Pace University - New York

I was really disappointed with my first year at this school. I knew I wanted to transfer after being there for just a few weeks, and after sticking it out for a whole year I finally did transfer. I went to Pace thinking that I would have a fun experience because it's in New York City, but this school really ruined it for me. The educational aspect of the school wasn't that bad, so if all you need to keep you happy is some good classes then by all means, attend. But if you want to have fun and meet interesting people, Pace is going to hold you back. If you're straight, you should be accepting of the gay community because I guarantee 90% of the people you meet at Pace are gay. If you're a gay man, you will probably love Pace. Straight people really just don't fit in here. Parties at Pace don't exist, if they do they usually consist of 5-10 people hanging out in a tiny dorm room, and your RA will yell at you. They are very strict about noise and drinking within the dorms. I once got a knock on my door because my TV volume was too loud. If you're a house party kind of person, you probably won't enjoy the social life here. Clubbing is a big thing in the city, so if you prefer that kind of partying then you might have a better experience. But even then, you have to be 21, or have a very convincing fake ID, bouncers here are trained to know the difference between real IDs and fake ones. Trust me, there will be nights when you will just end up wandering around trying to find any place to get into. There are absolutely no clubs or sports to join here, unless you're into robotics or chess, you probably won't find any interesting activities at Pace. More than half of the clubs listed on Pace's website don't even exist, or if they do they're extremely competitive. Personally, I like to dance and act but because I'm not majoring in either of those areas I can't join. The performing arts activities and clubs are only limited to the students who chose that as their major. Otherwise, you are out of luck. The students here all look really sad and bored when you pass them in the halls, and there are a lot of people who just seem lonely and depressed.. There is a very negative and sad atmosphere within the school that brings you down.

1st Year Female -- Class 2019

Surrounding City: A+, Education Quality: F

It feels like a century ago when I was here inquiring on college reviews. When reading the reviews for Pace I thought it was interesting that Pace was below average compared to the other schools' reviews, but like many other students, I decided to give this school a chance.

I recently graduated Pace, and I can say that this has been the greatest waste of college education. I could go on and on complaining about this institution and its practices, but to make the story short, all the negative reviews here are accurate. The administration doesn't care, the cafeteria food is overpriced and not hygienic, your education won't prepare you for an above average organization unless you challenge yourself, the housing department treat you like they're doing you a favor while in fact you're paying your money, your room will have deficiencies like cold air filtering through the windows during the winter or even missing tiles in the bathroom, OSA will ignore your email if they don't know the answer instead of replying with a courtesy email, among other things. I could write 100 pages on the horrendous tactics of this school, but it's not worth it. As of now, I have few advices:

-The school is overpriced for the quality of the education and the service. The best choice would be to attend a state college.

-Yes, when you apply they will be beyond attentive and they'll call you to make sure you accept them (don't let them lure you in, once you accept their admission, you're just a number)

-the only happy students are the commuters, don't dorm here they treat you like you're dorming for free

Of course, there are 3 things I can take back from Pace:

-the location (not Pace)... The location is beautiful
-I've met great friends within my department
-I've also met wonderful and caring professors
I feel that due to its location and the amount of money Pace sucks out of their students, they could have the potential to be a wonderful and resourceful institution of higher education... but we all know that's not happening unless they fire everyone and start over.

PS. Friedman, our graduation speaker was horrible. After graduating this place with over $100,000 in loans, I was expecting a speaker with some integrity... even schools with less reputation than Pace had descent speakers.

And the fact that the speaker publicly admitted that he didn't prepare or come up with a graduation speech as he spoke was very disrespectful to his audience...

He made me feel like our class wasn't good enough to have someone address a valuable life lesson... but who are we fooling here, what can you expect from this school?Long live Friedman.

3rd Year Female -- Class 2014

Friendliness: B-, Education Quality: F

The only good thing "I" can say as an much older student (late 40's) good about this school is that it's located in the immediate area of the companies I wanted to apply to for internships, co-ops and employment. But I must admit I feel like the odd man out at recruiting events with students from Columbia, NYU and Fordham representing Pace but the credentials that got me in the room was my NEU gpa. Beyond that I regret leaving the 42nd ranked university to come to the 173rd ranked university solely on the basis of receiving a scholarship. Would you believe they have the audacity to charge the same tuition cost as the 42nd ranked university! To start, I received my scholarship offer in May, but they said I had to pay a refundable $100 fee to reserve it, ding. The first flag went up. I researched prior to applying to ensure myself that all transferring credits would be accepted, I found their acceptable transfer list of credits from my school and said ok, here's the refundable $100. A month later I received the transcript of transfer credits that they've accepted and 17 3 credit hour classes were reduce to 2 credits. When I called to question this I got a student assistant that didn't know what or how to explain it. In the interim, I'm still waiting for my scholarship letter to sign so my financing can be applied. I didn't get that until Dec 8. While I'm waiting they're sending me dunning letters like its my fault the scholarship letter wasn't signed. This went on for 7 months. Meanwhile, I'm a jr transferring in, but due to the reduction in credits I'm barely a sophomore. I'm sitting in sophomore classes I had already taken, I'm very disinterested and inattentive. I requested to appeal this gross injustice and I'm told there is no formal process to do so, me having done my research, point out that their transfer list states there are exceptions made so how could there not be a formal process if their policy is the provost can make exceptions. While this is going on I have another 10 credits that haven't even been considered since I transferred in in September, which are also on the list as transferable credits. Now this is 26 credits unapplied. To make this story short, I spent one semester at this school and that was enough to know I don't want to represent this school in anyway, shape, form or fashion and I transferred back to NEU. While I was there I heard staff making calls to former graduates stating the school was rescinding their degree because the school made an error in calculating their credits. Make no mistake this is a for profit school. I happened upon their financial statements and that explained why they were using dell computers, antiquated software and still using paper as opposed to being paperless when the push is to reduce carbon footprints nationally. Their endowment shows $137m but they're carrying $153m in debt. Now that explains why they accept 81.6% of their applicants and NEU only takes 34%. It also explains why the wifi is so bad you can barely do homework and that's while sitting in the library on campus. It also explains a great majority of their study body are international students paying annual tuition of $16k versus the $60k they charge US students and about 35% (being generous)national students. Parents, if you want your child to get a quality education and you're footing the bill. I don't care how much they want to be in NYC, if the school isn't Columbia, Cornell, NYU or Fordham, send them to Boston to Northeastern, Suffolk, UMass Boston, Boston U, Boston College, MIT, Harvard. I'm a former executive from JP Morgan who's gone back to school, trust me you don't want to spend your money here for your child's education. You'll regret it when your child is competing against students from the schools I mentioned about or Maryland University, Georgetown, George Washington U, American U, Catholic U, George Mason U or one of your more respected Jr colleges.

1st Year Male -- Class 2016

Surrounding City: A+, Education Quality: F