Berry College Review

Berry College is a small private liberal-arts college with a wide, beautiful open campus available to its students. Berry was always known to be conservative in its views (most students are southern and from the Bible Belt, campus is dry and visiting hours are enforced), but it has recently made changes towards keeping up with the modern times.

The professors were absolutely outstanding, I had quite a few classes that I still think about years later. The professors, who are EASILY accessible during/before/after classes, care about their profession and want students to engage in discussions. This is where small class sizes really matter! Students get to build a relationship with just about every professor, who in turn will still remember you name at graduation--even if you took their class Freshman year.

The Athletics Teams were quite competitive - that is until last year when the school went from NAIA division to Division III. As student athletes lost their right to a sport scholarship, the school lost its capable and talented athletes. Sports team are now purely for recreation and students do not feel as much of a team spirit and obligation to work hard for the school's reputation.

The administration is still behind the times. They are fighting to keep the campus conservative, while its students are pushing for a change. The school is making progress by extending visitation hours and building new proper dorms to accommodate its students, and it's move to Division III will help expand the number of students and diversity on campus. And if you're up for a chat with the Student Finance Department, you better come prepared because they won't be lenient when giving you a scholarship. And they also count "Work-study" as a form of scholarship, but your work is still taxable by the state... go figure. However, you have to admit that all departments work well with students' and their schedules. A recent pay grade system has also improved, making students more responsible and more dedicated workers. They are also forcing all students to have a meal plan to subsidize the awful company they have contracted for the next few years, leaving students with no choice but to spend a lot of money on food they will not likely enjoy, eventually eating out more often and throwing the meal plan money down the drain. Same goes for the dorm, although more housing choices have improved the situation. Now if they could just make the rooms somewhat affordable and not twice the price of living off campus.

The social life is almost non-existent. The Student Activities department does try, but it's hard when you don't have a diverse group of people on campus and most students are homebodies. In fact, many students choose to go home on the weekends, and absolutely no parties on campus. It's more fun in the Freshman/Sophmore years because all your friends are on campus, but as students start living off campus, transfer out or study abroad, the social aspect declines even further. Try to make very good friends your first couple of years to avoid feeling like an outsider later on.

Berry College was a great all-around school for it's education, but I wish professors would demand a bit more from their students to up the level of the courses. The professors are good instructors and greatly care for their students. The administration doesn't always pay attention to its students, a mistake that they cannot afford to keep up for long. The campus is extremely well kept and absolutely beautiful, something that students notice everyday on their walks to classes. The athletics department isn't what it used to be, but if Berry continues on it's path to expansion, it won't be long until they are Division II and can have better athletics support once more.