Yavapai College: Prescott

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One Student Review of Yavapai College: Prescott

• John

  May 20, 2016

  Yavapai College, as far as I can tell, used to be a good place to go. And in reality, it is still a good place to go academically, but ONLY if you are not staying at their dorms. Apparently, before the new housing director (named Shar) took over (sometime around 2013 or slightly previous), things were pretty nice at the dorms (although I heard it got a bit wild with parties and stuff, which may be why Shar was hired? Not sure.). But after she stepped in, things got really terrible, really fast. They are a dry campus, meaning they don’t even let you possess alcohol if you are over 21. Though let’s face it, there are probably only a handful of new residents who are going to wait to drink until 21 (the strait-laced)–which would be fine at most places–maybe a slap on the wrist from an RA or something if they caught you–but at Yavapai’s dorms, they will call police and charge you criminally with a minor in consumption, as I saw happen to many kids pretty often when I lived there. What kind of place does that to young, naive, experimenting 18/19 year-olds? It is purely and simply disgusting. This happened to not just kids that were drinking but also with those using marijuana, which is objectively less harmful than alcohol, but Yavapai will make sure you are screwed for it to the greatest extent of the law by involving cops and criminal charges. I’m sorry, but that’s just crazy and unacceptable for young college students exploring themselves and experiencing self-responsibility for likely the first time.

  To be honest, it felt very predatory. There are something like 6 or 7 cops (maybe more) there that patrol the campus (for a not-all-that-big community college? wtf?) like there’s something super serious going down. The weird, uncomfortable vibe that place gave me really caused a lot of stress, and not just to me but to numerous others. I would HIGHLY recommend NOT going to Yavapai if you plan to live on campus and are AT ALL interested in ever drinking alcohol while living there, or especially if you think you may encounter cannabis with a mind towards use or even experimentation. These people will come down on you hard in an apparent attempt to ruin your later job opportunities by saddling you with a criminal record (and the cops there aren’t “nice” outside of being polite. They will hurt you with everything they can find to make it worse for you if you are caught—trust me, I’ve seen it happen to kids multiple times). I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand behind ANY institution that would involve police in a serious fashion at a fucking college with kids barely stepping into the new world they’ve found themselves in.

  Prescott is already a strange place because of the weird over-abundance of cops when proportioned against the population of the town. Since one of the main industries in Prescott is their rehab clinics for drug addicts, the police are able to sustain themselves (and flourish and grow to the point of over-saturation) off of the cash they receive after they inevitably bust people who relapse after getting out of rehab. I have personally been pulled over several times in the span of months (for arbitrary mistakes like turning into the far left lane when making a right turn instead of turning directly into the right lane and then using a blinker to merge left–certainly not speeding or anything serious), which is simply unprecedented in my experience (I live in Phoenix, and haven’t ever been pulled over here). But I feel like I would’ve been fine with all that if the dorms at Yavapai were pleasant (like Prescott Colleges dorms, which from what some friends living there have said are pretty nice and have none of the serious problems Yavapai’s dorms have), but as you have read, it is most definitely NOT pleasant there.

  Aside from all that bullshit, Yavapai’s dorms host a large athlete presence (for soccer, baseball, volleyball and softball). Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a bad thing, but since there are quite a few athletes when compared to regular residents, it ends up feeling incredibly clique-ish, like high school or something. The sports teams separate themselves from everyone else (whether intentional or not, it’s weird) and I even remember them calling non-athletes “Randoms.” As if they are destined for stardom after their brief stint at a small town community college. Seems like a pretty glamorous experience living there, eh? (that was sarcasm. It sucks.)

  In conclusion, I’d just like to say that I am grateful and appreciative for the internet, and especially for websites like this which allow for people to artificially select for survival those institutions which are most fit to survive based on our (the consumers) preferences and how those institutions represent (or harm) our interests. Though that’s not to say my review will cause the dorms at Yavapai to go empty (there will inevitably be some who miss this post or otherwise don’t feel like it applies to them in any way, or even those who don’t believe—go ahead, ask previous residents that lived under Shar’s direction if you are able and if you trust their opinions). Hopefully though, with any luck, this review can help those on the fence to make a sensible decision.

  Thanks,

  John

  Overall Score: (2.18/5.00)

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