Reviews
Saint Anselm College
Ivan from Hooksett, NH
a current student here
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In three sentences
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Great school which has many different options. Great professors that will help you out all the time. An amazing campus that is comfortable and has a lot of activities.
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Tips for prospective students
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Apply early decision. Get to know the professors, they are really wonderful.
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Academic Rigor
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It will be hard, but you need to stay on top of your game from day one. Trust me, don't think you can catch up. It really is hard, and you can only understand that when you are your 3rd year here.
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Dorm Life
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am a commuter.
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Food and Dining
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Good choices, last year was ranked as 16th best on Princeton review )
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What to do for fun
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Go to manchester elm street and south willow street, that's where all of the major places to hang out are...and off of those streets.
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Bang for the buck
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It is worth the money. It just doesn't seem that way your first year.
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Share any unusual traditions or locations on campus
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I believe they don't serve meat on friday's, catholic tradition. And we don't have federal holidays off, but we do have different schedulings for catholic holidays.
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Great for these types of students
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Anyone who likes a small college, but great professors, and having fun in class.
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Clubs and Activities
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Too many clubs for me to remember, but i hear they are great.
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Greek Life
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We have some of that here too. Although I was a latin student, but we do have the greek professor host a dig in Italy i believe every year.
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Campus Safety
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Pretty good, no big things happen here and there are plenty of lights usually.
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Stephen from Londonderry, NH
a current student here
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In three sentences
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i love my school. however i do work very hard and my grades don't always reflect it. there are some problems with my school but i'd rather be here than anywhere else.
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Tips for prospective students
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make you take a tour, and attend the accepted students open house if you are accepted. also it's okay to come in undecided, about 51% of students do.
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Academic Rigor
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as i said above, it is a difficult school. i am a politics major so most of my homework is reading. i can spend hours reading everyday. i don't have to write to many papers during the year but writing a 5 page paper isn't difficult for me anymore because of all my experience writing longer ones. it may seem tough base on what i am saying but most of the professors are really helpful and they want to help you succeed. if you do what's assigned then you will succeed.
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Dorm Life
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the dorms at saint a's are okay freshman and sophomore year. typical doubles mostly with other offerings available as well. junior and senior year there apartments that are really nice. because they are so nice hardly anyone lives off campus anymore. 91% of students live on campus.
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Food and Dining
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the food is outstanding. we were voted 11th best in the country by one website for our food. everyday there are delicious options at both davison and the coffee shop. the carving station and triple berry smoothies are my favorites.
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What to do for fun
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i go to a lot of sporting events. we have a really good hockey team. i also watch movies with friends and go to a lot of events put on by our campus activities board (cab) like comedians, magicians, or holiday events. i also go rock climbing, skiing, hiking, paintballing, and other things like that really cheap. i recently went to a bruins game and my ticket was discounted $56 because i went with cab. l i live really close to my school but i never go home because there is always something going on on campus.
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Bang for the buck
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in my opinion it's worth every penny (and you pay a lot of pennies). you have a wonderful experience in your four years and have some great opportunities after you graduate.
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Share any unusual traditions or locations on campus
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we have a christmas feast ever year that almost the whole school tries to go to. it's free for students and dining services goes all out that night. they have things like prime rib, seafood newburg, stuffed chicken, squash ravioli, salads, veggies, breads, desserts, and egg nog. some students line up for hours so they can get in early.
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Great for these types of students
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students who want to be known. saint a's is a small school and you can stand out here. news travels fast around saint a's and it is hard to hide here. i love meeting new people and i am very outgoing so i love it. also you need to work at this school. it's difficult, however the work is always manageable.
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Clubs and Activities
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we have over 80 different clubs and student organizations at saint a's. i'm in quite a few clubs. and if a club that you want doesn't already exist, it is very easy to start it up. the only problem is the funding for clubs which some clubs don't always get as much as they would like but they always make do.
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Greek Life
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it doesn't exist at saint a's which i personally like. we have some service organizations but they are different from frats. frats create problems with hazing, vandalism, and out of control parties. they are unnecessary.
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Campus Safety
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it is a very safe school. if i am studying late and i need to walk back to my room alone at night, i feel very comfortable doing so. security makes their rounds 24 hours a day and there are hardly ever incidents on campus.
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SAC student
a current student here
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In three sentences
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It's a great school for nursing majors who want a small, traditional school with little to no diversity but a great nursing program.
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Tips for prospective students
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Tour the school, of course, to see what you think. Alumni is a beautiful building. If you are physically handicapped and need ramps and elevators, this is NOT the school for you....almost all of the buildings are not handicap accessible, at least not the dorms. Don't come here if you want diversity. Pretty much everybody here is white, upper middle class, from Massachusetts or NH, and Catholic/Christian. Visit if you want a small, traditional school that is established and has a rich history and cool haunted buildings like Alumni. Visit if you want to be more than just a number in your classes. If you're into politics or nursing, definitely come here. The political debates happen here every 4 years, and the nursing program is well known for being great.
