Montclair State - Applicants? Acceptances? Current students?

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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<p>While I'll agree about the dorm situation (my best friend who was also a Latin/Classics major, and she has said that the dorm problem was just as bad when she went to school. She graduated in 2005 and she said that the parking situation has only gotten worse because they're trying to change the whole housing situation.</p>

<p>But this comment sounds so mis-informed: "Make sure you enter Montclair mentally fit. Eating disorders ensue due to many of the bad instructors." Judging on my audition alone, I could SEE that this was not true. Their students were not one type and there were a few girls who would not be considered ingenue types when coming to casting. So I don't know where you heard that, but it seems like you have a major vendetta against Montclair.</p>

<p>I agree though, that they really need to cut back acceptances or try to figure out something else to do to alleviate the situation. If it was a problem for my friend in the early 2000s, then that's probably only gotten more difficult to deal with.</p>

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<p>I have no vendetta... my girlfriend has a minor in dance and have seen this first hand. She raves about the program, but there are a few instructors who are mean and hurtful. You quickly learn who they are and avoid their classes though. The ballet department leaves much to be desired, but their modern and theater departments are top notch.</p>

<p>My overall experience at Montclair was left much to be desired, as did everyone else I know who attends Montclair. There are a lot of changes going on at the university and there's a lot of things they are doing to entice incoming Freshman that will eventually harm you once your first year is up.</p>

<p>They are trying to work on many of these things, but they have not been doing a very good job.</p>

<p>I guess I'll list some perks to going to school at Montclair:
First, there's really no positives for a commuter students, sorry.
On campus students... they are requiring incoming Freshman to purchase a cell phone package through them. The package is competitively priced and gets good service if you're on campus. If you already have a contract with another cell phone provider you may want to let that expire before going to montclair or you'll find yourself being forced into two cell phone contracts.</p>

<p>Because the shuttle buses are so unreliable or sometimes just stop running without warning, the cell phones they force you to buy have the ability to read the GPS they installed in the buses so you can see where the shuttles are on campus. This is a strong perk, but it sucks that you can't opt out of the cell phone plan if you choose.</p>

<p>The Health and Wellness center in Blanton Hall actually does a decent job. If you ever get sick there are people on campus who can assist you and most students either don't know it's there or go to their primary care physician so the wait typically isn't that bad.</p>

<p>Students typically don't attend the theater performances so they force all students to pay a student fee to the theater department to cover their production costs. Therefore, you only need to show your school ID to get into most shows on campus for free.</p>

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<p>Well, this is depressing! My D and I JUST returned from Montclair and she is SO excited that she got in the BFA MT there and then I read THIS!! Eric Diamond said he would have some of the current MT students contact her via e-mail so I will pursue that quickly. Could the housing REALLY be that bad? With ALL the money they are putting in that school? $350,000,000.00? We were told that they are building four new dormitory facilities which will be finished within a year that will be state of the art like something like Village...is? Clay James is so wonderful and so is Eric Diamond and EVERYONE from students to office staff seem SO NICE and the theatre facilities are spectacular and $220,000,000.00 is being spent on a new Music facility there and then the theatre dept. gets all the present Music Dept. in addition to what they already have. AND it is 14 miles from NYC, and the tuition, even out of state which we are, is not too bad. I am puzzled...have to check it out further somehow, because we have to respond by 4/23.</p>

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<p>Still no response from Montclair!!</p>

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<p>rglick - Have you tried calling the theater department? That's what I did a few months back and they did tell me the decision over the phone. My D got accepted to the Theater Studies program. She got her acceptance letter from admissions indicating this major but nothing from the theater department. She still hasn't received anything at all regarding financial aid.</p>

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<p>From what my D and I were told yesterday by Eric Diamond at Montclair, as far as SCHOLARSHIP money, he said not to expect any. Of course financial aid is something different and we have not heard anything either. </p>

<p>Call Clay James (I have had luck at 3:00 p.m.) at 973-655-7341 and ask him about your status. He is very upfront and will tell you. He said they auditioned 200 this year and have 30 more to audition (they are adding an audition day) because so many more applied and they have to give them a chance. I don't exactly understand the process, but oh well! He printed my D's acceptance letter to MT out while we sat in his office and I was glad to get it! We already had the academic acceptance letter as an undeclared major, and Beverly in the theatre office went on-line and changed her major to musical theatre. She has until April 23rd to accept or decline. We have one more visit to UArts and then that will be it!</p>

