Saint Anselm, renowned for its academics and beloved for its community, educates thousands of students. Throughout their experience on the Hilltop, whether it is a first-year student or a second semester senior, students have reflected on the elements of college life here, academically and socially, and the strengths and weaknesses to these aspects. 

Reflecting on nearly four years of an academic experience at Saint Anselm,  Anthony  Pasquarosa ’25 said that “academically, I have had some pretty cool professors who care about me, and I’ve taken some really interesting classes.” As a senior Communication major, Pasquarosa said that during his time at Saint Anselm, “Modes of Film with Prof. Lupo was one of the best classes I’ve ever taken.” 

“I think it’s really cool that we do have a lot of academic resources, [like] if I did need it,” Pasquarosa said, “but if I did need it, I like how readily available it is for me.” 

Similarly, Chris Carville ’26 said “I think a lot of the professors that I’ve experienced are very personable and are really helpful,” regarding office hours and their availability to students. 

“A lot of them [professors] are really good at responding to emails, and seeing the human side [to things],” Carville said. In his experience Carville said that most professors are understanding and personable, especially in circumstances where issues interfere with academics and assignments. 

Similarly, Neveah Perkins ’28 said that during this first year at the college she noted that she likes the student to professor ratio in classrooms “so you can actually get to know your professor.” Perkins, also appreciative of the values upheld by the college, said “I like meeting people who actually uphold those [values] and are enjoyable to be around.” 

From an academic standpoint, some students are feeling well-prepared for their career endeavors after graduation. Nursing major Nicole Minnich ’25 said “I feel very-well prepared for the job I’m going to be doing [in the hospital], especially with all of the clinicals I’ve had to do, I’ve seen a wide variety of the things we’ve learned.” 

Though opinions about the college’s academic life are generally positive, there are some things that could be done differently. “I think the tests are hard,” Carville said, and “I feel like a lot of the time in my experience, exams really surprise me, and I feel like I would succeed if [before the exam] there was a strict set of things that the professor reality wants you to know.” 

Regarding other aspects of academics that might need tweaking, Pasquarosa said “I don’t like that it’s inconsistent how professors use Canvas. There should be a sort of online requirement about what they should be able to provide for us on Canvas.” 

With academics continuing to collaborate with and rely on online resources, navigating these platforms can be tricky. “Everyone needs to use Canvas better and consistently, and then not get mad at the students for not being able to adjust because we have four different professors doing four different things,” Pasquarosa said. 

Another aspect of the college’s academics that is not favored are the core classes. Minnich said “half of the core classes I had to take I actually found harder than the classes for my major.” Though there is value in the core classes required in the curriculum, Minnich found the difficulty level and absolute necessity of these courses to be somewhat unnecessary. 

Alongside the academic side of college comes the social side of college, where both positive and negative elements reside. Overall attitudes toward the social aspect of Saint Anselm remain positive, with just a couple remarks on how things could change for more positive experiences. 

“I like that everyone is mostly nice to each other, like saying hi to each other on our way to class,” Minnich said, “even if I don’t really know someone and I just recognize them from a class we’ll say hi.”

That overall sense of community is a beloved quality of Saint Anselm experienced by a lot of other students. “I think that this college has a sick community,” Pasquarosa said, “and there’s a demographic of people that go here and succeed and thrive, and I feel like I get along with almost everyone.” 

Similarly, Carville said “I feel like it’s not hard to at least approach people and talk to people you don’t know, [and] I feel like most people are friendly.” That Anselmian sense of community is generally felt by the student body, and “I feel like we kind of have a vibe going here that’s generally welcoming,” Carville said. With his experience as a student here and finally being an upperclassman, Carville said that he finds there to be a maturity with saying hi to people even if you don’t know them well. 

With so many positive attitudes towards the social aspects of college life at Saint Anselm, some of the negatives come with the closeness of the community. “It can get ‘clique-y’ up here, but I think there’s good and bad to that,” Pasquarosa said.

 “Obviously you can’t hang out with everyone every night, so I like the aspect [like] on weekends there’s a lot of time that’s sort of unspokenly reserved for your group of friends, the people you see more often, then there’s nights where everyone will hang out,” Pasquarosa said. 

Through the experiences of the thousands of students at Saint Anselm college, there are both positives and negatives to the different elements of college life here. Though the college has strengths and weaknesses, the overall attitude towards the academic and social aspects of college are positive.