Millikin University

Overall, my educational experience at Millikin was pretty good. I learned a lot from my classes, my professors were easy to approach, and since it's a small school I had more hands-on experiences than I would have had elsewhere. There is some busy work, but I think that just comes with the fact that it's such a small school.

There are pluses and minuses of any place you will go. The major negative things about the ?Millikin experience? include their constant need for their students to join fraternities/sororities and their non-conservative view points. If you are someone who does not want to be in ?Greek? life, who isn't into loud parties, and who can be socially conservative, this school may suit your educational needs, but socially, you may be miserable.

If I had to rate Millikin purely based on education, I would, like I said, give it high marks except for the busy work. However, if you are someone who needs to be happy in their social environment to succeed academically and you don't feel like you would fit in here, I would seriously consider elsewhere. Although I didn't fit in socially, I got a lot out of the experience and felt it worked out for me just fine.

1st Year Female -- Class 2016

Faculty Accessibility: A, Campus Aesthetics: F

I am a first year communication student. Let me start out with a warning, if you only listen to one thing a stranger tells you your entire life, may it be this:

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE WHATSOEVER GO TO THIS SCHOOL.
I hope that gets the point across. I started out my college search considering many things about each school. I ended up choosing Millikin because of the campus being nice looking, pretty decent dorms, and a fairly good reputation academically.

However, once I began orientation, one thing was very clear. This school is not worth it.
The people are boring, stuck up, white-washed, upper middle class brats. Boring, not worldly, and lacking intellect.

Most of them haven't worked more than a day in their life.
The school itself is alright, the education is fairly alright. BUT, the staff is not helpful in regards to setting up schedules, etc. It is also poorly located. There are many people I know who have been mugged. The campus itself is fairly safe--but step a block in either direction and you are in the ghetto. Decatur is a dying town. There is no economy here besides soybean processing, and in one word: SMELLY. There are days the air is thick with the smell, a pungent cat food like odor that seeps into the dorms. It is disgusting. There is a train that goes by every day about 15 times, about 10 of which are between the hours of 11 pm and 4 am. Not a pleasant way to wake up.

The party scene here is boring. The Frats are stereotypically the only place anything goes on. I've met some nice people, but the parties get old, they are boring, and they represent a lot about the school, kids party here a lot because there is simply nothing else to do.

If you are looking for a cultured town with a lot to do and an educated, worldly student body, do not apply to Millikin.

They will give you a lot of money to go here because they are deeply in debt and give out incentives to keep people coming in. The retention rate is horrific, most kids transfer after 1st semester of freshman year or the end of freshman year.This is not a good environment to start over in, not a good environment to learn in, and most of all not a good environment for any intellectual stimulation whatsoever. Most of the teachers here are from community colleges and don't have much experience. It isn't worth the money. I am glad I realized this my freshman year and I still have time to get out and go somewhere worth being.

1st Year Female -- Class 2011

Campus Aesthetics: A-, Faculty Accessibility: F

Millikin's your typical small school when you get right down to it. Personally, the English professors are wonderful and I love the English program here, so I think I lucked out in that respect.

Decatur, however, is and will never be a good place to live; campus itself is nice, but if you go a block or two in any direction away from campus, you're in the heart of what I'd consider the "ghetto" or "bad" part of town. Also, Millikin is deeply in debt. Other comments posted about good financial aid - which is true, they're giving me (and many others) a ton of money to go here. Since the school is so heavily in debt, they're trying to compensate by getting rid of many of the "unnecessary" programs at the school, so if you've a more obscure major, I would definitely check to make sure they're not planning on getting rid of it anytime in the near future. Lastly, if you're looking for a secure campus, Millikin is a joke. Millikin's Safety and Security force is made up of overglorified parking officials who only issue tickets to raise more revenue for the school. I have always had poor dealings with Safety and Security, one time almost being driven off of a city street, when an officer followed some friends and me in our car, overtook us, then swerved into our lane, causing us to swerve over the curb so as to not hit the Safety and Security officer.Overall, I would still attend Millikin, strictly upon its English curriculum, though I think MAJOR revisions in its setup of obtaining greater revenue and Safety and Security are definitely in order. The school is on the downward spiral - if you're not looking to hop on a sinking ship, I wouldn't recommend it.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2006

Education Quality: A, Surrounding City: F