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<p>We left two messages for Beverly and emailed. No response. If there is no scholarship money it does not look good for us anyway. She has one good offer and one award which still is not enough money. I appreciate the advice.</p>

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<p>There is a merit scholarship page (off of the Financial Aid page) on Montclair's website which lists the amount of money given based on high school rank and SAT scores. However, I couldn't find their tuition. Every time I clicked on something that said tuition, I got the message that the "page was forbidden." Does anyone know what their tuition and room and board are for out-of-state residents?</p>

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<p>The tuition for out of state including room, board and the full meal plan is right around $24,000.00 without any other expenses. These state schools just generally don't give scholarship money. We found the same thing at Penn State. </p>

<p>Beverly won't return your calls on this because she can't comment on anything. That is why I strongly suggest you call Clay James phone directly. He is very nice and direct and friendly. He will tell you the way it is. Just a suggestion.</p>

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<p>$24,697 tuition room and board for out of state. Just recv'd aid package. Would be too much of a loan.</p>

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<p>rglick, some of the dorms aren't too bad...</p>

<p>Bohn Hall is a 16 story building that's falling down a cliff. It's slated to be condemned in a few years. Until then Montclair is going to continue to use it. The rooms have cinderblock walls and the plumbing runs outside the walls and through the rooms. I spent my first year in Bohn and someone tried doing pull-ups from a pipe and broke it. All the water emptied from the fire emergency tank. The problem was that the tank hadn't been emptied in years and the water that came out was smelly and moldy. It dripped down two floors and ruined everyone's things. If you get placed in Bohn make sure to take out insurance on your room and don't put your computer on the floor. The same thing happened the very next year. I don't know if it happened again since then. I lived there for a year and maybe had a total of 10 minutes of hot water in the showers for the entire year. Community bathrooms, they're kept fairly well.. but make sure to keep your own supply of toilet paper for just in case. Oh btw, Bohn is the only dormitory on campus that doesn't have air conditioning. Make sure to bring a very good fan. Only two elevators, both very slow and constantly stop on all floors during busy hours. One elevator is always broken and being repaired. Soon as it's fixed the other one always goes down. The alarms on both elevators work, if you get stuck they're kind of used to it and they're pretty good at getting you out within the hour. Occasionally both elevators will be down. So if you have any handicaps make sure to not get placed in Bohn.</p>

<p>Blanton hall isn't too bad. Exterior rooms are best. The interior rooms get too hot and the air conditioning has a habit of breaking. Hot water is a rare luxury, but it does have dining hall right below. You can come down in your PJs and slippers to have breakfast, a huge perk. I lived here for a year. Hot water was 50/50.</p>

<p>I've never been in the all-girl's dorm. Can't comment on that. The girls seem to like it ok.</p>

<p>Stone Hall is very small, never been in it. It only holds about 50 students. Can't comment on it other than it's in a fairly nice location and close to academic buildings.</p>

<p>Freeman is where they love to stick the theater and music majors for some reason. It is also where they house the honor students. Some of the rooms in freeman are nice, they renovated them and put in kitchens. The problem is that after they did so they put in waaay to many students to fit comfortably. The building has not had heat for the past 4 years as far as I'm aware and once again as usual, hot water is a luxury you will rarely find. There is a dining hall adjacent to Freeman and the food in my opinion is better than Blanton, but less variety. The servers are also nicer. My girlfriend lived in Freeman and had mold issues on top of no heat or hot water.</p>

<p>Russ is pretty good. I lived there for a year. Hot water wasn't so bad if you learned the combination to your faucet. For me it was turn it all the way hot, wait 2 minutes, turn it back one quarter way until it got lukewarm and then turn it back up a bit and it would get warm. Don't ask me why, but it was the only way it worked. Only had to take one cold shower a week or so. The rooms were nice, but they have some very small rooms in Russ. Like woah, amazingly small. And for some reason they make they made the really small rooms triples for freshmen. These are probably the most cramped rooms on campus. They bunk two beds and lift the other bed and put a desk underneath. They don't even have enough wall lockers for all three students. It's a disaster if you get placed in one of those.</p>

