Campus: Very pretty. The main attractions are the Long Walk, which is a huge long building that is gothic in design, and the chapel. The Long Walk buildings are currently being renovated which consists of cleaning the stone, gutting the insides to make them more modern, and replacing windows. However, by the end of it all, it will still have its 1800s gothic flare. The chapel was renovated several years ago, but has stunning windows and a huge organ. It also has one of the few carillons in the state and the chapel gives free lesson every week.
Food: There are three places to eat: Mather hall, The Cave, and The Bistro. However, all three places are catered by the same company:Chartwells. The food leaves something to be desired. Mather is the buffet hall and has a little bit of everything, although they seem to be having a chicken bar more often than not. The Cave is more snadwhiches and mexican food while the Bistro has the ” best “food of grill and sandwhich items, but i use the term “best” loosely. The food tends to be on the greasy side and there are not that many ” healthy” options that are also tasty. However, they are trying to work on that.
Dorms: Rooms range from singles to quad currently, however the new Long walks building will have 8 people suites. Some dorms come with kitchens and have separate bedrooms for each person. Others are just one room. Upperclassmen tend to live near Summit street since that is where all the frats are. The best dorms are Summit dorms ( East, North, South) since most rooms are singles ( or singles within quad) and it is relatively spacious with a nice common room. The worst dorms are the ” Concrete Jungle ” (Wheaton, Funston, Smith, Jackson) since they are either single room doubles or singles which are both very tiny.
Professors: Very good. Class size tends to be small ( around 20ish in most cases) so teachers get to know your name. If you need extra help, they are more than willing to arrange meeting times. I have never had a problem getting extra help from a professor. Some professors take their class to their home for a home cooked meal. I am a science major so I can say the science department is very heavy on the Powerpoint presentations while I have yet to have a humanities teacher teach with one.
Sports: Division 3,so Trinity is not known for its sports. However our Squash team is Division 1 and has the longest undefeated record of any college sport in the entire nation with 10 years undefeated. If you have never heard of Squash, don’t worry. I didn’t knwo it either until I came here. I just saw my first game recently. It’s kind of like racketball except you can hit off any wall. Very fast paced, very competitive, very entertaining. Being a D3 school makes the practices a little more relaxd, but don’t fool yourself into thinking they are easy as pie. We also have club sports like rugby and ultimate frisby as examples.
Parking: Can be a jerk. Parking is very tight. So tight that no freshmen can have cars. No worry, since there is no where to go, but that’s in another section. Bring your car if you have to but if you don’t, then don’t.
Entertainment on campus: Slim. There are the frats, the Fred, and the library. There are several frats, a few of which hold themed parties like ” Heaven and Hell” and “Tropical. The Fred was a group made by student as an alternative to the frats. They have concerts, speakers, movies, and art nights. They also get wasted like everybody else. Then there’s the library. Self explanatory. There are speakers that come on various topics and theatre. However, the speakers don’t get advertised that much and the theatre choices tend to be on the more ” experimental ” side of things. We do however have Cinestudio, a movie theatre on campus that has recent movies as well as some old classics.
Entertainment off campus: The are around Trinity is sketchy so walking is not encouraged at all. There is a bus system and each student gets a free pass for the semester, but almost no one uses it because the system is confusing and not terribly convenient.. There are nice restaurants about 10 minutes away and Hartford Stage has good musicals that come by. Other than that though, good luck. No bars within walking distance except The Tap, which is not great by any means. No clubs. Nothing. It is nothing like New York or Boston, so if that’s the type of environment you are looking for, DON’T come to hartford.
Safety: Ok. We do have cameras and a campus safety force, as well as a student EMT service. However cars do get broken into and kids get mugged. However, the kids that get mugged are usually asking for it by walking around litening to their ipods in their hands, flashing their jewelry in the ghetto of Hartford. Call boxes are every 50ft or so, so students are “safe”. It just depends on how street smart they are. To get into dorm buildings, one needs a Trinity ID card that they swipe at the door, so this keeps outsiders out of the dorm unless someone lets them in.
Community Service: A big deal here. There are plenty of opportunities to do community service. Trinity has a ” Do It Day” around September every year where over 50% of the school participates in some project all over the city. We also do Relay for life and have a sponsered safe Trick-Or-Treating for Hartford Kids on Vernon St. There is a Boys and Girls club near by as well. Tons of opportunities here.
Student Body: Mostly white, upper to middle class, and EXTREMELY preppy. The majority of students come from private schools. So if you see a lot of skinny blond people, you are probably at Trinity.
This is just my opinion. To get more information, go to Trincoll.edu. Do I regret going there? No. Would I go there if I had to reapply to college all over again? Probably not. The professors and my greta education I was getting is what kept me there. And in the end, it is all about the education. Happy hunting!
