Eckerd Trip Report

Colleges and Universities A-Z Eckerd College
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<p>We visited Eckerd last spring.</p>

<p>First, why the mother likes Eckerd. It is one of the Colleges That Change Lives, and one of the few that is near a major metropolitan area. Tuition, room and board are less than most private schools. Whereas most LACS emphasize the high achieving stats of applicants (scads of APs, stellar GPA and top drawer SATs), this is a school that is willing to work with the more average student. Freshmen arrive early in August to take a special for credit seminar. This course continues throughout the year with the same professor (mentor) and same students, providing for social and academic support from day one. Once students choose a major, they move to a mentor in their chosen subject.</p>

<p>As another example of their focus on undergrad education, the school offers Freshmen Research Associateships. Approx. 20 freshmen are selected to work closely with a member of the faculty on a research project of mutual interest.</p>

<p>During our April visit, the sky was clear, breezes were blowing, and the temps were in the 80s. Eckerd is located just off a highway in a residential area. The feel of the area will be familiar to anyone who has vacationed in Florida. For serious helicopter parents of a certain age, I noted retirement living within walking distance. St. Pete’s Beach, where we stayed, is perhaps a 15 minute drive.</p>

<p>Eckerd is surrounded by water on three sides with a security gate at the entrance. Despite its beautiful setting, the architecture of most of the buildings leaves something to be desired. Although several of the buildings are newer and more stylish, notably the library, the marine science center and the building in which admissions is housed, most are non-descript concrete with flat roofs. (The tour guide did point out that most faculty offices and some classrooms open directly to the outside.) I suspect the school would be more popular if it simply had more attractive facilities.</p>

<p>On arrival at admissions, we found a sign outside listing all the prospective students (about a dozen) on our tour and their hometowns. I’d say about half were from Massachusetts and Maine.( Later, when the prospective students were asked their names and possible major, the boy from Florida said he hoped to “terminate with a law degree…”) The friendly woman in admissions handed out folders and water bottles with Eckerd labels. Our tour guide was a sophomore marine science major from Chicago. She was low-key and informative, also did well walking backwards. </p>

<p>The tour lasted an hour and half, and included a glance into a seminar-style classroom, a visit to the lecture hall, a peek into a dorm common room (a fishing rod was propped up next to an outside door). We stopped in the chapel, looked into a tank with sting rays outside the marine science building, and ogled a coed sunning herself at the small beach. We stopped in the library (more people in the library than at the beach), walked through the dining hall, and visited the waterfront, with its sailboats and kayaks. (A sign was posted, “No skateboarding.) We saw several students with dogs, which are permitted in at least one of the dorms. Some dorms had outside grills and hammocks, and one had a thriving garden. The school has “huts” for art students to work on their projects, as well as yellow communal bikes students can use to get from one point to the next.</p>

<p>With the exception of the dining hall, we did not see throngs of students. I did see one fellow skateboarding. Many of the young men had a skateboarder vibe; several students were completely barefoot although most wore flipflops. </p>

<p>Students are permitted to have cars and on campus apartments are available as a housing option.</p>

<p>I liked the school; my daughter could get a good education there. (As for my daughter, she found the school too small -- from my posts elsewhere you will see that she eventually decided on Univ of South Carolina, which in comparison is an apple to an Eckerd orange.)</p>

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<p>fendrock - this is a really good post - tells me a lot about the school. It sounds like Paradise but I wonder how hard everyone works?</p>

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<p>A mother of an Eckerd student (sophmore, maybe?) happened to be staying at my hotel, and she told me that her daughter (who came from a competitive Boston area high school) is very happy there. </p>

<p>In fact, since Eckerd has rolling admissions, her daughter had not applied anywhere else, although she had very good stats and could have easily gone elsewhere. She also received an academic scholarship.</p>

<p>As is the case anywhere, students will work only as hard as they want to. It is easy to spend time in the out of doors at Eckerd, but there are not the distractions of being in the middle of a city, for example.</p>

