College of Our Lady of the Elms

My overall opinion of College of Our Lady of the Elms is that there are areas where the college excels in and areas in which it could improve upon. When it comes to housing, the college could definitely improve. In the freshman dorms, the common areas are very nice and the rooms are standard, but the bathrooms are atrocious. There are about 5 stalls and 5 showers in each bathroom on all three floors, which is not nearly enough for 20+ people on the floor. Upon the first week of people being on campus, two out of five bathroom stalls were not working. It took a couple of weeks for the college to send people to fix this issue. The shower stalls themselves are the worst part of the bathroom in the freshman dorms. They are incredibly small and only have one hook in each of them and one storage space in the actual shower. Throughout the entire semester, multiple shower heads stopped working and mold started to grow on the roof of the shower. The showers also do not have an adequate draining system, so the floor gets very wet and slippery (which is dangerous). Another thing I hate about the freshman dorms, is the strict sign in procedure to let your friends or families into the dorm. It is tedious and ridiculous. Elms College is the only school that I know of that treats freshmen like children and makes them sign in people to enter the dorm. The freshman dorms also only have about 4 or 5 washers and dryers for the entire building. The other two upperclassmen dorms are way better in terms of bathroom compared to the freshman dorms. The buildings are older, but they are beautiful and keep the structural integrity of its foundations. The on campus dining hall/ food services for the college is atrocious. We use Aladdin Dining Company and they have not fulfilled their promises specified in their contract. For example, they were supposed to provide a “store” in the cafeteria basement equipped with snacks that was open 24-hours and never did. They don't have a wide variety of foods to choose from and are unwilling to accommodate the student body. The dining hall won't even make you a quesadilla if asked. Some of the staff are rude and are not willing to listen to requests. They also make you scan before entering in the dining hall before you can see what's available. Some of us do not have unlimited meals on their meal plan and if we go in and do not want to get anything, then that's wasted money on our cards. The dining hall is also poor with its maintenance, the soda machine in the dining hall is always broken and running out of its contents, sometimes not being replaced for days. And the seating areas are sometimes never cleaned, leaving salt or food remnants from the meal before on them. Overall, the dining hall/company has a lot to improve on if it wants to get its student rating back up. However, campus facilities, class size, campus services, and academics are the redeeming characteristics of Elms College. The class sizes are small and the professors take the time to help you. Especially in your major specific classes, with most of the professors actually having experience in that field. Elms College also has a lot of wonderful resources for academics, student success and planning, finance, and job opportunities. Elms hosts a lot of career fairs, in which businesses from the local community often attend. Elms also has the wonderful staff on the second floor of the library that can help you with a wide variety of things from student planning, tutoring, and time management. But these characteristics alone are not enough to put Elms College as a top school in my opinion. I think most of its problems are where the money is going. A lot of students pay an arm and a leg to go to Elms, so it's baffling that the money seems to be going nowhere and into places where it's not wanted. The students want the money to go to better food, residence hall renovations, and athletic facilities and athletics in general. I think that would put Elms above the rest is improving on all the things mentioned above and putting money into where its actually needed.

I'm very happy with my decision to choose College of Our Lady of the Elms. It has a small, homey-feel for a campus and everyone is very friendly and kind. I think it's a good college and it's private so there aren't many students in the classes, which is nice. It is a safe campus as well.

Elms is a perfect school for me not too big and not too small. The campus is just perfect for me. Students and faculty are very friendly. Great professors who are passionate about their work. I felt the warmth and acceptance of everybody on my orientation day. I must Elms College feels like home.

Most staff at the school means well, but it is time for an influx of youth in the professor department. Many of them are up there in age and frankly I worry what will happen to the biology and chemistry departments as people begin to retire. I have had some difficulty with staff communication, some but not all of the professors feel they don't need to answer emails or show up to office hours.