The St Mary's College of Maryland

Date: Mar 05 2013
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
Ok, I think I've figured out the St.Mary's principle from talking to quite a few kids here. If you knew you wanted to go to this school since like Sophomore or Junior year of highschool you are going to have a blast. It will most likely be a very peaceful 4 years where you go to class, do a bit of homework, make some close friends, befriend a professor, and then graduate. HOWEVER, if you weren't 100% sure (really make sure you want to were really committed to coming here)and went here as a safety or to "try it out" then you are going to be in all likelihood, fucking miserable here. It's like the goddamn shining for people out of the DC metro area or Baltimore. You cant "escape" the campus, as the closest town is a 15 minute drive. On campus there is barely anything to do besides clubs and homework. The school administration is incredibly laissez faire about what students do, and as long as you have food to eat (the only dining hall has awful hours (which they are changing next year)) and a place to sleep you are on your own, at least in the sense of make your own fun. You will get into a routine of doing the same thing everyday because there isnt anything else to do. The school has very little iniatives with the community to snag internships or jobs, they provide no transportation to anywhere except a bar 2 miles up the road, and the campus is dead at 9pm and earlier on the weekends because thats when everything from the gym to the dining hall closes. If you already accepted and are having second thoughts, I would start working on your application over the summer to transfer. The first semester is quite a bit more tolerable than the proceeding one because stuff is still new to you. If you are still deciding if you want to go, go to a student panel and ask the most important question you could ever ask the people here "What do you do for fun". This question, in my opinion, should be the deciding factor. And really probe them. If they say "hang out with friends" or "going out Saturday night", probe the fuck out of that person. Ask what they do for fun, what they do when they go out. Dont let them weasel out of the question. They arent trying to be misleading, they are honestly a nice bunch, and they really do "go out" for fun. But when you find out that "going out" is just walking around campus late at night, be wary of that. I almost feel like I should include an email to give you guys a list of questions to ask. I can?t so I?ll do that here.

1. What you do for fun? Make them be specific as possible. Ask them to talk about what they did the weekend before. What do you usually do? Where?

2. What opportunities are available to you on campus. Not just clubs, but internships, off campus opportunities, weekend trips, anything. Are you doing something at high school? Biking club? Computer club? Ask if they have it.

3. What?s their favorite part about St.Marys? What you are looking for is if they answer with something you can only get at that school (really intimate with their professors) instead of something you can get anywhere (the ?friendships? and ?the atmosphere?). FYI you can make friends anywhere with other people anywhere.

4.Why did you choose St.Marys over other schools. Again probe. If they say ?they have a good department? or ?the atmosphere? ask exactly what that means and why the other schools didn?t have it.

Again, don?t pester or harangue these guys, but really try to get straight forward answers. Most of my experience in asking why these people why they stay here all for years usually result in answers that aren?t unique to this school, like the friendships, or the atmosphere, or the beauty of it. Remember there is always stuff to do, watching paint dry is ?doing something?. The academics are very solid, the majority of professors are helpful and passionate, and it is ?peaceful?. But you need to ask yourself its worth spending 4 years just for that. Im not going to talk about the academics or anything else too much because Ive only been here 2 semesters and I haven?t had every professor in every department. Just remember that you are going to have to spend 4 years and realistically think about what you want/would want to do there.