5 /5 Wraith Desert (blank): LONG REVIEW INCOMING: I mostly enjoyed my time here as a student. being such a small school, your time here will 100% be what you make of it. faculty and staff were generally great, save for some minor and isolated complaints i have with those who i never had to interact with much in the first place (looking at you psych department and admissions office). i will not feed you a lie that it is all sunshine and rainbows, as there have been times where i was quite angry as a whole with centenary as an institution but for me, the good definitely outweighs the bad. students are generally tolerable in my experience, there are absolute gems of people you can find if you are open and kind. it is hard for me to make a statement as a whole about the student body, but I can say that they tend to be either "rich" students who come from financially well-off families that or students who come from poverty who managed to be able to afford to attend thanks to scholarships funded by generous donors, lots who are even homeless and would have no place to go if not for the dorms. in my experience, theres been few genuinely "in the middle" students who come from situations that dont fall in those categories. I have also noticed that perhaps students like to gossip and "word travels fast at centenary" is generally accepted as common knowledge, though i am unsure if that is genuinely a centenary thing or if it is consequence of something else like the small student body or the general age range of young undergrad college students. those who attend centenary tend to be traditional straight-to-college-from-high school students, which can cause upset if you are someone with a non-traditional education path. i entered centenary as a 19 year old freshman in 2019, due to turn 20 that academic year and it honestly ended up getting quite annoying how often my peers would remark upon it, with some even seemingly being genuinely shocked i was a college freshman at 19 despite how normal that is. if you are entering centenary as a freshman and dont fall within the age range of 17 ~ 18, do be prepared to deal with some people (a small amount, but there nonetheless) genuinely being shocked by it or looking down on you for it. in my experience, being selective at first about who you tell your year and letting yourself first be judged based on your character when possible has been helpful as the "ew freshman" mindset of upperclassmen that is quite prevalent in high school is still going strong at centenary.
As someone queer, i feel LGBT students are generaly safe with and respected by staff&faculty, though, do not expect a feeling of camaraderie amongst LGBT students since the campuss LGBT-centered club for students is lacking in attendance+interest, with only a tiny dedicated group of students keeping it alive. The general campus climate for LGBT students is okay, and I do not feel that lgbt students are in any particular danger of being maliciously targeted due to their identity.
there is more, but i cannot fit it all here so...
HIGHLY recommend if: youre interested in studying abroad (the opportunities are unmatched), want to study in a setting where you will be in the presence of professors who tend to generally care about your success, are a student who will thrive in classes of small size, interested in rigorous academics, open minded and willing to embrace new people+information&experiences with respect, are a STEM student (bio&neurosci profs are great and cents engineering 3/2 program is unique) who wants to be well-prepared for post-grad studies, want a school that can leave you well educated on topics in many areas
