Stonehill College

Date: Jan 03 2014
Major: Economics (This Major's Salary over time)
I never thought I'd be sitting here writing such a negative review of my college. I'll preface by saying I went into the school with high hopes and optimism, things that were gradually taken away through the course of the semester. After one semester at this school, it's time for me to move on and I feel like my experience should be shared with all of those who are looking into Stonehill. First off, we have a name that all new students are quick to discover - "Clonehill". I can't imagine anything more fitting. The school is painfully homogeneous, despite what their marketing department has led people to believe. Every magazine cover and website photo is littered with people of different cultures, religions, and skin colors (just check their website, all the cover photos include at least two people of color), but your day-to-day life is going to consist of white suburban prepschool kids wearing North Face jackets, Nike hoodies, and Uggs. The school is really starting to push their religious agenda too, which bothers me as a secular student. Their new logo prominently displays a cross, their new president is a priest (shocker), and they were all too eager to spend half a million dollars on a pompous, self-righteous inauguration ceremony. $500,000 is a LOT, considering almost every building needs ceiling repairs (they all leak and many of the ceiling tiles are falling off. Especially in Duffy and Cushing Martin). All students are required to take a zero-credit "Transitions" course their first semester freshman year, which is essentially just a focus group for the marketing department. Every class (It only meets 6 or 7 times, but it's at 10:00 AM) we were asked about how we felt about marketing decisions by the college, asked about social media, etc. To top it off though, this ZERO CREDIT transitions course can count as a FAILING GRADE on your GPA if you miss the class too many times, or if you neglect to turn in your "reflection paper." The name is self explanatory - we had to reflect on our time in transitions, brilliant. Health Services has lost health records I've had faxed to them on multiple occasions, causing them to place holds on my account. My first day of classes this was an issue as I could not see my schedule and thus did not know at what times I had which classes, causing me to miss my first two. Now that the semester is over, they've done it again. They've placed a hold on my account FOR THE SAME SHOT that I had sent to them at the beginning of the semester, and they refuse to release my grades and transcripts until it's sent to them. The best part? Health services is closed for the entirety of Christmas break, so I am unable to see my grades, request transcripts to send to my new school, or do anything related to my academic affairs until the start of the spring semester. Fantastic right? This last part was actually my reason for writing. I was willing to let the rest of it go and simply move on with my life, but Stonehill isn't even content letting me do that. If you're a very wealthy suburban Caucasian male/female who enjoys conformity, desires to be a business major, and is a devout Catholic, you might have a good time here. Otherwise, I'd advise you to look elsewhere.