I’d like to warn everyone contemplating attending Essex County College in Newark, NJ or West Caldwell, NJ, it’s quite possibly the WORST school you could possibly enroll in. Of course, that’s only MY opinion based on MY personal experience.
My experiences there were borderline terrifying. In many classes I heard classmates greet “professors” with the following salutation, “Whassup my nigga?”
On another occasion a classmate was confiding to an acquaintance of hers how overwhelmed she was with her course load, I heard her lament, “that mothafucka specs us to READ and shit.” Yes, the demands of college can be challenging indeed.
Worse than the body however, is the administration and faculty. I questioned a teacher via e-mail about a class assignment and the next time I saw her in person, she took out my paper, and changed the recorded grade from a B to a C- in front of me and said. “now, THAT is what you get”.
I finished that class doing “Independent Study with another professor and got an A for the course. Interestingly enough, the only time I ever went to the administration about anything was because of this experience. They were all to glad to see me. Apparently this professor had a history of unstable behavior and they used my experience to “build a case against her” according to what the department chair told me.
I only attended two semesters there, Summer and Fall 2006 and guess what? It’s almost December of 2007 and I still don’t have final transcripts from them? Why, because of the inept administration.
I almost took an additional class during their first Winter session but I was told by the Dean of Students that I would be required to buy my text book from Essex County College, THAT DAY. Ridiculous right? Yeah, they’re ridiculous allright.
As someone who was genuinely excited about going back to school, this place was almost enough to break my spirit. Almost. Hey, Essex County College in Newark, NJ, eat my ass!
