DeSales University

DeSales is not for the out-of-state student looking for a fun college experience. Most students live locally and almost all of them go home on the weekends. I made the mistake of coming from New York to DeSales looking for a nice small school with a good community feel and several plans for every weekend. What I got was a small school where avoiding the very few people who I can't stand is impossible, and weekends consist of a lot of pacing around, reading to kill time, and calling friends to find that they are all home for the weekend. I am a fairly social person and do not hide away in my room all the time. I am good at finding opportunities when there are few to be had, but most weekends at DeSales are horribly stagnant and boring. It feels like a continuation of high school, the way the theater majors seem to center their lives around drama and try to run the social life on campus, and the overwhelming population of track and "Lacrosse bros" are arrogant, loud, and unfriendly. The big-shots on campus (and there are only a handful of them) are only popular because they are arrogant guys with little or no respect for anybody but their bros, and thrive on being "big fish in a small campus." Put them in a state school and they could find their own crowd and not bother the rest of the student population as they do in such a small school as DeSales.

Incoming students must be aware that parties are absurdly scarce, and those that do happen require an "in," usually a friend who knows the housemates. And there is a ridiculous number of people who will look down at those who drink.

Social life without parting is nearly nonexistent, and most clubs and student-run events are poorly organized mostly by students with half-ambitions who throw funded money at an event and pray for its success.

Most students at DeSales do not even know what a fraternity or sorority is. If you are looking for a school with absolutely no greek life at all, consider DeSales.

There are no nearby cities worth enjoying, minus a very tiny area of Bethlehem shared with Lehigh. Allentown is the type of city where you should not even drive with your car doors unlocked. Philadelphia is over an hour away.

Even on the nicest spring and summer days, you will never, ever, find students lounging and socializing on the lawns in the center of campus. I am aware that there are only about 1,500 day students, but it makes me wonder where the hell they all go.

Social life gripes aside, I will not neglect the positives. The quality of education at DeSales is extremely high, especially for a small school. We have a number of nationally respected and recognized professors, including many with dozens of publications and television appearances. Workload is difficult, but manageable, and never just "busy work." General education requirements are fair, but being affiliated with the Catholic church, students are required to take three theology courses regardless of their major. Three P.E. courses are another fairly unnecessary requirement.

Most buildings, with exceptions of the freshman dorms, have been recently built and are kept extremely well. Only one dorm building on campus has community style bathrooms and showers, and in all other buildings, students will never have to share a bathroom with more than three other residents. Dorms are advertised as "Suite-style" but this is a little far-fetched. The only thing "Suite" about the dorms is the shared bathroom. Imagine two independent dorm rooms, connected by a bathroom with a door on either side. In theory, you don't ever need to have contact with your "Suite-mates" unless they are using the shower when you need to use the restroom, etc. While the bathroom feature is nice, there are no real suites on campus, which is upsetting.

All academic buildings, the university center, and student center, are very well equipped, up-to-date, and clean. Architecture and appearance of the campus is plain but very clean-looking and nice. Most students are very religious, which comes with its social drawbacks as most of them tend to have a "perfect and innocent" appearance, and seldom or warily with students who drink even once a week or less.

The most important thing to know about DeSales is the strictly enforced visitation policy. Freshmen are not allowed to have opposite sex visitors past midnight on weekdays and 1am on weekends. These rules loosen only minimally for upperclassmen, at 1am on weekdays and 3am on weekends. If an RA hears the voice of a girl or guy in your dorm past curfew, you WILL be written up and face EXPULSION! It feels like a boarding middle school, to be honest.

In short, DeSales is a very nice campus. The people are high-schoolish and love Jesus, but are mostly friendly. You will have to work very hard to find social opportunities. Don't expect to be near a college town or city where you can spend your time. And prepare to feel like the only one on campus if you plan on staying during the weekends, and remember the horribly strict visitation policy. If you're willing to accept these drawbacks, you will be receiving a wonderful education from well-respected ph.D professors, have very nice accommodations, very clean buildings, most likely not community showers, etc. and a very safe campus. Campus police are EVERYWHERE (just watch your speed on DeSales Drive.)

I would NOT recommend DeSales to anybody who cannot, or does not wish to, regularly pack it in and go home for the weekend when there is nothing to do.Theater, dance, and PA majors seem to rave about their programs, so consider your intended major as well.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2013

Perceived Campus Safety: A+, Social Life: F