The East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)
VERY IN-DEPTH REVIEW OF ESU: READ ON!

I write this review as I sit in my dorm room on a Saturday night, with nothing to do. I just recently went out last night, partying with my roommate and our normal group of friends at a frat house, but tonight, I sit here with three friends of mine, just drinking coors light and watching TV, because this is what most of the weekends are like here at this place you would call a college, ESU. To be as short as I can about this school, which is not possible for me, I will start by saying this is a joke of a school. That's a tad harsh, how about a very mediocre school, if that. It's located in an extremely hick town in the Poconos of Stroudsburg,Pennsylvania. People in the town greatly reflect on the school, as both ppl in the town and ESU are not friendly at all. Going to a school in a hick, trashy town, you'll get hick and trashy kids at the school. Now, I'm not saying that everyone here is like that but I've seen many that are. Many of the students that go here are relying on financial aid, as that tells you the class of the type of kids that go here, lower-middle class. Now I don't mean to sound like an arrogant prick but I come from an upperclass family and having to experience this type of crowd has been a tad hard for me. It's not too easy to make friends here if you're not from in state (PA). Everyone comes from either PA or NJ, and everyone that comes here knows each other from HS so people already have their groups of friends they like to do things with and are not very welcomeing, friendly, or flexible to kids that they have not known from high school. NOw the group that I hang out with are pretty nice kids for the most; all of them hailing from this same town back home in PA, so as I hang out with them, I notice they constantly quote things that happened back home, making it hard for me to converse with them, seeing as I'm from CT and have no recollection of their past experiences with each other because I did not know them before I came here. My roommate is cool and a lot more talkative, friendly, and outgoing than my freshman deadbeat one, who by the way, sat in his corner desk all day, never spoke to anyone and would get mad when you'd try to get him do to things that required getting off his butt. But my roommate is the oposite. The only thing that bothers me is that he hangs out with just his friends from back home. Does not branch out whatsoever, and the group he hangs out with, I hang out with as well. He is from the same town as these other kids. Beware of this, INCOMING FRESHMAN, as you MUST be a resident of PA or NJ to fit in perfectly here. I have made many friends here but none that I have grown close enough to in order to miss when I go home on breaks or during summer or to want to go on spring break with. To change subjects, people here are not all that friendly. There will be days when the campus is "hoppin" and people are eccentric and more energetic, but this is only on days when it's party night, such as Thirsty Thursday, which I do enjoy every week, or FBALL events b/c that's our only good sport here. Most days though, I feel like I'm on a depressing campus, with deadbeat kids walking around and as one of the other reviews on this site mentioned, this student body does not consist of intellectual kids whatsoever. I'll hear conversations going on as I walk by students, and just hearing the way they speak and the structure of their grammar, it makes me think the have the learning capacity of jr. high student. There is a fair share of exceptional students that are here in specific major programs, that actually give a crap about school. That's another thing, people here are extremely lazy. No motive or incentive to do well in academics. Many of my fellow classmates and friends here will tell me how they studied a whapping 15 min for their exam or how they just Bull shi**ed their assignment. I hear way too much of that. I dont wanna be around rediculously hardworking students that have no social life but I want to see normal, hardworking kids, that find time to engage in social life when their work is done, rather than do it all the time the day of class. But to get back to the student body, the friendly meter, as already mentioned before, is not too high. Students will not willingly introduce themselves in the dorm, even if they notice you're on their floor and have not met you. No one will make an attempt to get to know you unless you're from PA or NJ or if you go to them. Getting to know people is what you make of it, you actually have to get off your butt. It is hard to meet people, especially if you're a transfer student. I'm a sophomore and have been here since I came in as a freshman but I know of 3 trasnfer students that came to our floor and left a few mths later because they did not like it here. I do not reccomend transferring here. In fact, most kids do not stay here full 4 years, as many of them do transfer. Our dorm director even mentioned how that is a very re-occurring thing here at ESU: NOBODY stays more than 2 years, well not nobody but the majority of student body. Social life is another issue at ESU. This is