Alexandra Figueroa

Review of Western New England

DO NOT GO HERE. I had the worst school experience ...

DO NOT GO HERE. I had the worst school experience here ever. The students are very cliquey, which makes sense because over 80% of the student population on campus is white. I have a food allergy to nuts, which I would of almost died if my friend did not tell me there was nuts in pesto. The kitchen staff was not responsible to put an allergy sign until after my friend told them to put the sign. The diversity program is a joke. In the diversity program for freshman, you are given a mentor to help you through your first year.They pick mentors based off the freshman's personality and interests. My mentor was nothing like me, if not the opposite.The mentors were supposed to have individual weekly meetings with their mentee. I never had a meeting with my mentor. I later come to find out that at the end of each meeting, mentors are supposed to write a journal about their mentee. If I never had a meeting and my mentor was supposed to be writing about me, what was she actually saying about me weekly. Also, the RA on my floor in Berkshire (which is called are dirty-berk, because it was the direst in both the quad and all housing) was never around when needed, and did not care to resolve roommate issues. In terms of academics, they also score very poorly. Out of about less than 10 professors I had during my time there, only 1 showed serious interest in my education and well-being. All other professors were inconsiderate and showed no interest what so ever. For my chemistry course, there was 2 professor:1 for labs and 1 for lectures. They did not seem to communicate to review the course material, because every time we did a lab, it was not in sync with the material we learned in lecture. My professors were often teaching different material and we had very little time to learn and study for any quizzes and exams that were always given last minute. Their tutors are the most useless academic resource. Each time I went, it was either I don't know how to solve that or they would look it up as I would do if I was alone. They could not explain the material to me, so why would you allow someone to be paid to tutor someone else if they can't master the material for themselves. Socially, there is nothing to do here, which is why every weekend, there is someone who gets sent to the hospital for hard drugs like cocaine or passing out from excess underage drinking. In the Springfield area that this campus is locate, is in the "hood" or bad parts of Springfield. The campus may look safe, but outside those gates it is not. Speaking of safety, freshmen who have cars on campus have to walk the farthest from their cars to their dorms. It's completely unfair and not safe for female students walking back to dorms when its dark out ( there's lighting but not enough to make you feel safe at night). One of the worst things about this school is their tuition. I made the unfortunate mistake of taking out a very huge student loan ( over $ 20,000). During big events such as SOAR or student -acceptance day, they make everything look perfect and inviting just so they can take your money when you enroll. For all engineering majors, its the most expensive as you will pay over an additional $1,000 for the fees and extra costs engineer must pay. When I came, they did not inform me I was an undeclared major nor ask if I wanted to declare a major. I was going through personal issues back home and having a hard time her my 2nd semester, I ended up leaving and they kept asking me if I wanted to stay. At that point, they couldn't do anything for me. Also because I left before the semester ended, I was charged over $2,000. Even though I appealed because of the hardships I had both on campus and home, they said no, and took my money. Because I had a horrible experience with less than 2 full semesters as an on-campus student, PLEASE GO TO A COMMUNITY COLLEGE THEN STATE SCHOOL OR GO TO ANOTHER STATE SCHOOL AND LIVE ON CAMPUS AND IT WILL PROBABLY BE CHEAPER THAN 1 FULL YEAR HERE INCLUDING TUITION. You'll be happy elsewhere, I promise.