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Academic Rigor
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It depends on your major....I'm a nursing major which is what the school is known for. It's a VERY rigorous program. Freshman year wasn't bad because a lot of my classes were just core, non-nursing classes. But once sophomore year hits.....get ready! Clinicals start second semester of sophomore year for nursing majors (which is sooner than a lot of other schools). My nursing friends and I RARELY have free time. We are constantly doing homework, even on the weekends (in order to attempt to catch up or get ahead even though it never seems to happen). Biology majors also seem pretty busy. Elementary education majors seem like they have a lot of little, annoying things to do like group projects and papers, plus student teaching of course. But then my friends with other majors (like environmental science) seem like they have all the time in the world........so it really just depends. If you're going to do nursing, though, then be ready for a LOT of work, especially once sophomore year hits. It's very easy to fall behind if you procrastinate or don't study. And the requirements are tough. For example, you fail a class if your test average in the class isn't at least a C (or C+? I forget). So even if you get a B in the class, if your test average is lower than a C/C+, you'd fail the class. Also, your GPA must be above 2.5 for nursing majors. That sounds easy but if you fail one class then that could mean failing the entire program even if all your other classes are As and Bs. Lots of people fail/drop out of the nursing program after taking/failing biochemistry freshman year.
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Dorm Life
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The dorms are very old, simple and traditional. The only new dorm is New Hall, which is hard to get into. All the rest are very old. Freshmen girls live in either JOA, Baroody, or Streets. Most like in JOA, which is really nice. The rooms have sinks! There is also a large basement with a TV, tables, a study room, a kitchen, and 2 laundry rooms. Each floor (there are 3) has a common room with a TV, couches, and a kitchenette. JOA is great. Freshman boys live in Dom (nicknamed Dirty Dom) which is said to be gross, but I guess you can't expect much since it's a bunch of freshman boys. Anyway, sophomore year is a huge downgrade. Girls can live in either Bertrand (all girls), Brady (boys on 1st floor, girls on 2nd and 3rd floors), Courts (guys and girls), or New Hall (guys and girls; hard to get into -- has sophomores, juniors, seniors). Bert and Brady are pretty much the same thing except Brady has boys on the first floor (which also means locked hallways). They're a huge downgrade from JOA. There are no sinks, no common rooms, no basement, and only 4 washers and 4 dryers for the entire building. It's ridiculous. Oh, and the showers don't have changing areas! Boys can live in Brady, Hillary, or Courts. Hillary seems a bit crazy and loud (they have lots of parties). Housing gets better for upperclassmen.....typically juniors live in 4-person apartments in Lowers, and seniors live in 4-person town houses in Uppers. Uppers is where the parties happen. Also, dorms technically have intervisitation hours (intervis) where guys/girls can only visit the dorm of someone of the opposite sex until a certain hour.
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Food and Dining
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The food at Saint Anselm is really good. The chefs make it themselves rather than having a company do it. You can have stuff be made for you at The Grill like omelets or grilled cheese. There's a deli and salad bar as well. Then there two lines for the main meal (Chef's Choice and Entree). Every other Thursday is crepe night. The school also has an annual (free) Christmas feast which is DELICIOUS (I recommend getting there an hour or two after it starts rather than an hour or two early.....they don't run out of food). The food is really good, especially things like their panini and apple glazed chicken. However, it can get old. Especially if you don't like what they are serving and the only other options you'd have would be salad, deli, pasta, or grilled chicken. Also, the food is TERRIBLE at to-go options. My sister's college has a bunch of to go items that you'd find at, say, a convenience store and you can heat them up later. Davison has next to none. So pretty much if you're hungry you'll either have to come to Dav or buy to go items from an off-campus grocery store, which you won't want to do since you automatically have to have like a $4,000 meal plan if you live in a dorm and you'll want to spend that money. Oh, but Saint Anselm does also have a coffee shop (again, no to go items). They have unhealthy food but it's delicious. The calzones are amazing. There's also a pub in the coffee shop. Once you're 21 you can get your own personalized mug in the coffee shop. It's pretty cool.
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What to do for fun
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Well pretty much people go to Uppers on the weekends to party. There's also a fire out in the woods on Thursdays whenever it's warm. The school also puts on a lot of free events. Like they'll sometimes have comedians or hypnotists. They'll also have dances and concerts (the spring concert this year is T Pain). Besides that.....you'll probably have to go off campus for other things, so bring a car if those things won't be enough to satisfy you. St. A's is a small school so we don't have a movie theater or anything like that. Although often times clubs and whatnot will show movies for free....usually old ones, though. Or they'll have trips to go places. Like the club Unhooked takes people apple picking. And I know that when the Hunger Games movie came out there was a bus for people to go. And there was also a bus for people to go vote. So if you don't have a car there will be ways for you to get places....but still, I'd recommend a car. I didn't have my car freshman year and by the end of the year I felt like I was going insane from being stuck on the small, little campus for almost an entire year. You definitely need to get off campus every now and then, or you might go crazy.
