Merrimack College Reviews

"Despite raising tuition prices every year Merrimack College Chooses to spend their money on building new facilities for sports. What the school does not spend money on is hiring enough teachers to provide enough classes for its students. If you go to this school expect to have semesters where you are unable to take any classes that are relevant to your major and required to graduate. Most likely you will end up having to spend more than 4 years at the school in order to graduate."

"I am so disillusioned with this program and this school. I chose it because they had rolling admissions and you could start mid semester as opposed to waiting until the beginning of a new school year. As well they tell touted that the program emphasized application as opposed to theory. So far it is been my experience that it has been all theory and no application. I am now halfway through the program and don’t feel like I am any more of a data scientist now than when I started. In the first chorus of the program the instructor never taught. He just read off of PowerPoint slides, and everything was at a very high level. This didn’t bother me so much because I already knew the subject matter going in to the course and really didn’t need his help. Although I don’t know how anybody who didn’t have it any prior knowledge to the subject matter was able to pass the course because some of the concepts weren’t easy to grasp. The second instructor was slightly better and he did teach although he wasn’t very detailed in his presentations. We still had to figure most of the subject matter out for herself. And I guess that’s what you’re supposed to do in a masters program , But it’s pretty sad when you’re watching YouTube videos to understand the course material. If I have to do that why am I paying the school? I think the YouTube guy would charge much less. The third course was date of ethics and law, and it was very intense. We were reading upwards of 200 pages a week and our classes were twice as long as any of the others. There was also quite a bit of written work. The information was good to know, and the instructor actually taught. But it seem like an inordinate amount of time was spent on this subject matter. I found it to be astounding that we were spending so much time on this subject, which is basically just filler, while with all the other subjects we were basically glossing over them. The fourth course was data exploration, and I thought maybe this would be where everything would all be tied together. This guy taught us nothing. We were expected to use concepts that we had never really reviewed nor were they ever explain to us, while we were expected to do a bunch of reading on things that were never even used in the course. I think it was because the author of one of the books is The chair of the program. Once again I found myself watching YouTube videos to try to figure some of this stuff out. And the instructor was horrible about grading assignments. I think he actually used the excuse that he had a day job. Oh really? I think everybody who is taking the course had a day job. However, I would like to see anyone use that excuse for not turning in an assignment Because it absolutely would not fly. If you were an able to balance your day job with your teaching and maybe you shouldn’t be teaching. I know that’s what we would be told if we were to say that our job was conflicting with our studies. So far I have spent $10,000 in my company’s tuition reimbursement and I am now at the maximum for the year. They don’t give me this money because I’m a great guy. They give it to me because it’s an investment and they expect a return on it. And the sad part is I have nothing to show them for it. Going forward everything else has to come out of my pocket. I would just quit, but there are so many people rooting for me on this. And I’m halfway through so might as well get something out of this even if it’s just a worthless piece of paper. I’m hoping things will get better and if they do I will revise this review. But at this point I don’t really feel as though I will have the confidence to perform any of the functions of a data scientist, or at least not very well. Yes, I get that this is a Masters program and a certain amount of your education is contingent upon you taking some initiative on your own. But my neighbor is a nurse with a masters in anesthesia. I wonder how many YouTube videos she had to watch to learn to do what she does. There were better and much cheaper options available, and I wish I had looked into them a little further.Read Less"

"The benefits of attending Merrimack are: It's a small school so it has a tight community feel and the faculty is extremely kind and helpful. For me, this was especially true. There are always fun activities to attend, which I imagine has gotten even better over the years. The drawbacks of being at a small, somewhat isolated school are that there are fewer opportunities in terms of things like internships, and there isn't as much diversity as one might find at other schools in bigger cities. However, I loved my time at Merrimack and would recommend it to other studentsRead Less"

"A lot has changed at Merrimack, but I would definitely recommend anyone who is looking to go there. My experiences are all positive, especially when I was going there I was the only female in my major. There was a lot of student athletes in the program, so having the inside point of views in that aspect was interesting. We also got to do a practicum inside the athletic department, working side by side with the athletic director. I was able to create a budget with the athletic director that was used in a meeting with the president of the college, the task was to create aa budget for the school to go D1 for their programs.Read Less"

"It is most important to find a college that offer REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE AND INTERNSHIPS and also helps with JOB PLACEMENT."

"Merrimack College is a beautiful, quaint suburban college campus north of Boston. The graduate class sizes are small and the professors are very knowledgeable in their field. The professors have first-hand experience working in local districts as teachers, principals, program directors, and even superintendents. The school and staff have a great working relationship with school districts in the area and are able to place student interns at various different schools. I don't live on campus, but it seems to be a lively place where students are very involved. I've been to several of the men's ice hockey games and they are fast-paced and enjoyable. All of the staff and employees that I have interacted with have been very helpful, and attending Merrimack College has been a very positive experience.Read Less"

"Merrimack's Education graduate program is awful. The instructors are not the problem, but with the administration. Although, they should try to hire more instructors, so that students learn from different teachers. In the year that I have been attending Merrimack, I have had three different academic advisers, all of which do not know anything about the program. The woman in charge of licensing is all over the place and it is tough to contact. Just about everyone in my program has had an issue, and students who are not fellows have a harder time graduating because the advising is so terrible. I do not know a single person in the Education graduate program who would recommend attending this school. In fact, Merrimack has gained a reputation around the public schools for being disorganized and luring students into the program with false pretenses. Stay away from this school. There are better options for the same price.Read Less"

"Merrimack College is a great school to attend if you wish to obtain a degree in Education. Currently, I am enrolled to obtain my Master's in Education to teach general science to Middle School students and so far, my experience in this program has been fantastic. I have yet to encounter an issue with any faculty member or any restrictions in regards to the courses I have taken. Any problems I have had, which were minor, were IT related and were resolved in a timely manner. In each course I have taken, I have definitely learned far more about becoming an educator than I ever imagined, without feeling overwhelmed with information. Although I am not enrolled in this, Merrimack College offers a fellowship program where you are able to teach and take courses simultaneously without having to pay for tuition. This is an exceptional school not just for education, but for many majors and concentrations (not to mention it is beautiful!). I would highly recommend Merrimack.Read Less"

"Merrimack College Grad Programs are up and coming. With in the next 5 years they will be very competitive with the top programs in the country."

"The graduate classes are at night which is very helpful and allows me to work during the day."