Randolph College — Local services in Lynchburg

I'm transferring out of this place for a multitude of personal reasons. However, the main reason is what I feel is a lack of care for the students' wellbeing. Don't get me wrong, most of the professors and staff here are absolutely amazing and the only reason I'm giving this place a 2 star review instead of 1.

First, let me start with the food. If you live on campus, you are forced to get the meal plan, plain and simple. The meal plan includes "unlimited" meal swipes for Cheatham Dining Hall [there are enough swipes to go 4 times a day per week, and they replenish to that same base number each week], $300 dollars [per semester] for the Skeller [which is the alternative place to get food on campus], and 5 meal swipe swaps per week [where you can choose from a limited menu at the Skeller and use a swipe to get lunch there instead of at the dining hall. Now, this wouldn't be an issue if the food from dining hall was good most of the time. The staff there are so sweet, but the meal provider the college uses is horrible in my opinion, and in the opinion of the few people i know. Most students run through the $300 for the Skeller fairly quickly. It's usually the best on days where there are campus tours or events that have people come over. Additionally, there have been reported instances where food is either rotting or has bugs in it [available in pictures]. The first year I was here, a student was served raw chicken [also available in pictures]. They also implemented a new thing this year where you can't get your own salad from the salad bar if that's what you want. It needs to be served to you. That "rule" is iffy in my opinion and i dont enjoy it but it's not the end of the world.

Next up is living situations. Oh, the living situations. Heat has gone out both winters I studied here. It takes the college forever to fix the actual issue. The first year heat went out, it was only fixed AFTER parents got involved. This past winter, a student had to contact the president with Virginia State Code in order to get the issue "worked on". We left the college over winter break with no heat. We came back after winter break with NO HEAT. The college's solution? Mini heaters. However, you're not allowed to use your own, it has to come from the front desk. And they have limited amounts of heaters so, if you don't get one in time, you're out of luck until they buy more. It sucked. Also mushrooms growing in the bathroom [pic attached].

Honestly, I feel as if the college doesn't take student reports seriously. At all. Apart from the heating issue, my dorm's AC started stinking so badly I gagged when I entered the room. I called about it. Someone came in, cleaned it out, and sprayed mold spray. It still stunk so I called again, same guy came and sprayed mold spray. It still stunk. At that point I just gave up and turned off the AC. The issue cleared itself after a while but seriously. If the solution didn't work before, why would it suddenly work? Also, there's a leaking pipe by the private bathroom on Wright 3rd. It caused a tile to fall. I called about it, reported it as an active leak. An RA reported it as well. It took TWO DAYS for someone to even come and clean up the fallen tile. During that wait period, i called and the person said something along the lines of "is this about the leak in Wright? We know." They replaced the tile but guess what? Not the leak. So now, the new tile is starting to sag and will probably fall again because this school only seems to know how to put band-aid solutions on things.

There are pictures in my review of just how bad things look when you actually walk through the school as a student instead of on the campus tour when everything looks great and wonderful.

The only reason I gave this place 2 stars instead of 1 was because of my professors. I love them, as well as the sustainability program. I'm going to miss them when I'm...

This is one of the best universities around. My daughter has been offered so many different avenues to success, and the school offers tremendous support to make sure students are able to achieve their potential. They offer a good level of financial aid and a variety of funding options to make their program affordable. After financial aid, the cost for Randolph is often less than the cost of a public school like W&M or UVA. Small class sizes and great personal relationships with exceptional instructors make this university a gem well worth finding. The school is situated on a beautiful campus, and the city of Lynchburg has a...

I would highly recommend not attending this college. The administration has no idea what the reality of student, faculty, and staff life on campus is like. There is no communication between departments and as a student, do not expect to have access to any of the administration. If you are a vegetarian, a vegan, or enjoy healthy food, attend college almost anywhere else. Also, the dorm rooms are miserable and very dirty. There is nothing to do and the campus has no...