The University of Mary Washington

Date: Oct 22 2014
Major: Linguistics (This Major's Salary over time)
Note: I selected that I would attend a different university, but this is only due to the field I wish to enter, there is no real "linguistics" department here. I love UMW and I wish they had a speech pathology program.

Pros: All courses are taught by actual professors. There are NO teacher assistants on campus. Well, there are lab assistants in the science courses, but they assist, never teach exclusively.

Small, friendly, and usually inclusive campus life. Staff all over campus are approachable, and students are usually friendly. Highly recommend making friends with the dining hall card swipers, because if you're a nice person, sometimes they let you in without swiping if you're low on meals.

Technology is being updated and new facilities are being built to keep up with the campus's growth. Administration understands the school is changing. There are three on-campus dining options and some of them have vegan/vegetarian options! PRISM, our LGBT society, is our largest group on campus. It's a very accepting campus about gender and sexuality. Some profs are less accepting than others, but there are plenty that are allies.

Cons: The housing department is nitpicky about charging you for "damages" and doesn't abide by their own rules; I applied to stay in my same room for this year but they moved me anyway due to flimsy reasons.

Administration isn't the best about most things though; they keep giving students a runaround on if credits transfer for certain courses, etc.

Due to the construction of new buildings, if you're coming here anytime between now and 2017, I hope you like construction noise Monday-Saturday, 5AM to 5PM!

Regarding the food: the vegan/vegetarian options are very limited and rather bland. There are healthy eating options on campus but they get boring very quickly. The unhealthy options also get boring very quickly. Eating literally anywhere off campus becomes a joyful experience after a while of blah campus food.

There is a party scene, but it's kind of "underground" so you have to try to find it. I'm not a party girl so that's why this is a con to me. Cops always shut parties down early due to neighborhood complaints.