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IeMang t1_jdgx5fv wrote

Reply to comment by TedBundysVlkswagon in Got this sometime ago. USGS doesn't have this level of accuracy in their maps. by Peanut-Donut

It’s relatively small as far as colleges go. It feels sort of like a large HS campus. Additionally, since it’s a small state school it doesn’t attract the most serious students. Many of them call it either “keg stand college” or “kinda sorta college” with pride as they do the bare minimum amount of work to pass their classes so they can party as much as possible. There was also the great pumpkin fest riot of 2015 which certainly tarnished the school’s reputation.

It’s not a bad school though, and a lot of graduates have gone on to do some cool stuff. Their biology and chemistry programs were really good before Covid (they’ve had some faculty layoffs since which has stretched everyone thin and led to fewer available classes each semester), and they’ve also got a pretty good occupational safety program.

Source: I was one of the “keg stand college huhuh” students my freshman year and nearly failed out. I took a year off, worked a shitty job, did some traveling, and then went back to KSC to retake a class I had failed and boost my GPA so I could go to a more serious university. Met a cool girl, decided to stay and ended up declaring biology as my major, broke up with cool girl, still decided to stay because my professors were incredible. I buckled down, became a straight A student, and was presented with some really good opportunities many students at “better” institutions don’t get. I was an author on multiple papers due to my undergrad research, made connections with labs at larger institutions and got to collaborate with them independently, and I presented my research at multiple conferences. I also secured employment within my field a few weeks before graduating, as did many of my peers. The school’s biology program has an extensive network of students working in biotech now, and it’s made it very easy for graduates to get their foot in the door.

So yeah, KSC gets a bad rep, but so do most small state schools. In KSC’s case I think it gets a particularly bad rep because of the pumpkin fest riots from 2015 which made national headlines and embarrassed the entire town of Keene. It’s hard to be taken seriously as an academic institution when that’s what everyone knows you for. There are certainly worse choices than KSC to attend though, and the college is actually ranked fairly high in terms of value among liberal arts colleges nationwide. It’s a decent school all and all.

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TedBundysVlkswagon t1_jdh6t2k wrote

Thank you for this detailed explanation. :) Sounds like a fun school, and congrats for turning things around as a student.

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GraniteGeekNH t1_jdh9don wrote

Keene is a pretty cool (very) small city, partly because it has KSC almost downtown. That makes a difference even if the school isn't world-class.

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boldolive t1_jdi7xon wrote

Yeah, and Keene also has Antioch University, which brings a lot of very smart and talented older students to the area who have done a ton to improve the community. One example among many is that the Monadnock Food Co-op was the brain child of two Antioch students; writing a concept paper for the Co-op was their final graduate project, and they were deeply involved in raising money to build the Co-op after they graduated.

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ThunderySleep t1_jdiw38d wrote

Almost any school will be what you make of it, but the small state school stereotype's a thing. Where I grew up had a couple of them. Fine schools, but most people are going to experience college and because it's what they were supposed to do, then move straight back to their hometowns to become teachers, cops, nurses, or work at some relative's business etc.

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