Academic Answers Across America

Turn on the news these days and you’re liable to see everything about colleges except academics. You’ll hear about how this college is being sued for discrimination, and that school is bribing its athletes; University of Here is limiting students’ rights while College of Over There is expelling protesters. But rarely do you ever here a word about the state of academics across the country. So iMPrint took up the task. From coast to coast, at party schools and preppy universities, students from across the nation share their thoughts on the current state of academia in America.

The Party School Jacob Patrick, freshman, Indiana University

“Academics are a serious thing at IU," Patrick said. “We do have a pretty big party school but in my experience in the dorms and on campus students usually work hard on schoolwork Sunday through Wednesday. The big party nights are Thursday through Saturday. I think that students make bad judgments sometimes on partying but they usually do a good job of keeping them separate."

The East Coast School Dan Grant, sophomore, Tufts University

“Academics? They’re huge," Grant said. “Anybody who’s coming here knows they are paying a lot to come here, so most people really try their hardest in all their classes. We have a strong international student body, and these students bring a greater work ethic than we have to our school."

The Middle-of-Nowhere Midwest School Christy Munn, freshman, Northern Illinois University

“It’s not real strong," Munn said “It’s really laid back. It’s like not stressed as real important, but there’s not really anything else that is stressed as really important. They’re not saying we should party but it seems that all [the administration] really care about is football."

The West Coast School Nick Heinz, freshman, University of Southern California

“Coming from the Midwest, things are a lot more laid back out here," Heinz said. “At a school like this, everyone really cares about their education. Sure, we have a good time, but here there is a focus on education. Now, I’ve heard that a lot of other schools here on the west coast are really laid back – professors don’t care about grades, students are lazy – but I’ve never experienced that for myself. But definitely the atmosphere is completely different out here."

The Quiet School Elise Eager, freshman, Brigham Young University

“Well, academics kind of take precedence here because we’re not a big party school," Eager said. “Everyone is held to pretty high standards here. But we’re all in the same boat. It’s really unlike anything I’ve seen before. There really is a huge focus on studying here that I don’t think there really is anywhere else. We still have our fun but we do put a lot of time into schoolwork."

The Techie School Matt Hagedorn, freshman, Purdue University “Well, something that comes to mind is that with the technology here so advanced each student has there own little ‘remote’ (we call them clickers)," Hagedorn said. “These teachers are able to take attendance and even give quizzes wirelessly. It makes huge lectures that used to be easily skipped [harder to miss]. While in the short run it’s a pain to have to go to every class, yet in the long run it helps us because it forces it to go if we want to do well."