Manhattan College Visit Report by Irishmomof2

Visit Activities:

Information Session: Yes - Several specific info sessions: student life, academics, post-grad/internships

Campus Tour: Yes - We weren't impressed with our tour guide, she kept stopping to have conversations with people she knew.

Classroom Visit: Yes - I can't comment, my daughter attended the class.

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Campus:

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Some of the students we encountered were friendly and enthusiastic, most of them basically ignored us, and I also heard some students making unpleasant comments. Lots of vulgar language.

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I didn't really interact with any staff, but the ones who we did interact with were pleasant, if distant

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Cute, tiny campus built on a hill. Nice gardens, beautiful library. Nice gardens, tiny quad with a small chain fence around all the green stuff. Ugly gymnasium.

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Varied. Library was perfect. Smith Building was okay. De La Salle Building looked in bad shape.

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Very institutional, none of the students seemed to make their rooms homey. Probably because we only looked at male dorm rooms, though.

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Security staff was friendly & helpful. Still using keys for some buildings, some buildings are swiped. Surrounding area felt very safe.

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Cute, but campus has seen better days.

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Off-Campus:

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Riverdale is a very tony neighborhood. Surrounded by beautiful homes and privately owned streets.

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Quick walk to train station to catch the subway into Manhattan.

Campus Visit Notes for Manhattan College

Visit Description:

D applied to Manhattan at the last minute, since most of her colleges were in the middle of nowhere, she wanted to add something slightly more urban. However, Manhattan College is a bit of a misnomer, since it's in the Bronx in a quiet, very wealthy neighborhood.

We attended an introductory speech about the mission of the school, a panel discussion featuring several department heads (Student Development, Residence Life and one other dept.); a panel discussion featuring alumni and the Career Development office; and a student panel (more on that later).

We took a tour of one of the classroom buildings, which was not in great shape, and 2 dorms. The dorms I found kind of depression and institutional - the hallways were bereft of any notices or posters or artwork, the lounge rooms were dark. Very nice plasma TVs in the lounge areas, though.

The food was fairly good for institutional eating. There were 2 cafeterias, I think they put us in the nicer one.

The student panel was bizarre. There was one commuting student who was enthusiastic and engaged; one residential student who seemed like he had no idea what to say, and one commuting student with a terrible attitude (When D asked why the students chose Manhattan over other choices, this student said "My other choice was Fordham, and Fordham sucks.")

They are building new dorms, so any student attending in 2007-2008 will have to contend with construction.

The library was clearly newer and was absolutely beautiful - in fact, there were several lovely places on campus, small gardens, beautiful trees.

Lots of smoking students hanging around outside. Heard some students criticizing the physical attractiveness of the visiting students. Heard 2 students following our tour saying they wished they could warn all the touring students not to come. That made me feel kind of sad. Still, our tour guide seemed to really like it, and there were lots of kids playing frisbee and working out at the gym - in fact, it seemed like a very athletic campus, every student we talked to participated in some club sport or other.

It's a Catholic college, but non-Catholic students said it wasn't an issue, they don't have to study or observe Catholicism, although there is a religion requirement.

D said she could see herself there, I kept the majority of my opinion to myself. I think there is a disconnect between what the administration wants Manhattan College to be, and what it actually is.

Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:

Drove

Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:

ate on campus

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

The Big Apple is a 30 minute train ride away. Very limited parking on campus.