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<p>fendrock, thanks so much for the detailed visit report.
You covered many of the topics I would have wanted to know as a "helicopter" parent (hope I'm not being too obnoxious).
My S is at the point now where he needs to visit 2-3 of the schools he was accepted to but didn't yet visit. Eckerd offered him a very nice merit award, which is a good incentive to look at it closely.</p>

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<p>I went to a week-long overnight summer camp at Eckerd College. I thought I might give my [limited] perspective. </p>

<p>We did not stay in Omega dorm (the nice one). This was a major disappointment, as it looked really nice with a great water view...and newer. But we got the Delta dorm. It was uggggggglllllyyyyyyyy. I mean, when a student moves in I'm sure its better, but in general-terrible. Very old. Felt dirty. Also, we ate the cafeteria food while staying there. They gave pretty much the same thing every day..little variety. I actually lost more weight at this camp then the running camp I attended later in the summer. I seriously lost about ~4-5 pounds. The food was just not appetizing. </p>

<p>The rest of the campus looked nice. If going there I would recommend shooting for the Omega dorm for sure. And who knows- they may have better food during the school year.</p>

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<p>It is fairly common for colleges to use the older dorms for the summer camps. This is off season income for them and let's face it, campers can be a bit rough on things. The food service used at Eckerd is used at other colleges and we sampled it several times this summer on our cross country college tour. They offer as much local produce as possible and and many healthy options. If you are chicken fingers and fries kind of person...they have that too ...but this particular service offers healthy options.</p>

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<p>I posted this on another thread, but thought I would put it here also..seems to fit the topic more....</p>

<p>Just wanted to share my thougts as a way of processing since it's down to "crunch time" in the decision making process.</p>

<p>Our overall impression of our time spent there was very positive. The students we met who were accepted came from all over the country. This was exciting. At the welcoming dinner they read a list of the accomplishments of the students. They all seemed to be active, engaged and very academically minded. Many of my doubts about the academic rigor were calmed by speaking to the Dean and several professors. With a strong emphasis on writing and speaking, the programs there seem challenging and productive. </p>

<p>Most of the people we dealt with couldn't have been more friendly or helpful. We were impressed with the accessability of the professors who we just "popped in" on. They spoke of the mentoring program where a professor mentors a student in a major . This seems to be an important aspect of the program and not just something that is there in name only. The professors are very much involved with their students.</p>

<p>The area, of course, is beautiful. We loved St. Petersburg. The campus itself seems to have been built in the 60's and the 70's and seems to have been designed by people who build strip malls. Servicable at best. The dorms, with the exception of the new dorm OMEGA (which is reserved for upper classmen if they win the lottery) were awful. Small, univiting cement blocks.</p>

<p>There really is no student center. Many of the kids were in the fitness center , some at the pub, a lot at the library and an equal number sunning at the beach. While there was diversity in terms of region (states), there was not alot of diversity in terms of race. There were some, but not many international students. The kids all looked like they were ast the beach. The mood on the campus is definitely LAID-BACK. One of the professors complained girls would visit her during office hours in bikinis. </p>

<p>With that laid back mood, I was and still am concerned about student involvement. The school newspaper was filled with AP news releases which told me that no one worked on the newspaper. When I talked to the Dean of students he confirmed that this was a problem. I also saw lots of open spots for the campus radio station. He told me however that students were active and involved and were in control of student activities so that it was up to the students themselves to make a go of it. Student are very involved in the community and in environmental issues.</p>

<p>The marine biology program is incredible. Unfortunately, my daughter is not interested in this. She is, however, interested in art and we were a little concerned about the facilities and the structure of this program. Even after visiting and speaking to people we're still not sure.</p>

<p>You do need a car or a friend with a car to get off campus. There is alot to do in St. Petersburg and Tampa, but you have to get there.</p>

<p>All is all - a really nice school and, if my daughter goes there, I think she'll get a great education with caring teachers and a good tan. </p>

<p>Hope this helps. Let me know what everyone out there is thinking.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much for the detailed visit report.
It's interesting that overall it added up to a "positive."</p>

<p>Given the distance from us, I'm not sure we'll visit, given that my S wants to visit 2 other schools in the midwest and east.</p>

