Meredith Manor?!

[circus_peanuts]

I ran into a girl that used to ride at my barn when I was younger. She was telling me about how she’s going to Meredith Manor and how she’s finally learning the right way to do things. So I got curious and googled it. HOLY COW WHAT A SCAM.

First of all, its a certification program that costs over 9k for 12 weeks. And you have to go for at least 36 weeks. On top of that, you have to do all of your own care, and yet you have to pay more than maintenance board on your horse if you take one.

They claim that you can get a BA or an Associate’s Degree, but then you have to pay more money to take classes at a WVU satellite. What parent would send their kid there?

Plus, the kids are living in old stalls and school buses!

Am I crazy? Do people actually think this is ok?

[Event4Life]

[QUOTE=circus peanuts;6623633]
I ran into a girl that used to ride at my barn when I was younger. She was telling me about how she’s going to Meredith Manor and how she’s finally learning the right way to do things. So I got curious and googled it. HOLY COW WHAT A SCAM.

First of all, its a certification program that costs over 9k for 12 weeks. And you have to go for at least 36 weeks. On top of that, you have to do all of your own care, and yet you have to pay more than maintenance board on your horse if you take one.

They claim that you can get a BA or an Associate’s Degree, but then you have to pay more money to take classes at a WVU satellite. What parent would send their kid there?

Plus, the kids are living in old stalls and school buses!

Am I crazy? Do people actually think this is ok?[/QUOTE]

haha ironic that you should post this because I saw an ad for meredith manor on google (I was googling private boarding schools/looking for potential future job sources) & was wondering exactly the same thing. Does anyone have any experience with it?

[kkgeorgio]

…you couldn’t pay me to go to there…

[BAC]

Meredith Manor is still around? It was around back in the 70s, run by Kay Meredith, who was a big time dressage rider in those days, and her husband. They eventually divorced and I thought he ran it as a western farm for a while, I hadn’t heard about it in at least 25 years. Even in the 70s we knew it was a scam though.

[MySuperExAlter]

Holy moly that’s sketchy… The picture of the bus and crates for housing… :eek:

[Event4Life]

[QUOTE=MySuperExAlter;6623721]
Holy moly that’s sketchy… The picture of the bus and crates for housing… :eek:[/QUOTE]

Wow, I missed that part. I couldn’t really get past the first page…goes back to check.

Haha just previously I had been reading about SBC’s MA in Teaching for comparison to another university I’m applying to. Maybe thats why Meredith Manor came up as a side ad on google? The difference between the 2 couldn’t be more obvious though, especially when it comes to accommodation! I remember checking SBC out for undergrad and it has some of the nicest student accommodation I’ve ever seen.

[hunterrider23]

SBC is absolutely beautiful and their riding program is beautiful too, Meredith Manor on the other hand… Basically their housing looks like somewhere a drug dealer would live- and not a very prolific one at that.

[Alter_nativ3]

I met a girl who went to Meredith Manor and drank the Kool-aid. So many of the things that she was taught there were incorrect and she seemed to pick up a holier than thou attitude as well. Yuck is all I can say…

[horseshrink]

When I was a little kid, I spent a week there attending a summer “camp.”

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

[Event4Life]

[QUOTE=hunterrider23;6623728]
SBC is absolutely beautiful and their riding program is beautiful too, Meredith Manor on the other hand… Basically their housing looks like somewhere a drug dealer would live- and not a very prolific one at that.[/QUOTE]

I cannot believe Meredith Manor are actually using those accommodation pictures on their website. And website pictures are generally supposed to look better than the real thing! That’s just scary!!

Yes, SBC is heaven…I very nearly went there for undergrad. I may still check it out for teaching, it just seems so small for a typical grad school and it’s in the middle of nowhere, so I don’t know.

[hunterrider23]

I think another thing going for SBC is that they have an actual undergrad program, not just equine studies, and it’s a legitimate campus, not just a big farm with broken down buses…

Also may be a bit biased on that one as SBC is one of my top 10 choices for university (UVA, UNC Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt, College of Charleston, and Wake Forest being the top 5).

[Justa_Bob]

I wonder about housing codes…I thought that there need to be two methods for escape in case of fire? A door and a window, etc. That is for Oregon… It might even be a national program called “Two Ways Out.” Shudder.