<p>Clove Road Apartments. These are walking distance on a nice day if the shuttles decide not to run or are unreliable. The buildings are old and were put up as temporary housing. Yet never got knocked down because of demand. They constantly have bug issues.</p>

<p>And finally there's the village. These are nice apartments, rooms are decent in size and comfortable. Can't complain. If you get a room in the village you're lucky. It's pretty far from campus so you rely on the shuttles.</p>

<p>Be very careful about allowing your daughter to join a sorority. The Pink Panthers run a brothel out of their house and sell themselves for their dues and to run events. Some of the other sororities are matched with fraternities as "friend" organizations and part of their pledge/crossover involves sleeping with an assigned person from another frat... some of the sororities on campus are pretty trashy and the girls are a very bad influence. There are some "ok" ones, but I would be very cautious. Especially if you're an incoming freshman, you don't know really know what the pledge process is going to bring and what the crossing over will be. It's not something they exactly advertise, but it is well known throughout the Greek community.</p>

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<p>For those who thought I had a vendetta or was being too hard on Susan Cole and the direction of MSU, the New York Times sent a reporter to campus last week. Susan Cole has won all kinds of awards and the expansion is popular out here. The reporter came to campus to write a piece glorifying Cole and the expansion of MSU. However, when he got here essentially nobody in the administration or faculty would go on record saying anything nice about the current course of the university. Dr, Wolfson, a 25 year faculty member was quoted in the NY Times article. He has been quoted as saying he could not name a SINGLE faculty member who was openly in favor with the direction Cole has been taking the university.</p>

<p>The article ended up being very harsh of Susan Cole. Yet faculty members are quoted in the school paper as saying "I think Cole came off [in the article] a little better than I would have thought." The university, under her leadership, has failed to "put in place the resources to the extent necessary [for the growth]." <- Which is exactly what I stated previously.</p>

<p>"I don't see why we need to compete with Rutgers..." <- Which is also what I said.</p>

<p>The writer of the article was later contacted and he had even more to add that was cut from the article. He stated faculty members constantly complained that Cole and the administration didn't listen to faculty members. A lot of the comments are anonymous for fear of being fired.</p>

<p>These are the things professor talk about in class though. If you sit in with a counselor or go to your professor's office you hear people complaining constantly. The campus is divided. The growth is not being carried out in a proper manner. In short, before Cole was President resident halls would never go fully occupied and over 2 years without heat, nor would the President have a new luxurious $1 million+ suite overlooking Manhattan. This is the new Montclair State. It is one where growth and expansion and one-upping colleagues at Rutgers. They fired her, now she wants to show take this position at MSU and throw it in their face.</p>

<p>The theater and dance departments are great. I have never denied that. But the university itself is in a state of disarray right now and the current student body is suffering.</p>

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<p>jsheesh some of your housing descriptions are incorrect. russ actually has the biggest dorm rooms on campus....the bathrooms themselves are the size of bohn dorm rooms practically. i dont know of any recently renovated rooms in freeman and they CERTAINLY do not have kitchens....russ, clove, and the village have kitchens and i know webster has stoves but freeman does not have any sort of kitchen whatsoever.</p>

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<p>double8l - Thanks for posting some different info on dorms. My D is going to Montclair this year and I am concerned about the dorms based on these posts. I called the Res. Life office and was not reassured about the availability of housing for freshmen, although they said that freshmen who live a distance away from the college are given more consideratioin (thanks!). I was told that Freeman had heating problems during the extremely cold weather this winter, but was told that freshmen were not placed in Freeman. I then e-mailed the head of that dept. and was told by her that they hold 1275 spots for freshmen who deposit by May 1. She did not comment about the heating situation or other issues posted here, but I am going to e-mail her again. My D is interested in Montclair for its theatre dept., but I don't want her living terribly otherwise when she is there - although I have not seen a dorm anywhere yet that is great, and I have seen ALOT of colleges.</p>