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<p>I’m coming late to this party, butFendrock, thanks for a great trip report. D is interested in Eckerd and we plan to attend a local CTCL event. A sticking point, however, it the need for a car. I am interested that you referred to a retirement community “walking distance” from the college. Post on other threads suggest that even if with walking distance, it is difficult to anywhere from the campus because of the highway. </p>

<p>On a different thread, I asked whether a car was necessary at Eckerd. The following response is representative: “A car is almost necessary because students have to cross a busy highway without lights and then walk several blocks to get to a small retail district. Public transportation is underdeveloped in that area. If our daughter had chosen to attend she would have brought a car.”</p>

<p>Is this consist with what you observed?</p>

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<p>I posted to another thread about needing a car at Eckerd:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/710806-why-car-necessary-eckard.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/710806-why-car-necessary-eckard.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You will see that someone posted the bus schedule for Eckerd. Just for fun, I followed the link and randomly checked to see how difficult it would be to take the bus from Eckerd to the Salvador Dali museum. The trip planner indicated that a student could easily make this trip in approximately 20 minutes. So perhaps public transportation is a much more viable option than appeared to my eye (which was looking from the comfort of a rental car).</p>

<p>I live in a suburb 20 miles west of Boston, where it is truly impossible to use public transportation to get anywhere. And my daughter really wanted to go to school in a neighborhood where there was a lot going on. Eckerd is definitely NOT in a happening neighborhood – but I suspect that enough students have cars that getting off campus would not be that difficult.</p>

<p>So – to have a car would clearly be preferable. But I would not write off Eckerd without further investigation if a car is not in the cards.</p>

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<p>“students have to cross a busy highway without lights and then walk several blocks to get to a small retail district”</p>

<p>Crossing the hightway w/o a light sounds dangerous. Do students also have to cross the highway even for the bus?</p>

<p>Also, I would hate to reject Eckerd out of hand b/c just b/c D will not have a car, but is “further investigation” code of visit and see for yourself? I’m trying to get a handle on the transportation issue without making a trip to FL.</p>

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<p>If you go to Google Maps and enter Eckerd College, St Petersburg, FL, choose the first listing in the resulting list, then click on Street View, you will see precisely how it looks in front of Eckerd College.</p>

<p>There are street lights and a wide shoulder. As you can see, it really has more of a suburban feel than that of being in the middle of an interstate (and it is a local highway, not an interstate).</p>

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<p>Thanks for the suggestion; I checked Google and several other maps. The maps do show a fairly wide shoulder ins some areas near the college, but not all; and I didn’t see any stop lights. OTOH, the highwy is not interstate 91.</p>

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<p>The college seems like a wonderful and up and coming school. Trying to get a sense how strongly it holds on to its religious roots or whether it really is non-religious.</p>

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<p>We visited Eckerd in April. Because it was Good Friday, the college was closed. The beachfront location is superb, but I do wonder how hard it is to study in a location like that. Plenty of free bicycles around, too.</p>

<p>We got a brochure from them two days ago. I enjoyed the “directions to campus” section. It of course said how to get there by car or by plane, but it also said that you could also arrive on campus by BOAT if you call ahead. Now THAT’S something different.</p>

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<p>One thing we noticed was that Eckerd seemed to have faculty from very strong graduate programs, and that every office we contacted was quick and responsive to questions. They also gave very generous financial and merit aid. </p>

<p>We also got a kick out of the boat directions!</p>

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<p>My son is off to Eckerd this fall! We were all impressed with the school. I’m glad to see activity on this forum.</p>

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<p>ProudMary - I would love to hear more on Eckerd. Would you please post here from time to time during your son’s freshman year - I would like to learn more about this school.</p>

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<p>I’ll be happy to let you know how our son’s experience with Eckerd is going.</p>

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<p>I would also appreciate follow up on your son’s freshman year ProudMary. My son is interested in the marine biology program and is a very laid back kid. This school seems like a good fit. My concern is the academics and what are the job prospects after graduation. Does your son like the environment and what does he think of the faculty? I look forward to hearing from you.</p>