LIU Post

Date: Dec 29 2015
Major: Education (This Major's Salary over time)
My advice: Don't go to this school. If you are already enrolled and started, then read on.

So you're like many of us. You saw the beautiful campus, got a nice tour, was told about all these amazing things on campus by those friendly success coaches and guides, and now you're here. I hate to break it to you, but you've more than likely been lied to. This school is over 6 million dollars in debt, and they are clawing in any way they can to keep warm bodies (and money) flowing through the school.

Let me guess, when you showed interest in the school, did someone show you the course catalog? You probably saw all these interesting courses and classes, right? Truth: Probably only a small portion of those classes in that catalog are still being taught. Most departments have little funding, thus they tend to stick to the basic courses and a very limited amount of electives. Were you told there is a certain club or sport? Double check, because they may have lied to you. I have heard stories of admission "salesmen" lying about everything from claiming we have fencing, a rifle range, (fyi the rifle range on campus is a theater, not an actual range) to telling a poor kid that they had a full animation program. (they have like 2 classes being taught tops. The guy was in tears when my friends told him the truth.)

But hey, look at all these cool stores! Yeah, Post has become a shopping mall, and at your expense. Want to use the computer lab? Go to the far part of campus, into an overcrowded library, hope and pray your computer doesn't crash, and use the couple of printers that might decide to work today. But hey, at least we have a boutique, tech store, and merch store in Hillwood, which replaced useless things like a games room, computer lab, and art gallery. One thing you'll notice quickly is how there is almost never anyone in those store beside employees and the occasional old person who stops in after visiting the school to go to some lecture or whatever Post is selling out to today. They are literally a waste of space. Thankfully, they did put a tiny lab in the corner of the upper level of Hillwood, but who knows how long that will stay. And if you think Post will let you know ahead of time when they yank out a student resource, think again. Post will always put business ventures over student resources.

Professors can be hit or miss: many are good, some are way too good for this school (like Dr. Soupious), but some will screw you over. Post has this nasty way of keeping you here longer than you should be, and it is usually by professors who are way too much by the book. Had a bad semester? Family troubles? Too bad, you're paper is a week overdue, you fail. This is especially trending (and troubling) in the history department, since they have basically no funding. They'd rather you retake it so they can get a sliver of more funding than give you an incomplete.

Now onto my actual major: Art Education. Post barely prepared me for teaching. The formats they use for lesson planning is simply not used at schools (Danielson model, seriously?), and they do not know how to teach you classroom management. At best, you'll get a few cute lesson ideas. (which I have had yet to use in ANY of the classes I teach) However, the problem of quality education programs at colleges is not just a LIU Post problem, but a nationwide issue. Seriously, go ask your professor what to do when you have an eighth grader with an IEP, who is dancing around the room, getting in fights with kids, does not do any work in the class, even when you work one on one with him, forcing him to be removed from your class to sit with the chairman, while the administration is desperately trying to get in contact with the student's distant mother, and let me know what they say. Or how about when you have students that are not interested in art in your classroom? Post's Art Ed department simply does not do even close to a sufficient job addressing real-life classrooms. These professors haven't taught in a K-12 classroom in over 20 years and times have changed.

This school is ridiculously overpriced for the lack of resources. (almost 40k a year, not including dorming) And if you rely on scholarships, keep in mind that they will not go up with the rise in tuition, which has gone up every year I have attended. You will end up spending your senior year taking out more loans, trying to work more hours, while trying to get all your credits in. I hope you don't fail, because I have seen some do because trying to work to pay off 7k in debt due to the gap in scholarships, while doing 21 credits so you can get out of this hellhole is almost impossible.

So in closing: Get out. Transfer after your first semester or year. You will thank me. Go to a place that sees you as a person more than a trail of dollar bills. Get off this sinking ship, because I guarantee this place will be bankrupt within 5 years and probably renamed again when it gets bought out by another college…if anyone even wants to buy this shitshow.