<p>I called Clay James about my concerns about my D being ABLE to obtain housing there, and he reassured me as well, and said that he was going to discuss the problem with the Dean, because it does not reflect well on the theatre dept. if parents are being told that their child who lives far away from Montclair may not be able to obtain housing.</p>

<p>Any more info that anyone has would be greatly appreciated!</p>

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<p>I usually hesitate to post these kinds of comments publicly. But, I feel it's only fair for you to know the deal when, as a parent, you might be sending your child away for the first time from very far away. Be VERY DILIGENT about getting housing info. In fact, I wonder if the department can give you some sort of guarantee? Our nephew sent his deposit in by May 1, last year, was told he had "Housing," he lives 2 1/2 hrs away, and 4 days before move in day, after many, many, calls initiated by the family, found out his housing was a hotel 3 miles away from campus w/ one shuttle leaving for campus before 7am and sometimes returning to the hotel before or during the dinner break. Unfortunately, some of the communication problems I see within this thread tell the tale about a school with some very good departments, but some very challenging problems to overcome. I suggest you really do your homework beforehand for anyone who still has to make a decision. "Housing" spoken, or written by the school does not mean "on campus housing."</p>

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<p>It is a sad reality of Montclair abparent. I'm sorry you're getting the treatment your first year in. It's usually reserved for after they get you to start one of their programs.</p>

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<p>dancermom, the heat in freeman is certainly an issue, though the students living there tend to really enjoy freeman otherwise...i would reccommend putting your deposit in tommorrow if you have not already done so...housing is EXTREMELY limited. also most of freeman residents are freshman so unless they changed the policy quite a bit of freshman are placed there. i would say that the only living situation that is considered "terrible" is a triple in bohn- make sure your daughter does not get that! triples there are extremely small and cramped- in most of the triples they cannot even fit three bureaus so all three residents have to share two bureaus</p>

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<p>Double8, have you lived in Russ? There are two double suites per floor that are a decent size. And there are two triples per floor that are of decent size. The rooms in the main hallway are an average size dorm room if not smaller. They are typically reserved for RAs. The rooms on the other end are extremely small and they made them triples for Freshmen. They are by far the most cramped rooms on campus. The chance for a Freshmen to get placed into a good room is Russ is very, very slim. Nice bathrooms doesn't make a nice room. There's also the really small and absurd attic rooms at the top of Russ that elevators don't even go to. Those are some interesting rooms to get placed into as a freshman. We used to call them the Anne Frank suites.</p>

<p>About two or three years ago they renovated some rooms in Freeman to have kitchens. I have friends who lived in them, I don't know where you got your information on that. The corner rooms FR 200, 400, 600 all have kitchens.</p>

<p>The heat issue in Freeman is a very big problem. This sub-forum is for the theater department which students often get placed into Freeman. Parents should be aware that they will spend thousands to send their kids away to school and their child has a very good chance of being sent away to a room that has no heat. Not only is it illegal, it is unhealthy.</p>

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<p>Just to clarify, our son is at Otterbein, enjoying a year very much different than his cousin, who had the housing fiasco last fall. My nephew eventually got out of the hotel, well past the typical orientation time frame when you make your friends, etc, only to wind up in a double made into a triple at Bohn on one of the higher level floors, after he was intermittently put into a lounge. Keep in mind, my nephew was in the BFA program for studio art, not m/t, but still the arts program. As I mentioned before, if there is any way for someone to put in writing a specific housing assignment, I would press for it until the day they land on campus. Not being on campus for the first few weeks or longer of your freshman year can change everything for the student, especially in a demanding major like m/t. Good luck to you all!</p>

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<p>FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE CONSIDERING MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY!!!!!</p>

<p>lol now that I have your attention, I'm going to go ahead and try to help out anyone who may be considering this school. I'm a returning student who transferred in last year. First, let me start of with the most important aspect - the academics.</p>

<p>As far as academics go, this school is par. In other words, not great, but far from bad. It really depends on what you are going here for. The big programs here are theatre/music, phys ed, education, and business. Criminal Justice, or Justice Studies as they refer to it, would be about 5th (that's what I am taking up). </p>

