Stetson University — Attraction in DeLand

I usually never write reviews unless I have incredibly bad or great experiences with various business establishments, products, etc. Also, I thought this review may help others that were recently considering Stetson University like I had. In a nutshell, I had a horrible experience with this school’s admissions process and it baffled me because I thought their reputation was much more prestigious among those schools within my residential area. Even if I had continued the admissions process and eventually been accepted…I would’ve declined the offer and took my $15,000+ in scholarship money elsewhere as I have currently.  Read on for details…..

I worked closely with a school representative for months in order to gain entry and start during this fall semester (2013). This representative gave me false hope and lied about the committee taking a ‘holistic’ approach to each item of my application although I stated plenty of times that I was solely interested in a realistic answer and approach to my application (my GMAT score wasn’t up to par with my standards although 4 out of 5 items within my application packet were great given my extended professional experience for my age, high GPA and reputable references including an institution’s President, Provost and Board of Trustee). This representative decided further to call me 1 DAY before he would leave his position at Stetson University (which was a total and complete SHOCK) with promises to give me an answer which would determine my admission’s status……I never heard from him again.

Thereafter, I spent the next week and a half trying to get in contact with anyone that would be able to help me. I left various messages for individuals and received not one call back. Finally, I left one last message on the voicemail of a cell phone number that an operator at the school had given me which was apparently the cell phone number of the individual who took the position of their past employer who worked with me (the fact that they gave me a cell phone number rather than transferring me to an extension only heightened my utter disappointment with the school seeing as I wanted to ironically pursue my MBA with them and this seemed so unprofessional along with everything else at this point that they carried out dishonorably during my experience).

At last, it is August 2, 2013, mere weeks before school will start, and a representative FINALLY contacted me…my guess is because the last message I left explained that if I did not receive a call back after leaving this last message I would file a professional complaint with the school due to their flaky admissions process. During this conversation, I discovered that the resigned representative omitted information about my admission’s status and offered me an unrealistic approach to gain acceptance. Furthermore, this representative offered poor customer service and a lack of resolution…all that I reported to the Dean of the Business School after ending this call. I figured I would follow up with a review and official complaint so that other potential students would not experience such an admissions process and be cautious when considering this university. Currently, I have been admitted to Texas A&M University which has offered a much MUCH better process which is complimented by a notable innovativeness that precedes what Stetson University has offered in my experience.

In hopes that this will prove helpful as a difference in perspective for further insight which will enable an easier choice for prospective...

Despite the beautiful campus and aggressive advertising propaganda the university rolls out, Stetson is a fundamentally lacking and troubled school. As an undergrad at the college of arts and sciences, I had several significant negative experiences. The professors range from good to terrible, with seemingly many more bad professors than good ones. There are several especially terrible professors who I fill the need to mention so students who are stuck going here will be spared the misfortune of attending one of their classes . Tara Schuwerk (communications)-she is extremely rude and does not seem to care about students. She gives students terrible grades after hard work and seems to get a masochistic thrill from it. Mario Rodriguez (communications)-He is extremely bad tempered, seems to get mad at students constantly for no reason (maybe he does not want to be teaching there). I get the feeling Stetson hired him for his Ivy League pedigree rather than any genuine passion or interest in teaching. Shawrence Campbell-she is profoundly disorganized and seems to harbor ill will, especially at certain kinds of students.

Also, for college students seeking grad school admissions, beware. In my pursuit of a master's program, after graduation, I contacted about a dozen professors, of which only one gave me a recommendation. The others said they essentially said were too busy or led me on to believe they were going to give me a recommendation, then backed out. For a school that is so small and expensive and prides itself on "personalized attention", they certainly did not help me post-college.

The administration itself is aloof and distant. They give you attitude for simple things like asking when grades come out and dropping a class. I had a few good memories at Stetson and it is not all bad, but do not believe their propaganda and think hard before coming to...

Don't listen to the other reviews, I actually go to school here. I went through the entire admission process and it honestly was not nearly as bad as some of the outliers below describe it. Some times there was some trouble getting everything set and done, but there was always a helpful person from the stetson end pushing me in the right direction. This school is academically great, we have the best teachers and a low student to teacher ratio. In my Bio 101 class we had 26 students compared to the 100 you would get at UCF or any other major public school. This meant that the teacher gave us her office hours and you could literally go at any time during those hours and seek help. She offered this three times a week. We also have quite the social life on campus.

There are plenty of academic honor societies to help you along the way through your career path. The advisors are also great in the sense of helping you get to where you need to graduate with your degree and job opportunities. For example, I am pre-med and in the pre-med honor society AED(Alpha Epsilon Delta). They have helped me with classes, brought many doctors and dentists to talk about their practices and med school experiences, and they have definitely helped with shadowing opportunities.

However, there is one place that stetson is lacking, the food. The cafeteria is buffet style, all you can eat , but its not the highest of quality. So please come here if you pick a college because of academics...