Wayne State - Terrible School (dorm, schools, university)

[e130478]

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

I attended grad and undergrad at WSU, and a grad program at another local program. So I have a basis for comparison.

The administration at WSU is a dumpster fire compared to the other program I attended. It's the ninth ring of bureaucratic hell and I'm amazed it's taken this long for them to have enrollment and financial problems.

The resource allocation at WSU is the definition of insanity. When I was there for undergrad they spent a boatload of money on a rec center (which was aggravatingly a line item on everyone's tuition bill), but let the graduate library - where most students went to conduct research - rot and become seriously run down.

It's a shame too considering the progress they had made since having accreditation problems in the 80s as well as the general progress the surrounding area has made.

Not to mention they just removed mathematics as a general requirement from a lot of undergraduate programs. What a joke. How this university is considered a major research university is beyond me.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

I attended grad and undergrad at WSU, and a grad program at another local program. So I have a basis for comparison.

So did I, but that was 32 years ago, so it probably does not count, plus going from WSU undergrad to U-M law (which at the time was either number 1, or 3 depending on the study), so it really isn't a valid comparison. U-M has almost unlimited funds and WSU has next to nothing, still they were no very different. I had a lot more law school professors fail to show up than I had UG profs at Wayne. Part of that is the WSU profs were not busy flying to DC to advise the supreme court, or the president or someone. I lot of that is the difference between Undergrad where they teach you and grad school, where they are really supposed to guide you in learning for yourself. In short, they (and you) do not really need to be in class every day.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

So did I, but that was 32 years ago, so it probably does not count, plus going from WSU undergrad to U-M law (which at the time was either number 1, or 3 depending on the study), so it really isn't a valid comparison. U-M has almost unlimited funds and WSU has next to nothing, still they were no very different. I had a lot more law school professors fail to show up than I had UG profs at Wayne. Part of that is the WSU profs were not busy flying to DC to advise the supreme court, or the president or someone. I lot of that is the difference between Undergrad where they teach you and grad school, where they are really supposed to guide you in learning for yourself. In short, they (and you) do not really need to be in class every day.

Read what I wrote. The administration of WSU was largely incompetent compared to the other GRAD program I attended. Apples to apples. But tell us again about your famous professors!

[mgkeith]

One of my daughters had an excellent undergrad experience at WSU about six years ago. What surprised me on this thread is the info that the school is having major financial problems. They offer generous scholarships to ALL prospective college freshmen, who have fairly high GPA's, and it increases as the GPA gets higher. I know of a lot of very bright kids who are taking them up on that.

On the other hand, the news a couple months ago about the uncleaned residence apartments was a shocker. Kids arrived for move- in, and places were totally filthy, food and garbage still there, etc. Something is wrong.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

But tell us again about your famous professors!

I did not like them. They were not very good teachers for the most part, but I have no idea why you think that has anything to do with anything. You mentioned professors not showing up. I explained that more credentialed professors are more likely to not show up, thus that problem of no shows is likely more prevalent at a school where the professors consider themselves VIPs who happen to teach, rather than just consider themselves primarily professors.

Actually you said you attended grad and UG at WSU and then went elsewhere. You did not say which you were comparing to.

No need to get all snotty. Take off the chip and sheathe the fangs. I am using an example for comparison. I do not give a d3247 about famous professors (they were actually a PIA and that was my point). However when emotions get involved, it is easy to miss the point. Where someone went to school 30 plus years ago is completely irrelevant.

[Geo-Aggie]

Originally Posted by e130478

Not to mention they just removed mathematics as a general requirement from a lot of undergraduate programs. What a joke. How this university is considered a major research university is beyond me.

It's considered a major research university based on the amount of money annually spent on research (218 million in 2014). This criteria does not take into consideration "How much disgruntled students hate it here" which, as a grad student, you should know isn't a very quantifiable metric. Though this is down from 2013, the 2014 R&D expenditures ranks it as #96 in the nation, which lands it above a handful of respected institutions you may or may not have heard of such as Notre Dame, Dartmouth and University of Massachusetts Amherst, and 2015 expenditures are estimated up, at 245 million.

Regarding the math requirement, it isn't dropped, but rather it is a requirement left up to individual departments. It should be noted that by doing this Wayne State is following the model of what the University of Michigan does. Does this make U of M a joke of an institution?

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

I did not like them. They were not very good teachers for the most part, but I have no idea why you think that has anything to do with anything. You mentioned professors not showing up. I explained that more credentialed professors are more likely to not show up, thus that problem of no shows is likely more prevalent at a school where the professors consider themselves VIPs who happen to teach, rather than just consider themselves primarily professors.

Actually you said you attended grad and UG at WSU and then went elsewhere. You did not say which you were comparing to.

No need to get all snotty. Take off the chip and sheathe the fangs. I am using an example for comparison. I do not give a d3247 about famous professors (they were actually a PIA and that was my point). However when emotions get involved, it is easy to miss the point. Where someone went to school 30 plus years ago is completely irrelevant.

Great, thanks. We'll just call it a humblebrag that added absolutely nothing whatsoever to the conversation. Thanks for your valuable input.

[brodie734]

Originally Posted by mgkeith

One of my daughters had an excellent undergrad experience at WSU about six years ago. What surprised me on this thread is the info that the school is having major financial problems. They offer generous scholarships to ALL prospective college freshmen, who have fairly high GPA's, and it increases as the GPA gets higher. I know of a lot of very bright kids who are taking them up on that.

On the other hand, the news a couple months ago about the uncleaned residence apartments was a shocker. Kids arrived for move- in, and places were totally filthy, food and garbage still there, etc. Something is wrong.

Quicken Loans rents WSU's dorms over the summer for their internship program, would not surprise me if WSU did nothing to clean up afterward

[BayAreaHillbilly]

From my admittedly biased techie perspective, Wayne State is a good school.

Many a Silicon Valley geek was crafted there, including both undergrad and grad levels.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by e130478

Not to mention they just removed mathematics as a general requirement from a lot of undergraduate programs. What a joke. How this university is considered a major research university is beyond me.

I am not sure they just removed math as a requirement. When I went there 1981 - 1984 I did not take any math. I did take logic and they counted it as math at higher levels. I also did not really take any hard science. I took Psych and then took Astronomy at OCC and that was good enough. However I did not have any issues getting accepted to graduate (law) schools with a WSU degree.

I think they may have lowered their admission standards in the past decades, but I am not certain. Just a rumor. I do not know what their standards were then, but I do not recall going to school with any blatant dummies.

WSU has some top notch programs. One type of psychology (Clinical or I/O I think), Jazz music, Pharmacy, Criminal Justice (used to anyway, maybe that changed), Urban Planning/Management. Pretty sure they are respected for medicine. Their law school is not terrible.

When I went there, they were a top school for debate and fencing. That has likely changed, but something probably replaced it. Their graduate theater program was also highly regarded. I also knew a lot of physical therapy majors. Not sure if that was chance, because PT was just popular at the time, or because WSU had a good reputation for PT.