[Appsolute]

[QUOTE=MySuperExAlter;6623721]
Holy moly that’s sketchy… The picture of the bus and crates for housing… :eek:[/QUOTE]

Jesus Cristo!

http://www.meredithmanor.edu/about/tour/mens-dorm.asp

Windowless shipping containers? For housing? Really? The county approved that? - and they are going to charge you over $400 to live in storage units

http://www.meredithmanor.edu/about/tour/specialhousing.asp :eek: :eek: :eek:

In addition to the dorms, there are a couple special housing options available to our on campus female students. These include three school buses that have been converted into single occupancy housing and crates that have been converted into double occupancy housing. All units have private bathrooms, and the crates also have a kitchenette and a living area. The special housing cost is slightly higher than the standard Room & Board fees.

Oh goody! you get to pay extra to live in a low ceiling, old bus! Can you even stand up in that thing?!?

I seriously cannot believe the county has granted occupancy permits for these things. Migrant agricultural workers are provided with better housing in my area.

http://www.meredithmanor.edu/about/tour/crates/default.asp

Oh… don’t forget the “crate Tour” only $550 a month to share one of these bad boys! (seriously, they make $1,100 a month off of these? - I thought California was expensive)

[Andrew]

[QUOTE=BAC;6623686]
Meredith Manor is still around? It was around back in the 70s, run by Kay Meredith, who was a big time dressage rider in those days, and her husband. They eventually divorced and I thought he ran it as a western farm for a while, I hadn’t heard about it in at least 25 years. Even in the 70s we knew it was a scam though.[/QUOTE]

me neither!!!

[DNB]

[QUOTE=hunterrider23;6623744]
I think another thing going for SBC is that they have an actual undergrad program, not just equine studies, and it’s a legitimate campus, not just a big farm with broken down buses…

Also may be a bit biased on that one as SBC is one of my top 10 choices for university (UVA, UNC Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt, College of Charleston, and Wake Forest being the top 5).[/QUOTE]

As a Hollins girl, I must say that if you are going to look at SBC, then you should also look at Hollins

[JenEM]

[QUOTE=DNB;6623756]
As a Hollins girl, I must say that if you are going to look at SBC, then you should also look at Hollins :)[/QUOTE]

I’ll ditto this as well! It was a close call between Hollins and SBC for me, but ultimately I chose HU, and am very glad I did. (They also offer a MA in teaching, BTW.)

Those are in a completely different league than what I’m seeing in the Meredith Manor photos. Is it actually an accredited higher educational facility? And how on earth is that housing up to fire code?

[PaintedWhisper]

[QUOTE=DNB;6623756]
As a Hollins girl, I must say that if you are going to look at SBC, then you should also look at Hollins :)[/QUOTE]

Ditto! I looked at both SBC and Hollins, but ultimately went with Hollins and it was the best decision I have ever made. The best years of my life.

[RiderWriter]

[QUOTE=BAC;6623686]
Meredith Manor is still around? It was around back in the 70s, run by Kay Meredith, who was a big time dressage rider in those days, and her husband. They eventually divorced and I thought he ran it as a western farm for a while, I hadn’t heard about it in at least 25 years. Even in the 70s we knew it was a scam though.[/QUOTE]

Holy cow!!! My trainer’s daughter went to MM, ca. 1980, and I have thought about the place off and on over the years. I wondered how it was doing or even if it still existed, given the preponderance of equine/equestrian degree programs offered by “real” schools nowadays. But I’m afraid that as young, impressionable youngster I thought Meredith Manor was a Big Deal and trainer’s daughter was receiving some sort of top-notch equestrian education there. Really? It was a scam even then??? Yikes.

I cannot even fathom sending a kid off to “college” to live in a shipping container, converted school bus or storage locker (and I haven’t even done the “crate tour” yet). Never mind spending gobs of money to do so! What the heck?! Who goes there, is my main question now?

[Emily_amp_Jake]

The amount of money they charge is absolutely ridiculous.
And you have to ASK if you can ride your own horse outside of lessons!? Just ridiculous. And your horse cannot be under 15 hands. OK…

Every time someone mentions to me that they want to go there, I quickly tell them they have much better options, and that it’s outrageously pricey.

I never thought about the housing before. That really cannot be safe - and charging that much to live in a tiny, cramped bus!? UM! I think not!!

I “liked” them on Facebook. It’s sad how many people comment on their wall saying they want to go to school there.

[hunterrider23]

[QUOTE=DNB;6623756]
As a Hollins girl, I must say that if you are going to look at SBC, then you should also look at Hollins :)[/QUOTE]

Hollins made the top ten as well! It’s actually 7, while SBC is 6, but I haven’t been to look at campuses yet and I’m only a sophomore.

[LIST=1]

UVA

UNC Chapel Hill

College of Charleston

Vanderbilt

Wake Forest

SBC

Hollins

Georgia Tech

Emory

Clemson [/LIST] My goal is to definitely stay below the Virginia line, anything higher north than that is just too northern for me. haha