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Bang for the buck
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St. A's is EXPENSIVE. They also don't really pay for things for the students or give us things for free. We get free events but I'm talking about, for example, paying for the Manchester bus that comes to the school every hour (other schools, such as SNHU, pay for the bus, so it's free to students). Furthermore, if you're a nursing major, you have SO MANY other costs that come into play......textbooks (about $1000 per semester), scrubs, shoes ($100+), stethoscope ($100), blood pressure cuff, CPR certification, vaccinations, a car to get to and from clinical, gas to get to and from clinical, TOLL MONEY to get to and from clinical if your clinical is far away, etc. Also, they force you to pay like $4,000 for a meal plan if you live in a dorm. This isn't fair to small girls like me who eat about half of that. Other issues on campus include the HORRENDOUS WI-FI (students complain about it constantly), as well as the old buildings. You'd think you'd have better dorms for paying 50k, but no. Us sophomores in Bert/Brady only get 4 washers/dryers for over 100 people, no changing area for the showers, no sinks, no closets (just holes in the wall), no common rooms, only 1 kitchen (with broken microwave and fridge).........the list goes on. You get used to it and it's honestly not bad. The benefits outweigh the bad. BUT you'd think they'd give us more perks for the amount of money we pay.
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Share any unusual traditions or locations on campus
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There is the gingerbread house contest each winter. There's also the Christmas feat. For nurses there's the Blessing of the Hands (sophomore year before starting clinical -- they wear their scrubs) and the Pinning Ceremony (senior year -- they dress up in the old-fashioned, white nursing dresses with caps). When you're 21 you can get a personalized, engraved Saint Anselm mug for the pub. You can keep it there (at the pub) while you're a student at St. A's.
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Great for these types of students
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Students who like small, traditional, private schools. Students who want to learn and have a good academic program and don't mind working hard (depending on their major). Students who don't want a huge party school but also don't want a school where people don't drink (trust me --- the students at St. A's are BIG into drinking. But if you don't want to drink then that's fine too. You can find your place either way). Students who care more about going to a good school and learning a lot/having a community than they do about having gorgeous dorms or a ton of student perks. Students who don't mind when there is almost no diversity and mostly everybody has the same/similar backgrounds.
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Clubs and Activities
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There are a good amount of clubs at St. A's that you can join if you wish.
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Greek Life
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There are no REAL sororities or fraternities at Saint A's, but there are fake/unofficial ones (societies). There are none recognized by the school and there is no greek housing.
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Campus Safety
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I always see campus safety (Campo) around. I feel very safe on campus. I don't really mind walking around campus alone at night (the most you'd have to worry about are obnoxious drunk people walking around.)
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Elena from Pembroke, NH
a current student here
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In three sentences
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this is the perfect school for faithful republicans who want to become more active in politics. there is a large focus on political activity and the development of critical thinkers and active citizens. even the less popular majors are excellently staffed with enthusiastic professors.
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Tips for prospective students
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make sure you know exactly what you're getting into. know what classes will be required of you and meet professors from your prospective major. keep in mind that it is a religious school focused on liberal arts, so class requirements will be different from the norm. live on campus!!! many classes require tons of library research (although the library has amazing online resources easily accessible from home) and group work.
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Academic Rigor
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if you want a challenge, they'll give it to you. there is an honors track that puts you with the brightest and the best in the school. the professors are always probing you for your thoughts and challenging you to think critically about solutions.
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Dorm Life
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the dorms are pretty typical, but much cleaner than what i've seen elsewhere. the heater always works and it's always cool enough in the fall and spring. the only downfall is the tragically slow wireless internet!
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Food and Dining
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davidson has a wide selection of food, but it all gets pretty boring after a while. luckily, students can go to the coffee shop if they're looking for a relief from the usual. a city bus also goes through campus for a quick escape to the red arrow diner or other downtown restaurants.
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What to do for fun
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there is an endless amount of school clubs and organizations. there are clubs for nearly every major, political affiliation and extracurricular activity. if you ever can't find something to do, you can apply for a budget to organize your own event on or off campus.
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Bang for the buck
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there are trails through the woods when you feel trapped indoors after a long winter of studying. they're great for running or just a relaxing walk. perfect for the nature lover.
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Share any unusual traditions or locations on campus
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none of your friends will have a monastery on campus, complete with a private cemetery! they have haunted tours of it every halloween.
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Great for these types of students
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saint a's has a long tradition of political involvement. it's especially tailored for republicans, international relations majors, or future lawyers.
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Clubs and Activities
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there are clubs for almost anything you could think of. if you can't find one for you, you can always get a group of friends to start one.
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Greek Life
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non-existent. there's alpha phi omega, a service organization.
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Campus Safety
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in any emergency, campus safety and security promptly responds. they make their presence known on campus at all times. you're never too far to call for help. there are plenty of emergency call booths with blue lights on top for easy visibility.
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