<p>I’ve been looking at this thread for a while, and I feel as though it is finally time for me to speak up. I am a freshman at F&M this year, and I’ve found some of the other posts about F&M on this site both misleading and disheartening. Let me just say this- I’ve really enjoyed my time at F&M thus far. I have experienced no problems with a lack of diversity, no problems with safety (or lack thereof), and have found very few issues with social life and the surrounding community. Franklin & Marshall College does its absolute best to make students happy. I don’t want to go home on the weekends because there is SO MUCH happening on campus all the time. It is unfortunate that several students have had negative experiences here, but it is certainly not the norm. The students I interact with on a daily basis are friendly, generous, enthusiastic, and happy. Of course, the school does have its faults- but what school does not? I am not saying F&M is perfect, but I think it deserves a lot more credit than some people are willing to give it.</p>
<p>accepted…so happy!!</p>
<p>? are you a domestic applicant? congrats!!</p>
<p>Me too ACCEPTED (international) and they gave me financial aid. So happy. Congrats to everyone accepted. Waitlists, hang in there. And for the rest, I wish you the best of luck on the rest of your decisions.</p>
<p>international too!. where are u from mossesgetch?</p>
<p>^^ ETHIOPIA, where u from?</p>
<p>KLP224’s comments are ridiculous and unfounded. Unfortunately her social life was probably ruined because of personal relationships and not the school. As a sociology major she should have realized it would be tough – at any liberal arts college – and thou she tries to say that we practice grade deflation and that she couldn’t get into grad school, I know she got into at least two good graduate programs. If you really think a school practices grade deflation you probably are a) not a hard worker b) have never been challenged or c) you shouldnt be there anyway.</p>
<p>I guess it’s time for my two cents…</p>
<p>I’m currently in the summer between my soph and junior year, and I’m also in a fraternity. Overall, F&M has been a waste of 54,000 a year and rising. Even my parents have concluded that they were “sold” on the “glory” of F&M. The school boats the #1 prof/stud interaction, when in reality, it really isn’t. Profs really don’t give a f*** about you, and could care less. One has to go out of thier way to meet up with the professor here, and the same thing could be said about huge state schools also… so rly the “accesibility” part should play very little in to your decsion to attend F&M. Both professors, F&M and state, have their office hours by appt., and can only be reached by email.
Coming in freshman year, my academic advisor was useless, and really messed up my four year plan. I was taking senior levels courses my freshman year unknowingly, and he or she didn’t say a word. Luckily, I ratcheted down, and escaped, but it wasn’t worth the agony.<br>
As many students will say, taking 3 semesters of a language will be the hardest course to enroll in. Those students now are having to go abroad to graduate and earn their credits just b/c the school doesn’t provide enough spanish courses to accomodate the student body- give me a break. Furthermore, the spanish teachers themsleves don’t understand english well enough to help us with our questions. I took SPA4 AP in highschool, and i can surely say im regressing in my spanish here.
Also, the school boasts that you see your Dean everyday, and its all rainbows and butterflies. Well it’s not, usually they are gone, skip out early, or are only avaiable for bagels at 8am. The only time anyone really sees their Dean is if they get in trouble.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the grades are deflated and make it tough to do well ( Shirts are now saying “F&M, where your hardest hasn’t been good enough since…”) but i can’t rly complain about that, just decided to bring it up…
Overall, if my parents and I had to do it all over again, we would have gone to a private state school, not this liberal arts instituion where they put on this facade of smiles, accessibility, and false hopes. WE WERE SOLD SO EXPERTLY.
Bottom line will be a waste of $200,000+ over four years. Go to a state school, invest the money you save in the market (which could be $100,000+), and make it big. If it wasn’t for the brotherhood, and the pretty good partying, I would have been long gone. It’s funny how the school is starting to wonder why so many students are transferring after thier first or second year. </p>
<p>This school as become so capitalistic, is has lost sight of the glory of education.
