MS Project predates Agile so it's not surprising that other solutions dedicated to that as a methodology can deliver it better. But that's a long way from suggesting 'it sucks.'
The application of Agile through MS Project can be done as per the following:
https://zenkit.com/en/blog/keep-track-of-your-project-the-agile-way-using-microsoft-project/
And so, as a science student, I think the onus falls on you to start to understand some of the differences in application of waterfall and methodology and what controls/visibility/reporting you want over a project and how those are satisfied by the various tools. It would be useful to understand what forum posts you might have read and get a few bullet points as to weaknesses or strengths they might have already called out.
For example, in the article linked to above, it quite strongly suggests that it's going to tell you how to 'keep track of your project' - and yet almost solely offers up the creation of a backlog and tracking is almost a minor bullet point about moving things through various statuses. And yet Project does offer Agile-styled reports:
Are these are good as those in Jira? Are there limitations? Is the PM more or less informed through either tool.
That's where some good ol' comparative analysis will come in.