Santa Fe College

Date: Jun 30 2013
Major: Zoology (This Major's Salary over time)
I was a transfer student, going into the Zoo Animal Science Program at Santa Fe. First off, as a transfer student depending on financial aid, I had problems receiving my money every single semester I went, with the exact same problems each time! Secondly, the Teaching Zoo is a JOKE. Maybe it used to be a quality place for people to train to be zookeepers but now, under the new director, Jonathon Miot, the program has become nothing more than a cash cow for the main college. Unless you are a straight A academic student, you might as well not even bother attending because they will fail you any way they can. But, if you are a straight A student, they will overlook every wrong thing you do. For example, we had a student that was straight A academically but a terrible zoo worker. He let one of our ocelots out into the keeper area, left our gibbons out in the sun for the entire day during 98 degree weather, let our parrots eat a rubber hose he left in the enclosure, and constantly screwed up making animals' diets and HE STILL PASSED. On the other side, one student was a phenominal worker, but was failed by one tenth of a point because they didn't like that he had tattoos and was an okay academic student. The students there are as bad as the teachers in that they are arrogant, discriminate openly, and have no problems lying or throwing people under the bus to save themselves. I would never go back to that program as long as it stays like this. They are pushing out straight A students just to say their program is that good but the students that pass are not good workers. After leaving that program and applying for several internships and jobs, I found out from those institutions, that most zoos actually look down on Santa Fe students because of how arrogant, and lazy they actually are. The only plus side I could say about the Zoo Program is that the animals were really cool and all had their own unique personalities that made them a blast to work with, and that the zoo's curator Kathy Russell is an amazing woman, she is a jane goodall type woman who cares more of the care of the animals in the zoo than of the name of the program. Even with her around, I would still tell anyone interested in attending the zoo program to pass this place up! If you are looking for a good school to go to, to get a degree in zoo animal science, go to Friends University in Kansas, its a bachelors (which most zoos require) and the teachers there actually care about the quality of their students.