<p>My D and I drove down to Manhattan College on Wednesday for Accepted Students Day. She applied to Manhattan at the last minute, and ended up getting an extremely generous scholarship/grant package that made us want to take a closer look. </p>
<p>We left at 6 am even though the drive is supposed to be 2 hours, because I figured we'd hit traffic on the Merritt Parkway - which we did - and we ended up getting to MC about 15 minutes before the first part of the Accepted Students Day program started. </p>
<p>The campus is very cute and compact, but not handicapped friendly at all. We got a great parking spot outside of Jasper Hall, so we just had a quick walk around the corner and up the stairs to the quad, which is much smaller in person than it looked in pictures. </p>
<p>The opening statements were made by Brother Scanlon, president of MC. He talked about the strengths of the college, which included strong majors, small size, no teaching assistants, proximity to NYC and values (and he emphasized that the values he was talking about are the values of each student, not the values of the Catholic church). They then separated the students from their parents, and the students took separate tours depending on what school they were accepted into. </p>
<p>My D reported back to me that the young man who was supposed to take School of Science students to the laboratory lost a big hunk of his group, so they hooked up with the Engineering students instead. She really liked the Biology professor she met, and she was gushing in general about all the professors. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the parents attended a panel session with the Director of Residence Life, Student Development, and one other department I can't remember. They talked about the types of housing, RAs and RDs, student activities, safety, health, and then there was a Q&A - parents asked about things like class size, how safe their kids are, whether there is any assistance for students with disabilities, extra-curriculars, etc. </p>
<p>Afterwards, my D and I hooked up again, and we went on a tour. We went into De La Salle Hall first. My husband used to work at St. Joseph College in CT, and De La Salle reminded me of the buildings at SJC, although the corridors were more narrow. We went out from there into Jasper Hall. </p>
<p>Jasper Hall is a traditional type of student residence - hallway that shares a communal bathroom. The style is definitely institutional - cinder blocks, fluorescent lights, but the rooms were fairly good sized - one room we looked at had 2 beds, a couch, a small refrigerator (not the compact ones - this one had a freezer on top) TV, etc. The rooms all come with 2 beds, 2 dressers, and 2 closets. The rooms didn't seem comfy or homey, but certainly adequate. There are also lounges - Jasper's lounge on the first floor was spacious, with a plasma tv, and the tour guide said the lounge on the 3rd floor had a pool table and foosball table. Jasper also has a kitchen on the first floor that any student can use.</p>
<p>We walked up the stairs to the Draddy Gym. I got the impression that the student body is very active in sporting activities - the gym was in heavy use while we were there, and there were tons of sports students could join. </p>
<p>From there, we went to Horan Hall, another residential hall. This one is suite style - the room opened up into a small foyer, with a small bathroom and 2 bedrooms. Again, industrial and institutional in feel, but fairly large (I'm used to the dorms at UCONN which are tiny). Students who live en suite are responsible for cleaning their own bathrooms - our tour guide said she makes a fortune cleaning bathrooms for other students. The lounge on the floor was small, but had a plasma TV and plenty of seating.</p>
<p>We broke off from the tour then to go to lunch, which they kindly provided for the visiting students. The food, like the room, was institutional but serviceable - they did offer a very nice salad bar, which is what I had. After that, we went to the O'Malley Library, which is beautiful, and I was pleased to see that a lot of students were there studying.</p>
<p>We then went to a Student panel with 3 students who were talking about their MC experience. 2 of the students were commuters, one was residential. I sincerely hope that these three students didn't represent the pinnacle of the student body, because with the exception of one of them, I didn't have a great impression. One student said she came there because her other choice was Fordham and "Fordham sucks". She also said the food sucks, the dorms kind of suck, and some of the professors suck. Articulate, she was not. </p>
<p>The students all agreed that while there is a lot of drinking on campus, it's not a party school - it's more beers while watching the game. None of the students seemed to spend much time in NYC, although the commuters both said they leave NYC to come to MC, so I suppose it has limited excitement for them. The student I liked the most was a commuter, and she said she cried for weeks after she started school, feeling depressed and lonely, so she started getting involved, and she said that's when everything fell into place. That's probably true no matter where you go to college.</p>
<p>I also briefly attended an alumni panel, the gist of which was that MC wants students to graduate in 4 years and have a job waiting for them, and that alumni are always willing to help a fellow Jasper out. They also talked about a mentor program - I think all engineering students participate in this, and other students can apply for a mentor when they are sophomores - that links students up with someone in the field they are interested in (my D is keen to find some kind of mentor or internship at the Bronx Botanical Gardens, since she's interested in botany). </p>
<p>My overall impression was not the greatest - the "it sucks" student really took the bloom of the rose - but like everything else about the school, it's serviceable. My D said she could definitely see herself there, because she liked the idea of a smaller college. Financially, it's our top choice, because of the generous aid package. Academically, I think D could do better, but she's the kind of kid who rises to the top no matter where she is - she's so self-motivated and goal oriented.</p>