University of Charleston

My son and I attended University of Charleston’s open house on October 12, 2013. The students that acted as our tour guides were great. They gave a great tour of the campus and were able to answer all of our questions.
The students were divided by academic interests and Professor Spiker answered questions posed from the small social science group. She spoke with each of the students and the exchange was personable. Through the group discussion it was relayed that Professor McCown’s upper level history class meets at her house each week to have discussions and eat dinner. While not present at this open house my son previously spoke with Professor Deel who spent time discussing their political science/​history program. The instructors are personable and appear to be genuinely vested in their students. This is refreshing when compared to the sterile tours that are often given at larger colleges/​universities.
I feel it worthwhile to note that on homecoming weekend there were very few students walking around on campus or in the dorms. We were told on our previous visit that many students go home on the weekends. The only students we saw were what appeared to be athletes around campus. There were no students hanging out in the common areas of the freshmen dorm and the hallways were very quiet.
Surrounding Area: While the campus felt safe… I’m not so sure about the surrounding area. We stayed in Charleston and we were approached many times by people requesting money. While this is not unusual in a city… it was somewhat unnerving in that it was everywhere we went. We were approached as we walked into the mall (in front of Macy’s), at every corner, and walking into a restaurant. We went to a gas station and a gentlemen came up, knocked on my window, requested money for gas and when I said «no» he continued to request money suggesting I use my credit card… he told me he would let me slide it through the machine for him… all he wanted was to put a little gas in his tank. I do give him points for being persistent! Again, I know this can and does exist everywhere; however, it seemed to be quite pervasive in this area.
We stayed at the Marriott in Charleston and it was nice. While not the newest… the staff could not have been more accommodating. I was slightly concerned when I saw a young man leave a hotel room counting $ 100. bills… there were quite a few in his stack. Again, this can happen anywhere and there may have been a very legal reason for his presence but it did not give me the safest feeling.
My impression was University of Charleston is a fantastic small school with an approachable administration. Area and the «suit case» school feel concerns me… but it’s not my decision… just my impression.

Couple of different areas to consider here…
As a college: Exceedingly expensive (even in-​state), limited options on classes due to size, and parking is a pain in the rear. On the upside, small class sizes and you don’t have to go outside to get to other buildings.
As a place weddings are held: beautiful, expensive, good food, nice people.
As in «Wine and Jazz Festival» and/​or other festivals: PARKING!!! Jeez, I wish they’d do something about it. It’s a lovely place to have events, but you can’t for the life of you manage to find a blasted parking space. Have someone drop you off.