Marist College

Marist was overall a good experience. The academics were only moderately challenging, but I had no problem getting a job with my degree.

(started at 65k+ a year at a prestigious investment bank) Granted, this might have been due to my internships (IBM) and personal ability in perusing jobs. Still, I never felt that Marist held me back in any way, and I had a good time with my friends, despite not being a preppy tri-state rich boy.

I would recommend Marist to anyone who is not one of two thigns:
Gay
a minority
All my friends who were either of those have regretted it. You might have a fine time with it if you are Black, but if you are Gay, forget it. Marist is an ex-catholic school, and they won't appreciate you. (You will not be able to live an open life there).

Oh yes, and for a private school it is pretty cheap. Basically a private school education at a 25-30% discount.

Pros:
Cheap
Decent education
Extra Curriculars are AWESOME
Great Sports (and you can walk on too, if you are decent)
Quick train to NYC
Cons:
Social Scene is all bars (not a fan)
Homogeneous
Anti-gay social atmosphere
Self involved student body
A little too conservative for an educational body
Isolated (but not more then some other schools)
It is what you make of it, opportunities are there, you just have to seek them out. Plenty of my friends went to grad school, and with ease. Academics are major specific in quality.

I would attend again.

4th Year Male -- Class 2008

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Innovation: C

I don't understand why people are giving the average Marist student a stereotype that portrays popped collars, BMWs, rich ignorant people, etc. After my first full year at the school, I didn't see one popped collar at all. Not every Marist student is rich...you'd be surprised. Of course most have a good amount of money, but lots of kids get scholarships for sports or academics or join the ROTC. The student body is overall very friendly. Upperclassmen help freshmen move in, taking all of your luggage. Please note that not many colleges even offer this service for freshmen. On move out day, people you don't even know will help holding doors and carrying stuff out for you. There's always someone to ask about an assignment if you need help, even at 1 AM. It's getting extremely hard to get into Marist these days. The acceptance rate for this year's freshmen class will probably be in the mid 40% range at most. The professors are mostly great, just be sure to always check ratemyprofessor.com to see which professors are best. The campus is gorgeous and kept up with really well everyday. You'd be hard pressed to see as much as a wrapper on the campus most days. Students can afford the higher end clothing and accessories, but lots of days they will still show up to early classes in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. It's not as uptight here as people make it seem. The race problem isn't true at all either...this past year a Hispanic student held a demonstration over being made fun of basically by 1 other student. The whole thing was blown out of proportion as are most race issues these days. For the non-ignorant people on campus, race relations are great and those of different races will always be seen with those of other races on campus. There are only a few negatives I have noticed. The first one is the housing problem. Marist is accepting more students than they have housing for, making some students really angry since they have to live in crappy housing or a hotel, while their friends live in townhouses. The other negative is that it's very hard to meet and befriend a lot of people if you don't commonly go out to bars. That's where everyone is. Don't get me wrong...I drink and go out enough, but going to bars every night can get expensive and boring. It would be nice if you could become friendly with pretty girls who are sober and actually remember you the next day. Oh and by the way, our women's basketball team is currently ranked #23 in the NATION! They play like they belong in the Big East and are the most underrated women's basketball team in the nation easily. We also just got a new logo which is an upgrade from the old one. Marist is definitely a college on the rise in terms of prestige and athletic success...it's only going to get harder and harder to get in. The people that hate on Marist are usually jealous poor kids that attend SUNY's especially Cortland or Albany. They know their education can never match ours, and they can't say that Bill O'Reilly graduated from their school!

1st Year Male -- Class 2011

Useful Schoolwork: A+, Surrounding City: C+

I am a Digital Media major at Marist College. Marist College's Art Department is very small (its a good thing) all your profs will learn your name and things about you and you will most likely have your art profs more than once. I have had some of them 3-4 times and I've only been here 2 years, I came in as a transfer. They are readily available to help you when you need it (good at the office hours thing) and overall just wonderful people to be around. They make the major a lot of fun, the art dept. doesn't get as much attention as it should. Art is not nearly as "big of a deal" at Marist as Fashion or Communications, and you don't need a portfolio to get in the major (which is actually good if you are passionate about it, but maybe don't have much of a background in it). On the other hand, since the major is made up of people with a variety of backgrounds, don't expect your classmates to contribute much during a critique. I transferred from a school where profs would rip up artwork he didnt like (a bit on the extreme side yes), but the students at Marist are kind of hesitant in how to go about a critique even though if done properly its just constructive critisism and not offensive at all. The few that will say anything in a critique will kind of just parrot what the prof. says, that is really my only major complaint, but the people in the major are nice and it's more of a team environment that a competitive environment. You will also becaome a jack of all trades rather than just focusing on one single medium, which is helpful in getting a job. Even the adjuncts (there is only like 1 or 2) or readily available if you ask for the help, and they are working in the field so they are good for some real world applications.

As for Marist in itself, outside the Art Dept. Im somewhat of a Tomboy especially when seen with my classmates. A lot of the girls choose to go minimal on the clothing and can't go without the Coach bag (this is less so with the art kids though the art kids are very conservative compared to a typical art school) and most people are from Jersey or Long Island looking for a way to drink every night without mommy and daddy knowing about it. The people in the registrars office are highly incompetent, make sure you stay on top of them if you need anything like a transcript and do the same thing when you apply to the school because I litterally had to hunt down my transcripts over the phone myself (yes you are paying tuition to do someone's job FOR them) because the person who was going to evalualte them for credit or advise me or whatever would not pick up the phone or get out of their office chair. Look in the right places, there are a couple of helpful people who will bend over backwards for you in the administrative areas, but i've only met one, they are few and far between, but I am forever grateful to that person.

The campus is not diverse at all, though a lot of my classmates seem to think it is....it really isn't. Everyone looks pretty similar, dresses pretty similar, acts pretty s imilar etc.

Please also keep in mind that the incompetent administration issue and their red tape is very common amongst almost every college, this is not a special Marist characteristic. As I stated earlier if you need something from the Registrars office etc. just make sure you keep up on it until it's done and don't take any flack. Overall I have absolutely loved my professors even outside of my major. Marist requires a religious studies course for every student and I loved my prof. so much I took a course with that Prof. again even though it was a subject I initially thought I wouldn't be interested in. I also adored one of my Lit profs even though I was an art student in a class of lit majors. Most of the professors are way worth the administrative hassles. Registering for classes is kind of a lame process, you have to meet with your advisor (usually a prof in your major) and they approve you for the courses you select. Once they approve you, you are then able to "Pre-register" for your courses on the internet and then someone somewhere then decides who to let in their courses (it is based on what year you are and priority points) a month or so later you get the results of this pre-registration, you may get one, none, or all of the classes you selected. The only people who really seem to get all the classes they asked for at this stage are people who are going to be seniors, though most profs are very cool about signing a waiver to let additional people in (if you put in the effort you can probably get what you want). Then they have the add/drop period where you can add or subtract courses to this. This period is only for a certain length of time and the seniors go first followed by the juniors etc. Once this week or so passes you can't really edit your schedule again until classes start, where its just a normal add/drop period.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2008

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Social Life: F