Schreiner makes a big deal about their "First-Year Experience" program. All freshmen take a seminar together, live in the same dorms, and do outdoor orientation trips. It sounds like summer camp. Is that good or bad? 
I talked to a current student. She said the outdoor trip — four days of hiking and camping before classes start — was miserable at the time. Rain. Cold. No showers. She wanted to go home.
But she also said: "Those people became my best friends. When you've been cold and wet and hungry with someone, you can't pretend to be cool anymore. The masks come off."
That's interesting. I hate forced bonding activities. But I also hate superficial friendships.
The seminar classes are small — like 15 students — and they're taught by full professors, not TAs. The student said her seminar professor became her academic advisor for all four years.
Here's my question: Is this program genuinely helpful? Or is it just marketing to make parents feel better about private school tuition?
I want real community. But I don't want to be babysat. Where's the line?
I talked to a current student. She said the outdoor trip — four days of hiking and camping before classes start — was miserable at the time. Rain. Cold. No showers. She wanted to go home.
But she also said: "Those people became my best friends. When you've been cold and wet and hungry with someone, you can't pretend to be cool anymore. The masks come off."
That's interesting. I hate forced bonding activities. But I also hate superficial friendships.
The seminar classes are small — like 15 students — and they're taught by full professors, not TAs. The student said her seminar professor became her academic advisor for all four years.
Here's my question: Is this program genuinely helpful? Or is it just marketing to make parents feel better about private school tuition?
I want real community. But I don't want to be babysat. Where's the line?
