Bucknell University | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Hallie

Class: Senior
Major: English
Gender: F

High School: Walt Whitman High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

The best thing about Bucknell is our professors. They are not only incredibly intelligent, as one would expect professors at an institution with Bucknell's reputation to be, but are also dedicated. They come onto campus on weekends, schedule hours outside of class to help you, and are, to put it plainly, visibly devoted to their jobs. One thing I would change about Bucknell is the homogeneity of our campus. I do not come from a rich family, and I consider myself to be very down to earth, and although I have definitely found my niche at Bucknell, it was honestly much more difficult than I would have liked. It is disheartening to see students looking down upon those that hold an on-campus job, or upon those of us that are not in a sorority. One gripe I have regarding the administration is its lack of concern for current student concerns. Our administration at the present seems to be more concerned with building an endowment and getting donations from alumni and parents, that it ignores many student needs. Too many times have I appealed to a member of the administration only to be shot down without even a "well, let's meet and talk about it."

Academic Life

Academics at Bucknell are amazing. Our professors are dedicated, and our class sizes are ideal. We boast of our reputation as the largest liberal arts college that is able to maintain great student-teacher relationships and small class sizes. I am an English major, and have overall been satisfied with my classes. One particular professor, who taught Medieval literature, would schedule office hours with all of his students every week to talk about paper topics and the reading material. He held a few classes downtown in a restaurant and bought us breakfast, courtesy of the English department. He actively tries to help students publish their work and attain internships in the community. Additionally, I am a member of the English club, and our funding is amazing. Several times per semester, we all get copies of a book of our choice, and then the English department sponsors an outing at a local restaurant, during which we eat and talk about the book. Unfortunately, my experience with my other major, East Asian Studies, has been less than satisfactory. This is due, for the most part, to deficiencies in funding rather than to the efforts of the professors. The East Asian Studies department is fairly small, and I have taken classes with only 4 professors throughout my four years here. I am forced to take an introductory class that is intended to be a cross-cultural analysis of all of East Asia; however, the professor who teaches it is under-qualified, using class time to channel the textbook, both in terms of language and content. He fails to answer most question that are asked, simply because he does not know the answers. It is the most useless and infuriating experience that I have had thus far at Bucknell.

Student Body

Most students wear expensive, name-brand clothes to class. For women, pearl earrings, north face fleeces and UGG boots are a must. For males, layer those pink and white polo shirts and pop your collars. Bucknell is very uniform. Bucknell is aware that it has very little racial diversity. However, in my opinion, though it has done much on this front to improve, it has paid little attention to social and economic diversity. Many students partake in Greek life, and if you don't, you might have a tougher time finding things to do on weekends. That is not to say that it is impossible, however; Bucknell's campus has amazing performances in the Performing Arts Center, late night open mic nights at the cafe, bingo, comedy shows, poetry readings, etc. However, though these events seem great, good luck finding people to attend them with you- most students can be found at a fraternity party or at the bar on weekends. In fact, a friend of mine recently told me, "I never considered myself the type to join a sorority; however, I wanted to actually have a social life."