It’s funny to see how excited everyone who got in is, but its all just a money trap ^.^</p>
<p>Also, I come from a upper class family, with my father making 6/7 digits so money isn’t a problem, but I still value it and recongize it’s not being used to its full potential.</p>
<p>Such a waste, such a waste…</p>
<p>Can’t wait to respond to @BenevolentBob.</p>
<p>Some background about me: I’m a female rising sophomore at f&m, member of Greek life and a bunch of other clubs, and an undecided major (however, I’ve taken classes in 7 departments).</p>
<p>So, here’s my review:</p>
<p>I have to strongly disagree with most of what BenevolentBob had to say (I’ll get to what I agree with at the end). First, it would be wildly inaccurate to say that professors don’t care about their students (or, per the astute observation made by BenevolentBob, “don’t give a f*** about you”). It would have been really helpful to know his major. Personally, I have found that professors are overwhelmingly interested in meeting with students during office hours. And, so far I’ve taken mostly intro classes-- at other schools, you wouldn’t find professor/student interaction in 300 or 400 level classes, let alone 100 level intro classes. </p>
<p>I’m a bit confused about his complaint about office hours…I have had 8 professors at F&M, and not a single one required appointments. Rather, they give students 4 hours or so during the day to drop in their office for any reason. If you do not have these times free in your schedule, which sometimes happens, THEN they will require appointments. Pretty basic concept. I’m not sure what other method of communication other than email BenevolentBob prefers, but I have a feeling most professors don’t want to give out their cell numbers (although I know some professors do!).</p>
<p>I have never heard of a student who had trouble getting into language classes. I guess this is just my experience (I placed into 3rd semester Spanish so I didn’t have to go through 101 or 102), but again, I don’t think this is always a problem.</p>
<p>However, I DO agree that some classes are a lot more difficult to get into than need be. They have recently made changes that make it easier to get into Psych100, for example (a lot of students can’t get in until their third semester…it took me one semester of rejection), so we will see if that helps. Psych is probably the hardest class to get into at F&M, so fixing this issue by adding more sections will be really helpful and long overdue.]</p>
<p>I really don’t understand what he means when he says “its all rainbows and butterflys” because incoming students think they will spend time with their dean, so I’m just going to let that one hang out for a while…</p>
<p>As for the grade deflation comment: F&M students like to complain (this is definitely a flaw of the school) that grades are deflated. I think students like to throw this idea around without having a damn clue what they are talking about. F&M classes are really difficult. Profs give a ton of work, definitely more so than at other schools. This is NOT, however, the same thing as grade deflation-- An A- is a 92 and below, and a 93 is an A, just like the grading system at most other schools I know. Maybe I have the wrong definition of grade deflation, so somebody please correct me if I’m wrong. </p>
<p>I do agree that freshmen advisors aren’t really helpful. F&M definitely has some work to do with regards to preparing professors to be effective advisors to freshmen and sophomores before they declare. I do know, however, that you switch advisors once you declare your major, which usually clears up any issues there.</p>
<p>I also agree that F&M is totally overpriced. However, I will say this. You can go to a host of the best LACs in the country, pay the same price as F&M, and not get into a good grad school or get a job because you weren’t involved, your grades weren’t good enough, or your GREs/LSATS/other test sucked, etc. My point is, if you have already decided on a small LAC, expect to throw down some cash. After that, it’s up to you to make the most of your experience. I’ve been trying to get really involved on campus, and that has made ALL the difference. In high school I HATED extracurriculars…I thought they were a waste of time, poorly run, pointless for anything except college acceptance. At college though, it’s all about doing what you love, finding yourself, or, arguably more importantly, losing yourself.</p>
<p>I really love F&M-- if you get involved in the school in a lot of different ways, you’ll find that it’s a really awesome place. However…it’s definitely not for everyone, and I’m sorry for his sake that BenevolentBob didn’t transfer.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in any other aspect of F&M, I can answer to a lot of aspects of the school, so feel free to message me or reply :)</p>