<p>A friend informed me today that the Princeton Review gave USMMA the rating of having the "Worse Food" in US Colleges. I have not read the review. Any comments on this?</p>
<p>The number one thing my son mentioned his first weeks there is that he missed good food. </p>
<p>I suppose when you are making that much food and serving it all at once family style it is pretty hard to make it good. </p>
<p>My son told me one Friday night they all thought they were having turkey and stuffing. It looked that way. A couple bites into the meal they realized it wasn't turkey it was pork and dry at that. The Jewish candidates had tears in their eyes. I thought that was pretty sad.</p>
<p>according to the princeton review, USMMA has the #1: least happy students, worst food, and professors get low marks and #2 for dorms like dungeons.</p>
<p>The nature of the school might make students not happy, it is a rigorous and most challenging course. They are training you to be officers. </p>
<p>Given the regimented life, the dorms are not going to get high marks either, they are "barracks" style I would imagine in many ways other than you only have one roommate.</p>
<p>What do you mean about the professors getting low marks?</p>
<p>I dunno. I've heard tell that Delano has the best chicken noodle soup this side of SC. And how can you beat that salad bar with bacon bits, lettuce, and shredded cheese flying?</p>
<p>My son in 1st Co. told me that he did not think that the rooms were any worse than his older brothers was at our State U. In fact, he thought USMMA's were nicer because he has a sink in his room. He says the food isn't the best but it's better than fixing it himself.</p>
<p>I would love to fix my own food.... im from 1st co also.... your son lives in the next room over from me.... the rooms are ok.... it will be much better once we move into palmer hall... the second night here i woke up to hear my desk compleatly fall apart... and yea the food is least to be desired</p>
<p>Your desk fell apart? Aren't your desks under your bed? That would do me in for a good nights sleep!</p>
<p>BTW KPq0 is a good cook.</p>
<p>btw mom i am KP10 lol.... :)</p>
<p>Heard from my son today. It appears lots of talk about the Princeton Review rankings for usmma...do not remember it being so bad last year? Does anyone remember 2005 ranking?</p>
<p>i believe that we moved from 3 to 1 on the food quality, i'm not too sure about the other catagories, but i'm sure we didn't move too much on the majority of them</p>
<p>The swing in some of the ratings from previous years is puzzling, but Princeton Review explains as follows:
"Though similar, these ratings are not intended to be compared directly to those that appeared on PrincetonReview.com in any prior academic year or within any Princeton Review publication, except for Complete Book of Colleges, 2007 Edition, and the new Best 361 Colleges, 2007 Edition, as our ratings computations are refined and change somewhat annually."</p>
<p>The Princeton Review Best 361 College Rankings for 2007 (based upon 2005-2006 school year)
United States Merchant Marine Academy</p>
<p>"Rank List Category
#1 Professors Get Low Marks Academics</p>
<p>#5 Don't Inhale Parties</p>
<p>#10 Students Most Nostalgic For Reagan Politics</p>
<p>#1 Is It Food? Quality of Life</p>
<p>#2 Dorms Like Dungeons Quality of Life</p>
<p>#1 Least Happy Students Quality of Life</p>
<p>#16 Future Rotarians and Daughters of the American Revolution School Type"</p>
<p>"United States Merchant Marine Academy Appears on These Lists:</p>
<p>"Best Northeastern Colleges
"This school is one of the 222 colleges named a Best Northeastern College by The Princeton Review. Our goal is simple: to identify some of the colleges and universities that we feel stand out within each region."</p>
<p>"America's Best Value College
"This school is one of the colleges designated as one of the best overall bargains based on cost and financial aid among the most academically outstanding colleges in the nation."</p>
<p>The biggest decline was that the Quality of Life Rating dropped from 84 in the 2004 book (on a scale where 99 is best; better than many of the other "best 351 colleges") to 63 for the 2007 edition.</p>
<p>"Quality of Life Rating
"How happy students are with their lives outside the classroom, on a scale of 60-99. We weighed several factors, including students' assessments of: their overall happiness; the beauty, safety, and location of the campus; the comfort of dorms; the quality of food; the ease of getting around campus and dealing with administrators; the friendliness of fellow students; the interaction of different student types; and the quality of the relationship with the local community."</p>
<p>Academic Rating dropped from 84 for 2004 to 76 for 2007.</p>
<p>"Academic Rating
"How hard students work and how much they get back for their efforts, on a scale of 60-99. This rating is calculated from student survey results and statistical information reported by administrators. Factors weighed include how many hours students study outside of the classroom and the quality of students the school attracts. We also considered students' assessments of their professors, class size, student-teacher ratio, use of teaching assistants, amount of class discussion, registration, and resources."</p>
<p>Admissions Selectivity slid from 98 for 2004 to 93 for 2007.</p>
<p>"Admissions Selectivity Rating
