Fairfield University

I've only been at Fairfield for a semester and can definitely say that it is very much hit or miss. I can pretty much sum up my experience so far as a potential guide for others.

Academics: Academically speaking, this school is great! No complaints there besides the annoying ass Magis Core and other required classes with attributes that are needed to graduate that are only offered so many times during a semester. Also not being able to make your schedule first semester was annoying, but I'm glad I got good classes at good times. While faculty and staff are *MOSTLY* great, there are some that make me want to jump off a building. My Bio lab professor was practically awful and cruel. Talked down to you like you were dumb, and had a very dry and condescending attitude. I don't know how she was able to obtain a job with such high levels of person interaction and articulate herself like that. My Bio lecture profs were also not that great either. I had two different profs throughout the semester because each one was more knowledgable in that area of molecular biology we were studying. I personally was not fond of either of their teaching styles, but the professor of the first half was awful. Went too fast and was not very clear with what he was talking about. I ended up failing one of his tests because he didn't thoroughly teach the content and just rushed through presentations. He's also the PreMed advisor at Fairfield, but I'll come back to that later. My other professors, however, were great! My Calc, Politics, Chem, and Spanish profs were awesome and willing to help you in any way to succeed in their classes. I'm gonna miss having them next semester. A lot of Fairfield's professors have attended very prestigious universities such as Brown, UMich, Georgetown, and sum are former alum that are returning years later to educate the next generation. For the most part, they are extremely knowledgable in their fields.

Housing: Definitely a negative experience for me. Housing is completely random first year. This means you do not have a say on where and who you live with, and it's all dictated by an online survey that they make you complete in May that does not entirely encompass your preferences besides when you go to bed, your major, and how neat of a person you are. Personally, I like the building I was assigned to live with but I hate my floor and roommate. My roommate and I don't speak to each other and have nothing in common. It's not his fault I don't like him (oxymoron, I know), we are just two different people with different lives and preferences. My floor is what I view as extremely boring and also cliquey. It's a group of jock/former jock guys that became friends with each other, pretty much adding to the cliquey nature of Fairfield (something i'll get into the next couple of sections). Some of the girls are alright, but they also have their own little clique.

Food: Food choices on campus are pretty run-of-the-mill and are ok, but definitely not worth what you're paying for through your tuition. The Tully is the main dinning hall on-campus and ngl it's pretty shit for the most part, excluding the breakfast options. Everything else they offer is awful. Your other option is The Stag. The Stag is pretty much the school diner and they offer some good stuff. I tend to go there just for the wraps. Most of the "iconic" food places like Colony Grill, Centro, Metro, Sinclar are in downtown Fairfield (although I have yet to find Metro and Sinclar) and requires you to either uber or take the infamous StagBus. I personally Use Uber Eats a lot for food because I don't like the food. I miss the food in Jersey so much when I'm there.

Social Scene: The biggest letdown I've had so far. Like what was said in other reviews, people here are very homogeneous; white, middle to upper class, from the northeast. I fit that mold so I thought I would fit in. Boy was I so wrong. Most people in my grade are pretty stuck up and borderline alcoholics. I'm gonna admit, I have a work hard, play hard mindset. I like to go out, drink, dance, party, but I do tone it down and get serious and do my work/study Sunday-Thursday, even some Saturday mornings. The parties on-campus are extremely limited and take place either in the freshman dorms or at the townhouses ran by the juniors. Juniors are VERY selective of who gets in. If you're a girl, you'll have an easy time getting in. If you're guy, however, and don't know any upper classmen, it's beyond impossible to get in. Even if you do get in, which I have before, they're pretty boring and consists of a bunch of people crammed on top of each other drinking and smoking and gets old very quickly. The dorm parties are pretty mid as well. Just a bunch of people in a room listening to crappy music at full blast drinking until it gets busted by the RAs on duty. There's also the beach but that's pretty much gatekept by the seniors who live there. Most people who are freshmen or sophomores go to New Haven on Friday and/or Saturday nights for the clubs there in order to party. Fairfield doesn't have frats nor football, so most of the time there isn't much to do on campus and the areas outside of campus get repetitive and old real quick.

PreMed Program: PreMed here is lowkey a joke. You get all the cores needed to apply for medical school in, along with a good liberal arts education to go with it. However, what the University doesn't tell you until you enroll is that most PreMeds don't go straight to medical school after graduation. 80% of those in the program take a gap year or go straight to work after graduating from Fairfield. Personally, I'm not interested in taking a gap year or working after my time in college, so I think the 80% figure is kinda alarming. Overall, Fairfield CAN be a great place to spend four years of your life. However, my experience hasn't been the greatest so far I think due to the environment I was placed into on campus. Most people in my major program are athletes, try-hards, and SOME normal people. Personally, I really want a traditional college experience with football and the sprawling campus. I'm currently in the process of applying to transfer to other schools, but I also want to wait and see if things get better next semester.

1st Year Male -- Class 1925

Perceived Campus Safety: A+, Scholastic Success: F

I come from a middle-upper class family. I experienced private and public school. This is an amazing university. I play rugby and love it and I am apart of many other different clubs. The party scene is crazy fun. Always a darty on the beach almost every weekend even in the winter we themed darties( like santa con). Most of the parties are on campus at the townhouses. The first night some juniors are going to be on their high horse and not let you into their townhouses but trust me after that its pretty much a free for all. I made a ton of junior friends my first semester so pretty much every weekend I had an invite somewhere but if you don't find junior friends you'll still be able to get into parties. The beach also is a big spot mostly on saturdays(all day and night). We have this rep of being the rich dumb kids. SOOOOOO NOT TRUE. Yes it may be true that we have kids who bought their way into the school but I have friends that picked Fairfield over Bentley, Union , Providence and Northeastern. You're never going to find a college that doesn't have snobby people, Id say out of the 1000 kids I've met here, 5 are completely full of themselves. That's what you are going to get with a well respected school that rich people send their kids to and that's just life. In terms of classes, you need to go and if you study you'll do great, work load is overwhelming a little at first your first semester especially taking financial accounting or if you're a nursing major, but by second semester it will be a breeze, they definitely give you harder classes in the beginning. The town of Fairfield is incomparable to any other college town. It has everything to do and more. Every food, shop and need you can even imagine is in that town I swear to god. It is also a very high end town for pretty wealthy people so it is VERY SAFE. You can walk to the beach in about 10 minutes.I definitely dont regret coming here. Senior friends I have found jobs and internships wherever their hearts desired. (More internships than students), all around the world. Please dont listen to these bad reviews, its worth the money and is a no brainer when looking at the next four years of your life.

1st Year Female -- Class 1920

Education Quality: A+, Innovation: B