Suffolk University: full of shit
To all my Suffolk friends and poor college students thinking about going to school in the Boston area! Now that I am graduating, it is now safe for me to talk about something that has been bothering me for years. Please share this if you care about academic integrity at all. I doubt this will be shared around Suffolk boards since Suffolk administrators and students clubs have a way of ignoring and censoring people, but whatever.
I have an intense dislike of Suffolk University here in Boston. I do not recommend going there unless you plan to be a soulless money sucker like the school itself.
While I generally value what I've learned in my individual classes and I have no complaints about most of the faculty members, I am extremely displeased and even angry about how the Suffolk administrative board has handled the Interactive Media and Game Development major.
Now most of you guys are probably thinking, “but the school website doesn’t list that major there/I don’t know anyone who has ever had that major”. Well let me tell you why, as I am/was an IMGD major. I joined in when it was new thinking I’d be a willing guinea pig to an exciting developing program.
Well for starters, the major was opened 3 years ago without a real faculty board or any experienced instructors who have any knowledge of video game design. There were a few semi-related classes that covered the topic of games, mainly the Intro to Game Development classes which covers a piece of software no one uses in the industry ever, and a few one-off classes they never appeared again. On top of that, the few instructors and advisers who had some knowledge of what a video game is had no substantial information or connections on how to get a job in the industry. Essentially, it was created under false pretenses and was created as a money trap for every sad student who had the misfortune of applying.
Secondly, instead of putting any real effort to build the program, the major was phased out after only a measly 3 years of existence and none of the students in the major were informed of this. I, along with the other kids in the major, were only made aware of this through word of mouth from the faculty, or essentially gossiping by mouthy people. This should've been handled more professionally through a written letter to everyone in the major, as well as an extended offer to rectify the damage through a major change with extra credits or reparations/tuition refunds. But no, this was not the case and there was not even a single official statement shared to the students about this. It makes me extremely angry to think that the few kids who were in the program had to take an extensive amount of federal and private loans and out of pocket money to pay for a year or more of false tuition.
Thirdly, I am going to graduate with a bullshit degree because I wasn't made aware of the loss of my major until Junior year when it would be too inconvenient to switch majors or transfer out. The only reason why I haven't transferred out even in Senior year is because of the fact that I am solely supported by a full tuition scholarship due to low income and that I would be faced with serious financial obligations if I even dared to make a move. In short, I have been stuck and trapped by the circumstances the school has placed me in and that has made me extremely unhappy all these years.
Also, I am fully aware of how you also mistreat NESAD (the art school) students, faculty, and majors. Out of all the departments, NESAD gets the least funding and support. We are still unhappy that NESAD is still not getting the space, resources, and attention that it needs to function at the same level as the rest of the university.
Overall, I am extremely regretful of my 4 years here and the fact that I am now associated with the school makes me extremely cross. I understand that Suffolk now has brand new leadership and new administrators. So I pledge to you all, that if any one of you care about education and students and having academic integrity, that you will read this and learn from these dire mistakes. As for me, Suffolk has absolutely no value to me anymore.
