<p>so, noone really posts here but...i was wondering if a current student or alumni or someone connected with the school (parent, etc) could tell me how easy it is to gain an internship while attending? do they have contracts with places? also if anyone could let me know about grad school placement...</p>
<p>I'm probably not the most qualified person for this question but seeing as I am the only person who ever posts here, I'll try to help you out. </p>
<p>My dad used to teach at St. Mary's and he was always recommending kids for internships. I don't know how one goes about getting one, but almost all of these kids got the internships they were looking for and some of them sounded really neat. Also, St. Mary's allows internships to count for school credit. I know a lot of schools do this but it always sounds way complicated, but at smcm it's really simple to go about doing.</p>
<p>Now as for grad school placement it realy depends what kind of field you are trying to go into. For instance, smcm has something like a 97% rate of acceptance for their grads going into medicince. I think this seems pretty high but its what my parents told me and i asked some teachers i know there and they agreed.. Personally I want to go into engineering and since smcm does not offer an engineering major I am a bit worried about where i will end up after smcm but we will see..</p>
<p>Any other questions I would be glad to try to answer</p>
<p>thanks for the quick response! Ill take you up on your offer to ask more questions.... ;)</p>
<p>Exactly how rural is the area? Ive heard different things...</p>
<p>How is the social life? A lot of house parties (since no frats)?</p>
<p>Are the academics known to be challenging?</p>
<p>Ill think of more later, haha.</p>
<p>Hi, I go to SMCM. </p>
<p>Career services is one of the weak points of the school. Technically, the office exists but the 'director' and 'assistant director' positions have been vacant for a couple years now. So basically, nobody bothers with them. You can definetly get internships, but you need to either cold apply to a bunch of places and get lucky, or swing it through professors (which is what most people do). The school does have a few preestablished programs and contacts, but they are generally useless. Also, you can get credit for internships, but the school charges something like $700 for it, even though they aren't actually involved. </p>
<p>Grad school placement is pretty strong. The med school and law school rates are both very strong. If you are interested in a PhD in a subfield that no SMCM professor covers, however, you will have a harder time. </p>
<p>How rural the area is depends on what you are used to. There is nothing within walking distance of the school, and the nearest town is about 10 minutes by car. It has target, wal-mart, lots of restaraunts, etc. Nothing much in the way of entertainment though, so most people don't leave campus except to go shopping or maybe get dinner out. </p>
<p>Most parties take place on 'North Campus,' which is where upperclassmen houses and suites are located. You can find parties every weekend, but everything gets shut down around 1:30. There is also the occasional house party off campus, but they aren't a major part of the party scene. </p>
<p>Academic difficulty is middle of the road. Some majors, ie Biology, are very difficult and time consuming, whereas others...not so much. IMO, you get out what you put in to classes. If you want a 3.6-4.0 GPA, you will have to work very hard to get it and will most likely learn a lot. On the other hand, there are plenty of people that are content skating by with ~3.0 and do less work than in high school. </p>
<p>Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know.</p>