The Clarion University of Pennsylvania

The strongest programs here are education and business. Besides these majors, everything is weak. I took classes in geology, English and Journalism. The geology professor, Dr. Shulik takes every exam from the internet and never teaches on what he will test. There was a professor in the Journalism department who was challenging her students in their coursework and because students here are lazy, they complained and although it was never told to us what happened, there are rumors that she was dismissed for challenging her students academically. Being an English major is like being in one big book club, only you pay $14,000 and up for a year of membership. For example, in a 300-level writing class, we had to review magazine articles, write three essays and discuss easy (8th grade level) readings out of six books. Classes here are very easy, however, if you miss three classes, it is a letter grade from your final grade for every absence beyond that.

The People:

The students at Clarion are very open-minded and accepting of others. Sure, you do have a person every now and then who thinks they own the world, but for the most part, you can find some of the most caring students here.

Social Life:

There are alot of great organizations to be involved in at Clarion. Whatever your interest is, you can find it here. However, the sororities are VERY selective and if you are not a spitting image of them, you will not be extended a bid.

Campus living:

The campus is extremely safe with call boxes spread across campus. Dorms vary. Givan is by far the nicest dorm, both lookwise and atmosphere wise. There are many events to be part of as a dorm resident, and they can be fairly interesting. Never go to Chandler Dining Hall. The food there is TERRIBLE. Gemmell food is not as bad and can be fairly decent. The gym is not bad, but depending on the hour that you go, plan to be waiting awhile for a machine. The campus buildings in general are also old. Clarion has also begun to set up a new Science Hall to replace Pierce, but has insufficient funds to complete the project, so expect to be staring at construction work for awhile.

surrounding area:

If you are a big city type of person, don't even try. The area around Clarion University is set as a very small town. There is a bus that goes to the mall (which contains maybe 10 shops) and to Wal-Mart but goes no where else. So be prepared to drive anywhere that you think you might like to go. Besides being small (the whole downtown is a long street), Clarion is beautiful, especially with Autumn Leaf Festival (their canival that happens every September) and in the Winter (trust me… there is nothing like seeing downtown Clarion in the winter with all the lights, it is breathtaking)

Faculty:

Faculty is very accessible and will even make appointments to see you if you cannot make it to their office hours. However, if you have a problem with any of the faculty, do not expect to have it resolved or even listened to.