The “Dean Difference” they claim helps students is the same thing that will drain you as an employee - Anonymous employee Dean College Employee Review

• The 5-star reviews on here come mostly from part-time staff and student interns who were not been exposed to Dean’s true culture. Their ratings are not a reflection of the sentiments held by most staff. • Working at Dean required me to sacrifice two things: my values, and my integrity. • Everything wrong within the business of higher education happened there. Work environments like Dean should not exist. • The campus was a cult where the abnormal was embraced and the incomprehensible was standard practice. You were expected worship Dean or fall on your sword. “You’re not the crazy one” became a motto to reassure new hires. • 30-year toxic culture concocted by two narcissistic micromanaging bullies in the previous president and one vice president. They created an environment of delusional chaos and blind obedience to stroke their egos and mask the insecurities of their own ineptitude, at the expense of their employees. Their detestable behavior towards subordinates made life a daily hell. They embodied everything that goes wrong when senior management is shielded in an echo chamber of enablers. Worse, they set back the image of female leadership for those subjected to their waiving fingers and childish outbursts. Demand respect but offer ridicule, treat others like pawns but expect praise – that was their legacy. • Mass exodus of employees since the pandemic and the revolving door keeps spinning. Employees realized there are better opportunities than getting berated by a vice president in front of colleagues and students for holding a coffee cup while mingling with families at a Discover Dean Day event. • The college has a deserved reputation for prioritizing “looks” and selling the fraudulent lip service of the “Dean Difference” to families and students – including those with documented learning disabilities, those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those who demonstrate track records of poor academic performance and are grossly unprepared for college. Families and students are sold the notion that only Dean will ensure a degree and successful career. But those inside the walls know that most degrees offered for the inflated price tag lack real world value and generate poor return on investment. Students who would otherwise succeed at a community college, learning a trade, or working after high school are aggressively recruited to drive up numbers. Then, they inevitably struggle despite extensive support, for reasons beyond staff’s control. Many eventually withdraw without a degree in hand to help pay back their debts, or they are dragged across the finish line by hand. Hardly any standards existed other than getting paying bodies through the doors. If a pulse is detected, the dotted line can be signed. Many students who sign for tens of thousands of borrowed dollars a semester cannot even afford their textbooks. Contrary to claims of prioritizing student success, many are positioned to fail out of the gate. Revenue is the top concern in all decision-making and prospective students equal dollar bills. • You must conform and turn a blind eye to the glaring student loan crisis or lie to yourself about the “meaningful work” done there. A constant state of cognitive dissonance was required to function in my role. • Academic standards are undermined to appease families and force underachieving and unmotivated students through the pipeline. • Academic and disciplinary suspension are formalities – problem students are repeatedly allowed back to boost retention rates, even when all signs point towards them failing out again. • Families run the kitchen and choose the menu. Adult daycare where students are babied, and staff are forced to bend over backwards to accommodate requests, regardless of consequences. A gross irony exists in the assertion that students leave the college as independent adults prepared for the challenges of the working world. • Poor work/life balance. Work is your top priority. Shamed for taking time off or asserting boundaries. Employees are expected to come in early and stay late with a smile. Unpaid weekend and late-night hours. “Other duties as assigned” is a main duty. Overworked and unappreciated. All you do well goes unrecognized; one mistake becomes your defining characteristic. • The “Dean Difference” they claim helps students is the same thing that will drain you as an employee. • Even the administrative overhaul cannot repair what Dean College is at its core – a private college steeped in a history of toxic management with an exorbitant price tag that exists off the backs of students who sign master promissory notes they don’t understand, for degrees of little value, for young adult lives buried in student debt. If that is your definition of “student success” then I encourage you to apply. Leave your conscience at the door.