one of the main reasons I'm transferring to UCONN-fall of '07. The socia life here is a solid D, as I'm being generous. The town is so trashy and dumpy and poorlooking that you avoid going into it and just stay on campus. I myself though make many walks to Walmart, being a guy, I'm not afraid to do it at night. Might I mention that there have been 7 rapings in the past 5 days here on campus, and the police have put a 11 oclock curfew in effect. Apparently, there is a serial rapist loose in the area but that is jsut a rumor. I would not be surprsied tho, as I've seen this gloomy looking crowd in Stroudsburg. May I add that this is a suitcase school. In case you do not know what that means, it literally comes from the term. People go home almost every weekend due to the low quality of social life. People pack their bags for a weeks worth of school, because they know they're going home that weekend, therefore giving it the term Suitcase school. This is the reason I have so much time to write this review, as my roommate and other friends went up to Penn State for the night, as I could not attend because I have work to do in the morning and they will not be back till tomorrow evening. Partying is just about the only thing to do here on campus. You do get tired of it though, as I already have my first 2 mths here. I party every weekend with my friends, thats if they don't go home. Thursday, Friday, and sometimes Saturday are the best nights for me to party. I do not have classes on fridays, which is why that's the best night for me to party because I get to party on Thursday with my friends before they go home for the weekend, and then get to sleep in late on Friday-its awsome! Food here at ESU is just mediocre. It's prob the only thing close enough to being good. Just like any other school, ESU soaks laxatives with their food such as meats and other things, to get rid of food poisoning and to avoid gettin students sick but what happens is I hear complaints from my friends about crapping a lot because of the laxatives in the food. There is a Center Court, food court type area that is the best. It's the most fresh food you could ask for, with wraps, a grill sandwich place, pizza place, deli, and soup place. Stay clear of the dining hall, as it's grimey, loud and gross and the food jsut flat out sucks there. But ehh, its college and schools aren't supposed to be known for their food. There aren't many alternatives for food outside of campus, except Dominos, which delivers, which is something I see a ton of kids on campus doing. Academics are a joke, as my professors are not extremely bright. Half are very bright and informative as well as friendly, and some are just flat out fricken morons, who dont give a shit, which is sometimes a good thing because the class will be easy. Professors are easy to acess for the most part but you will find your fair share that do not respond to emails on voicemails on their phone, although thats where they tell you to reach them. Programs here are below average for the most part, as there are only 4 academic buildings on campus, the main one being Stroud-hmmm, i wonder where they got that name from. Only attend this school if you are an Education Major or Hotel Management, as that is this school's only strength academically. In terms of campus facilities, they're poorly maintained. The main student union is the nicest, where the food court is and many lounge chairs and tables for kids to sit and hang out, as well as a welcome desk that greets the kids when they walk in…the only friendly part of campus. Academic buildings are old and haven't been renovated since Lincoln was president. There is a nice lecture hall, that has BOSE surround sound and looks fairly new, called "Beers". Another building with a mystery behind where it got its name from..HAHA. The dorms are complete crap…garbage if I may say. The only well maintained and clean one on campus is the one I'm staying in called Linden. The place won't blow you away but some of the furniture is newer and nicer, as well as cleaner and the dorm rooms are bigger than most on campus. Linden is adjacent to the Rec Center, which I may change my opinion, as being the nicest building on campus. It's the only thing our school actually puts money into, as the Rec Center cost millions to make and is a state of the art facility. Why can't they do that with the dorms? All in all, ESU is not the school that a typical college student is looking for. Someone that expects to slack off, be extremely lazy, do their hw at the last minute every time, and do nothing but sleep late and party hard should attend this school. One wouldn't argue that this doesn't sounds like a bad school by those standards, heck students would love to party hard and be lazy but dont count on doing well in classes with an attitude like that. This school is good about one thing and that is 2 semesters with an Academic probation GPA and you're outta here. While this review consisted of a lot of rambling and opinionated viewpoints, I hope that anyone who reads this will find this helpful and insightful. ANyone looking into this school can email me with any questions at and I'll glady point you in the direction away from here.