Warren Wilson College

Date: May 25 2017
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
I grew up in the Asheville/Hendersonville area and knew a lot of Wilson alums that graduated in the 2000's/90's era. It was a COMPLETELY different and BETTER school back then. To put it bluntly: Wilson has run out of money. We just fired about 25 faculty and reduced a good portion to 3/4 or part-time positions. We have cut the major I initially came here for and are adding new ones in an effort to attract a "new kind" of student (aka not rich hippie kids who came here to study activism and environmental stuff, bc that pot has dried tf up.) I just finished my first year here and am transferring in the spring semester to App state. The dorms are FILTHY and falling apart, ALL OF THEM. They shut down my freshman dorm after I moved into other housing (bc. it was so gross) and are planning on tearing it down. I have seen mushrooms growing in people's closets, black mold, a dorm had to be shut down and renovated bc of asbestos and lead paint and after it opens this coming fall it's neighboring dorm is being shut down for the same reasons. Also if you dont like coming home to literally weed smoke filled halls, good luck. Teachers are either young and inexperienced or older and disgruntled with the institution. I have had some great professors but this semester…well…don't take a Dr. Goodwin class. She cancelled two FULL WEEKS and miscellaneous days on top of letting us go early nearly every day for NO REASON. She then told us to lie about it on her evaluation to the school bc she thought she did nothing wrong. Most of the classes are discussion based so get fucking ready to piss a bunch of over sensitive very argumentative black/pansexual/ace/trans/nonbinary kids off. I literally ran a gay straight alliance and am a bi girl myself and WORK in a office dealing with gender/sexuality stuff, but if you don't agree with every single thing they say or mess up their pronouns bc. you didn't know them yet, they will LOSE THEIR FUCKING MINDS. The student population here is insufferable. They are arrogant, close-minded in that special way despite not being conservative/republican cannot imagine why everyone doesn't understand the intricacies of trans issues/whatever niche issue they're crusading. If you do not agree with one of the LGBTQIA kids it's best to just keep your mouth shut or endure a long rant and gossip about you later on. A good portion of the student body is very very rich and only there to get a degree to keep their parents happy. The other half is very very poor and complains constantly about how much they hate the school/want to leave, despite never actually leaving… The required on campus work is a damn JOKE. Some crews have huggeeee budgets and great supervisors who only manage that crew and have like 50 kids on it, and others (mine) have teeensy budgets and a supervisor doing five other things with barely enough time to train us. I work in the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and despite not even asking to be there, I am the sole employee and soon to be crew leader for it. I have asked for training's multiple times and have been told there isn't time for it/i'll get it by researching it. On the subject of substances, while this may not be a ""party school"" it IS. Kids are high/drunk/fucked up every night of the week and there is probably always some type of party if you ask around, I don't partake in that but I know there is bc i hear them in the halls at 2 AM puking and yelling. If you don't smoke pot you will feel like an outsider here, trust me. Oh and safety wise? There were two brutal rapes here THIS SEMESTER that were done by two off campus strangers that have yet to be identified. The campus is largely very dark and has many small solitary pathways with no way to get around it, our Public Safety office is TINY and being ever reduced. Likewise our RA's are spread thin and being reduced too. WE HAVE NO MONEY. Tution is raised every year, crews are cut, professors fired. I lost a leadership position that I had worked out for months bc they decided at the last minute to fire the teacher. That was the nail in the coffin for me. The warren wilson community they always talk about is dead. The last president (steve solnick) and his vp (paula garret) fucked up the school beyond repair. Kids are pissed at the administration trying to save the school by adding different majors and putting more effort into stuff BESIDES outdoor leadership/enviro-sci majors, they don't understand wilson will likely close if we continue at this rate. Please please please unless you get a realllly good scholarship and are coming here for science or creative writing, don't fucking come to this school. It isn't worth it and you will likely go into wayyy more debt than your major is worth. Warren Wilson College is a sinking ship for a very specific type of student that barely exists anymore.