Written by Kevin Flanders
Most students enjoyed their experiences at Franklin Pierce and stated that they would come here again. They enjoyed their classes, professors, and activities, and also spent a great deal of time hanging out with friends and engaging in outdoor activities. Students were thrilled with the educational, internship, and community service opportunities that were provided as well.
The biggest unsatisfactory element of the school for most students was theIC (Individual and Community) requirement. Most students didn't mind the first IC course, but were not thrilled about having to take the following IC courses, regardless of major or concentration, in order to graduate:College Writing 1, College Writing 2, Science 1, Science 2, The Challenge of Business in Society, American Experience, Mathematics, The Twentieth Century, Science of Society, Experiencing the Arts, and Ancient / Medieval. Most students found that being forced to take these courses actually prevented them from taking courses in their major that interested them. A typical student takes forty courses in a college career (5 per semester, ten per year), and the University has already selected these twelve for them. This only leaves students with 28 courses to choose from in their major and minor fields, which means that every student will have to leave out a course they wanted to take. In addition, many of the IC classes don't even aid students. For example,paying fora math or science classseems like a waste of money for amass communications or foreign language major, and College Writing and Ancient and Medieval classes will notbe a wise use of moneya math major. That being said, the school forces all students, regardless of major, to pay for all ICclasses. Finally, credits earned in IC courses are non-transferrable, so taking these courses will not earn students any credits in other schools.