Universidad del Distrito de Columbia - Washington, District of Columbia

Melvin M.

Genial

Toya M.

I have been taking one year worth of prerequisites classes for two years because I am a first time college student teaching and guiding myself! If you can afford to go elsewhere please it is in your best interest to do so. UDC does not care about you especially John Trapps the advisor for the nursing program! I have submitted emails and phone calls up the ladder. Ultimately there is a disregard for accountability here. Save yourself the time, money and heartache! For those of us with limited options continue to give it your best, the only outcome is success! Prayers for your succession if you are reading this!

swErv I. (.

UDC sells itself on affordability, and while it is indeed the cheapest school in the city this is for a reason. UDC is a LAST RESORT SCHOOL.

While this place is indeed accredited and has some qualified professionals, the institution ideology is more focused on collecting federal dollars and grant money than providing a meaningful opportunity to achieve professional success after college. I did not fulfill my goals BECAUSE of UDC, but more so in SPITE of their best efforts to make every step of the process as painful as possible.

The administrative arm of this institution seems hellbent on making the lives of any student who dares come ask for help into the equivalent of torture. Communication is universally nonexistent and the ubiquitous "SYSTEM" they use to address your concerns is ALWAYS "down". Financial Aid will ALWAYS be late. Student Accounts will charge out-of-state tuition to an in-state student, while their account literally says in-state designation, for 4 years with no recourse even from the President of the University himself. They won't even APOLOGIZE for charging someone tens of thousands of dollars extra. Student Accounts will hold onto private loan money 3+ months after it has been disbursed to the school, while giving no indication that they ever received the money and continuing to threaten and harass for payment. They will put multiple separate administrative holds on a paid-cleared account to prevent registration even when in totally good standing, and since that system is down they cannot remove the holds or even tell you why it is still there. Nobody even knows who removes them apparently.

Using the online support ticket is useless because it is seldom that somebody contacts you about the request you submitted.

Advisors will force you to take unnecessary classes that are not on your program schedule, sometimes multiple times. At the same time, and despite advising being mandatory before every. single. semester, you cannot rely on the advisors to give meaningful advice that will assure you have the credits you need to graduate on time.

Research professors are largely not engaging their students in the experience, which is weird considering how small the STEM cohort is in relation to the amount of faculty. Most don't come to campus the required 4 days a week and none of them are consistently on time.

The school of engineering only announces guest speakers the same (or next) day they are speaking; same goes with scholarships, internships, and career opportunities. Despite most of these kind of things taking a few days to complete the application or plan for they usually give you less than 24 hours.

My professor and department chair, Dr Paul Cotae, had no qualms disparaging my desired career path; even going so far as to call me greedy and lazy; and if this is not indicative of the faculty culture it is also worth mention that professors do not return grades for assignments and some not even for tests. But that is ok, because you could do absolutely nothing but show up in most of these courses and still get a B! Some professors like Dr Hongmei Dang bump all grades a letter by default, counting an 80% as an A and 70% as a B!

There are no meaningful professional development opportunities for the engineering school despite it being one of the largest and best-funded on campus. There is zero alumni involvement, no employment drives for seniors, and the only real shot the school provides Engineers at helping you seek the career you desire is at a single STEM conference (BEYA) that one could attend on their own and free of charge. Very few employers visit campus to hire or pipeline talent despite being surrounded by some of the biggest firms in the world.

This is a LAST RESORT SCHOOL!

Tee F.

The staff was very helpful. The buildings #38 & 39 had a muggy, stale smell throughout the 1st & 2nd floors.I must assume that the 3rd floor smelt like that as well. I asked an employee how she could deal with the muggy, stale smell of the buildings. The A level didn't smell as the upper floors. I believe cosmetic updates were needed for HVC, removal of old, carpeted tile flooring. The Dean should have made updates throughout the Van Ness campuses. It was disappointing to see that the original campus building hasn't changed in 20 yrs except for some elevator interiors.

Celso Y.

I first started in UDC in fall 2019. The professors and classes were great. I am proud of being a UDC alumni.

tennis V.

My experience with UDC is varied. While I've had excellent professors and interactions with students, the administration is notably inefficient and consistently displays rude behavior toward students.

The administration abuses its power and restricts student activities on campus, severely limiting our ability to exist and engage freely. My attempts to communicate with any staff or leadership were ignored and ended in leaving a public review. They must install a way for students to speak and review their inefficient admin to resolve the issue.

From each department to the leadership, the admin's mind is entirely one-sided, with little to no regard for student input or concerns.
The staff members are extremely rude, adding to the hostile environment.

The administrative seem more interested in their own social gatherings and meetings, often occupying spaces that could be used for student activities or study.

Overall, UDC suffers from a top-down leadership culture that is dismissive of student needs and rights, creating a frustrating and unwelcoming atmosphere for anyone seeking a positive educational experience.

Iris P. F.

It's a very big University, they have a variety of different programs. Most of the people I dealt with were very friendly.

nina

The worst university ever, my experience at this university has been draining and miserable. Some off the professor are rude and highly unprofessional. I had one professor a couple off years ago name Samuel Walters tell me that he doesn't have to respond to my emails, and if I reported him they wouldn't even listen to me. I will never forget that, it was odd to me as well because, other professors' I had encouraged students to email, and come in during office hours for assistance. I reported this to the dean, and she told me that professors' are not obligated to respond to students' emails. I couldn't believe it, in addition I wrote the president off the school who is a joke in my opinion, and he never responded. Anything, goes at this University. I blame myself, for returning to this school I was told things have changed, and it has not. Different departments loose papers, I had turn in my vaccine exemption forms August 02, 2021 and was told it was never received. When, I inquired about the documents again, the representative had told me they forgot to submit the documents to another department. But, by then I was already dropped from my courses. At this point, I said forget it, I am glad I transferred to another University that's extremely professional, the transition was great. The staff are rude as well, I remember almost getting cursed out by a lady in the student health department, because I simply asked if my health waiver was received, she was so rude. I honestly, despise this University. Returning, to this University as a readmit student was not worth it, it's beyond me because, UDC reached out to me to come back this past summer and it's still a joke. The women bathrooms, are a joke it's been like that since I started a couple off years ago. Some, off the doors don't lock, the library needs to be remodeled. I remember part off the ceilings in one bathroom was completely missing. Elevators were not working, and some parts off the building were not cleaned, the math tutoring lab couple off years ago was, leaking and ceiling was completely gone. I believe, some individuals work at this University because they can display their dispicable disposition. It really, amazes that the student center is appealing. But, if you go to other departments off the campus the conditions, are horrible or layout is outdated. I blame myself for being at this University for so long, never again.