St. Louis Community College - Meramec — Local services in Kirkwood

U’m extremely disappointed with the experience my daughter has had at St. Louis Community College - Meramec. She's been struggling to sign up for classes and get essential information, and every interaction has been met with rudeness and a lack of clarity. No one seems to return calls or emails, leaving her feeling lost and unsupported. We’ve had questions about “Archer” orientation, and have been told “Sorry but I don’t know when it is. Have her look online” by an advisor. Nobody will help her purchase her books, find her classroom or even tell us how to pay.

Honestly, it's disheartening to see such a lack of care and organization. There are many other colleges in the St. Louis area that likely offer a much better experience. As a parent, it's so frustrating to watch your child struggle with administrative issues rather than focusing on their education. I really hope that we can get her in classes and hope that this review will help because we’ve just been thrown in circles by so many staff members.

I sincerely hope that the administration at STLCC Meramec takes these issues seriously and works to improve their communication and support systems. Until then, I would advise prospective students to strongly consider other options where they might receive the guidance and respect they deserve. We are so lost and feel very...

I don't think the Meramec campus is that bad as some people say it is. Then again, i'm taking calculus 1 and general chemistry 1 here for summer credit and I checked with my university for the fall to make sure that they would accept the credits. I will say that registration was kind of confusing (I had a hold on my class signup thing because I supposedly had to attend some new student registration workshop, but they didn't tell me at the registration office that i didn't have to go to it since i was just doing summer transfer classes, it was only my friend whose also taking chemistry over the summer that told me i didn't need to drive all the way to Forest Park to do it). Even then though I think the advisers in the upstairs counseling/registration office or whatever it is were more helpful than some of the people in the lower office in the clark hall or whatever it's called building.

I'm not sure the quality of the other programs, but I like my professors and one of the professors there also taught at my high school. Plus the bookstore seems nice and the cafeteria area also looks cool. I haven't tried the athletic...

Amazing school! Seriously. As a science geek and a pre-med student at the time, all the courses I took (from gen chem to physics to orgo) were challenging, but I felt like my professors weren't there to "weed out" but were there to pass on their passions. :) When I transferred to SLU I worried that maybe I wouldn't have a solid enough background for some of the upper level courses. Instead, Meramec more than prepared me. To be straight, there are a lot of stigmas and rumors that community colleges are just "watered-down" universities and people just go there because it's easier. At Meramec, I'm proud to say that's certainly NOT the case, that instead it was a challenging but very fun experience that prepared me well for the MCAT and for helping me to get into a competitive physician scientist program. If you're looking to graduate without a bunch of debt, have a more personal experience with lower student to teacher ratios, and experience university-level education with a "small-town" feel (i.e. not just getting lost in the crowd), then Meramec's the...