Malformed University Name, Uncategorized Surveys

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Philosophy (This Major's Salary over time)
Of all of the colleges and universities I have attended (4 total), I like CUA the least. The professors in the School of Philosophy are not very friendly, supportive, or approachable compared to the professors at my other schools, but there are a few exceptions, thankfully. The department is also quite large. The professors teach only one graduate course per school year, so it is difficult to get to know them. There are so many grad students (lots in dissertation) that after two years, I still have not met them all or even heard of them all. The new grad students are young (22-23 yrs) and come from colleges like TAC and Christendom. I'm not a fan of those kinds of schools, but if you are, you might like the other students more than I do. The stipend (18k) is nowhere near the cost of living in DC, so you'll need to work or take out loans. The program's focus is on the study of classic philosophical texts, which is good in that you'll study real philosophers like Plato & Aristotle, but bad in that there is often a heavy emphasis on exegesis, which I think is more appropriate for a classics department than a philosophy department. There are lots of requirements in this program (two language exams in French and German, each of which is two days long and offered on only one specific date each semester, and two very long comprehensive exams, each of which is also two days long and offered only once a semester, as well as a dissertation proposal that requires many hoops to jump through and of course the dissertation itself) and the administration makes it difficult to accomplish them in a timely manner. Expect to spend 9-10 years here. At least the degree is "worth" a lot if you want to be hired at a Catholic college or seminary. The campus is also beautiful and it's only a few metro stops away from the heart of DC.