I attended Chaminade for the Nursing Program, but my experience was disappointing. I ended up with…read moretwo professors for Patho/Pharm because one was planning to leave, which led to confusion and conflicting information on critical topics. Only a few professors seemed genuinely invested in their students' success, and sadly, one of them is retiring. The program admits a large number of students, seemingly just to ensure that many of them fail. I understand the need to weed out students, but it feels like they do it with ill intentions.
This place is sooo expensive. It not even including the textbooks which are $300 or more, and parking passes cost $250 per semester, which is outrageous considering the limited parking space. We have to share the parking structure with St. Louis students, and much of the parking is inconveniently located at the top of a hill. It feels like our tuition is being spent on maintaining a comfortable lifestyle for the Brothers, which might make sense for a Catholic school, but what about the students? Over the summer, they spent money fixing the road entrance, which seemed unnecessary--it was fine before, and now it just has better-looking lines. Kokua Ike is a great study space, but it's often overcrowded and noisy; I hope it gets the upgrade it deserves!
On the plus side, there are frequent free events on campus, which is nice, so I make sure to take advantage of them since I'm essentially paying for them. However, for a private school with such high tuition, the Wi-Fi is consistently slow, and the quality of the ID photos is poor--they come out grainy, and the camera setup forces you to look up instead of straight ahead. There's also a lack of food options.
Overall, it seems like Chaminade is more focused on making money than truly caring for its students. I do appreciate the campus cats, the pretty views, and the few dedicated faculty members who remain.