<p>The classes are alright, but besides a handfull of not-so-good professors (there aren't really that many, so don't worry) the major problem is this online system called "Blackboard." It seems like almost every class uses it now; why? The easiest way to describe it would be to call it an instructors dream but a student's nightmare. The teachers like it because they can post their syllibus on there, post announcements, assignements, and basically anything they want. As nice as that sounds, student's hate it because has to be one of the "buggiest" things ever. 99% of the time you log it, it will say "no announcements, no tasks, no discussions" - yet, if you dig around, you'll find that there was an assingment posted weeks ago that's due tomorrow and that the teacher never mentioned once. If it is your first year here, I can't urge you enough to talk to a student who has spent at least a year here to help familiarize you with how this atrocity works.</p>

<p>Campus life is something much more different. The housing arrangements are either golden or a bust. From what I've heard, the best dorms are Stone, Russ, and mabye Blanton. Webster is alright, and Freeman is off in the middle of nowhere and has no heating or air, while Bohn has problems, is overcrowded like a prison, and sliding about 1/4 an inch each year off of a hill! I swear to God, I kid you not. From what I've heard, the school is planning to do something about it within the next few years. As for the apartments, they are pretty nice. Last year, I stayed at the Clove Road Apartments. They are kind of old, but have plenty of space. The only real downside is that shuttle busses pretty much ignore the place, but it's in decent walking distance of the campus. This year, I stay at the Village Apartments. The shuttle bus situation is a little better, but still a problem sometimes. The apartments are very nice, and they have their own basketball court, swimming pool, and rec center.</p>

<p>Speaking of rec centers, the school is currently in the process of building a HUGE rec center for the students. As nice as that sounds, it's still being built while the approximated deadline was Fall 2006 - it's Fall 2007, and they still have s decent amount of work to do. If that's not enough, get a load of this. Last year, we paid $750 for use of that facility...yeah, almost $1K for using a building that isn't even operational!!!!</p>

<p>Also, be forewarned, that just bcause you have "housing" doesn't mean you will even be on campus. The school never has enough bedspace on any given year, and students whithout a room are forced to live at a hotel about ten minutes away. There is one shuttle that leaves at 7 am - if you miss it, you'd better have a car or know someone that can drive you. Also, I've yet to see a shuttle that goes back to the hotel, so again, you almost need a car unless you want to rely on finding a ride through someone else everyday. Most of the time sophomore's get stuck in this situation. Freshman and transfers are garunteed housing and take up most of the dormspace, while seniors and some juniors get the villiage, and juniors and a few lucky sophomores get into clove.</p>

<p>As for the food on campus, it's alright. The dining halls in Blanton and Freeman are beyond horrible, but the Student Center Cafeteria, Rathskellar Pizzeria, and Red Hawk Diner are pretty good. They have a good variety, but some of the meals are a little over-priced.</p>

<p>Campus life is really the only major issue I have with this school. Basically, unless you have a car, you will begin to feel like you are in a prison after your first few weeks here. EVERYONE, or at least a good 90% of the campus, easy, goes home on Thursday night. The school likes to hype up the fact that the campus is only 14 miles from NYC. Yes, this is true, but how can you get there without a car? There is a train station on campus that takes you right into Penn Station, but guess what? They don't run on the weekends. On top of that, the school has a major problem with the internet. It's beyond pathetic, I mean this internet here makes AOL 4.0 look like some fancy T1 line or something. It will randomly slow up on you, and decide not to work every once in a while. I brought a router with me to go wireless, and it's just a nightmare. If you plan to go wireless here with a laptop, get used to going down in the bottom right corner of the screen, right-clicking the wireless connectivity icon, and clicking "repair connection" at least once or twice an hour on a good day. If you like to download music or play online games using things like Xbox Live - good luck, the speed is too slow for either of them to work efficiently. To pass the time on these dead weekends, I suggest either praying that you have a decent amoount of work/studying to do, or try to meet other people who stay on campus do you can get together and try to do something.</p>

<p>Overall, I say MSU is an ok college. It's nice if you commute because you get a nice education for a great price, but very unpleasant if you're trying to go away for that "college experience." Again, if you are staying on campus, bring your car! If not, it will be a long year...</p>