"This rating measures how competitive admissions are at the school. This rating is determined by several institutionally-reported factors, including: the class rank, average standardized test scores, and average high school GPA of entering freshmen; the percentage of students who hail from out-of-state; and the percentage of applicants accepted. By incorporating all these factors, our Admissions Selectivity Rating adjusts for "self-selecting" applicant pools. University of Chicago, for example, has a very high rating, even though it admits a surprisingly large proportion of its applicants. Chicago's applicant pool is self-selecting; that is, nearly all the school's applicants are exceptional students. This rating is given on a scale of 60-99." </p>
<p>For more info:</p>
<p>On manyof these factors such as the food, dorms even faculty, they probably haven't changed over the last couple of years. So it leaves me to wonder if it is that the students they have surveyed are a different population. </p>
<p>I am a relatively new teacher at a technical college and one thing that impressed me is how different one group of students (graduating class) can be from another. </p>
<p>I am wondering how much this has to do with the survey. </p>
<p>I do observe that this is not an easy place to live. The types of character development that is going on at USMMA is not going on at other Universities. I do think that this would render a less than happy population of students.</p>
<p>thank you publicenemy, kp10smom, and atlsmith. I would guess that selectivity would drop as less people are applying to military academies the past few years as the war goes on. The 84 to 63 on quality of life...does blow me away, as far as such a drop...I agree with you kp10smom...what might have changed other than the difference in the students and their perspective?</p>
<p>from what i have heard, mostly plebes fill out the survey for the review every year. last year, the plebes filled it out in february, at a time when life was at an all time low... the scores might just be a reflection of the classes general moral at that point in time (about a month before recognition).</p>
<p>I'd be real interested in finding out more about the selectivity from state to state. And if the selectivity has gotten lenient as the amoutn of people applying has dropped. </p>
<p>And I agree that having plebes fill out the survey in february might not be reflective of how they feel in May. </p>
<p>I think the other thing not considered is what is the real outcome of the students, and that can not be reflected until graduation or even thereafter. </p>
<p>Whatever the variables are a word of encouragement to all of you brave souls wh are undertaking this type of education. You are not just in college. You have made a conscientious career move when you went to USMMA. You signed on to a development experience that only a very few are comitted to complete. </p>
<p>DON'T GIVE UP because the food is not so good for a small portion of your life, or because the dorms are drab, or whatever reason. </p>
<p>Perservere to the end as the reward of this education, the career opportunities, the world travel, and I could go on is well worth the temporary discomforts you experience while at USMMA. </p>
<p>I fully believe this education is the best for most of you that have choosen it and in a few short years from now, when you are sitting on a beach somewhere living a life that is the fruit of your labors you will realize that defered gratification is a good thing.</p>
<p>There was somethig else that occured to me. </p>
<p>It doesn't necessarily have to be the student population of the class of 2009 that has caused the student satisfaction report to drop. </p>
<p>I could be what is happening in the student leadership they are receiving. </p>
<p>While the student leadership is responsible for delivering the discipline they are also responsible for keeping the morale up. </p>
<p>I would encourage any plebe candkdate that is feeling their personal or group morale slipping not to give into it. Take the time to reflect on what the leadership is doing and what you can do better when you become the leader. Also take the time to get help the plebe candidates around you get through this. Each and everyone of you can be leaders in a very informal way just by helping one another. The words of encouragement you give to anyone in your group will go a long way to improove the overall morale. We can never underestimate each act of goodness we have the opportunity to create in even the most mundane of circumstances. </p>
<p>This may not be the case whatsoever, and if I seem outspoken or critical I apologize. My motivations are not to be critical of anyone that is doing a tough job of either leading or following. The entire student population is in a leadership learning lab and all parties will make mistakes and hopefully learn by them. But if it is the case of what you are percieving, don't give into it, reflect on it and do something positive about it.</p>
<p>Wonderful posting. And the best part of it refers to something that is one of the hardest things to learn...deferred gratification. Self discipline, making the right choices, dealing with consequences, all form the foundation for that 'goal' at the end. Developing those qualities at KP becomes an individual choice, and 'deferred gratification' can be the motivation. The food and living arrangements become minor if you focus on the big picture. But I'm sure an AC room and a meal where you can identify what you are eating would be nice perks!</p>
<p>MountaineerMom</p>
<p>I'm kind of intrigued by the worst teachers list. With Cal Tech at number three, I'm wondering what kind of criteria the kids use?</p>
<p>LFWB dad, Cal Tech is #4 of Newsweek's Top 100 Global Universities published August 13, 2006. Although many factors were considered in that ranking, highly-cited researchers and number of articles published played a role. My guess is that Cal Tech students consider their faculty hard graders and also perceive them as less available perhaps because of their heavy research and publishing schedule.</p>