miss and at times it can feel like the assignments relate very little to the class and feel like high school projects.

The core is terrible. Sure it's commendable that a LAC would push education in all areas, but there are way too many requirements - and they're so specific! If I were to graduate from Carroll, I would be able to take maybe one purely elective course.

Don't come here if you're not a business major.

I could deal with the academics though, I'd maybe even be a business major if that was all that was wrong with the school.

The administration is terrible. They aren't personable, they never interact with students, they don't care about improving the current students' experience but rather pleasing professors and alumni. The incoming class this year is twice as big as the last class. Carroll raised tuition for next year. To build more dorms to house all of these students? No. Instead, they are kicking upperclassmen off of campus and building a memorial fountain. A fountain.

The food also sucks. There is one dining hall on campus that closes at like 7 or 8 each night. Your choices include pizza, an unidentifiable fried something, semi-cooked chicken, an old salad bar, or cereal. There is an Einstein's Bagels and the Inn Between, but they're both expensive and have no selection. My meals are not at all nutritious.

As if this wasn't enough to turn you away, the social life here is incredibly boring. Forget parties during the week, sometimes there aren't any over the weekend! Usually, there's one worth walking through the snow for but most of the time they get shut down. Sometimes what these kids call a "party" is an empty room packed with as many sweaty, drunk people as they can fit - no music, no dancing, no pong, nothing. I can count the amount of good parties I went to last year at Carroll on my fingers. People go out to bars and clubs too, there are a few. They're usually crowded and an okay time. The best nights I had were small, private parties and impromptu hangouts after walking through the snow for an hour or two without a good party in sight.

Don't come here if you're looking for fun weekends. (Unless, of course, your idea of fun is a bunch of people crowded around a TV with some Natty.)

Oh, and Sunday mornings are the best. I just loved waking up and trudging to the bathroom only to find flooded floors, puke in the sinks, and broken toilets. The cleaning lady on my floor was some old lady who talked to herself (Sweet lady, but terrible bathroom cleaner).

But let me say something good before I submit: I've met some cool people here. Granted, some are transferring and most of the others are stuck here (due to financial reasons, their family being alumni, etc.), but it's still cool to know them. I've also known a few professors who have been cool and inspiring as well. Some of them really do care about teaching their students and helping them as much as they can. If you want a relationship with your professor here, you will get it. I even had a relationship with my Chemistry lab professor who taught me in a class of 50 other kids and had many more lab classes.

Carroll would probably be a good school for a commuter or someone who is not at all social. I don't totally regret coming to Carroll, I just wish I could now go to a different school without all these transfer applications!