The University of Scranton

Date: Nov 03 2011
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)
I transferred out of Scranton after a year and a half, so there is bias in my review. Also this was a about two years ago to date so things could have changed quite a bit. Overall, I wasn't as happy with Scranton as I would have wanted to be. Scranton wasn't horrible, it just wasn't for me, and below I will mention some of the pros and cons of the school.

Atmosphere/Campus- Buildings and facilities are beautiful, and the student center is top-notch. The food is very good and there are many different options. Library is modern and comfortable with a cafe. Scranton is constantly making improvements in their buildings and facilites, which is always a good thing (although the sound of construction is annoying!). This is a Jesuit school and there is much emphasis and pride on that fact. Most of the Jesuits are nice and easy to talk to, but some are more close-minded and not up-to-par with present day. There appears to be some red tape administration areas. Public safety is not helpful and hires criminal justice major students as security guards, which I find odd. Most RAs are kind and helpful, but residence life directors don't take much interest in students' needs. The administration seems to be all about money, but I guess this is common in most universities. For instance, I knew someone who put no effort academics, had about a 1.5 average, and was never kicked of the school. Apparently, her family had several million dollars, which is probably why she never failed out. While the school is nice, the city of Scranton is awful (major con). Scranton is an old coal mining industry town except the coal industry shut down almost 100 years ago. This makes the city very run-down, poor, and backwards mentality for a lot of the population. No wonder why Scranton was named the armpit of America several years ago. Being a Jesuit school there is a lot of focus on service and volunteer work. However most of that work is located out-of-state or overseas, and I rarely or never heard of the school doing any service for the city. I don't know whether this is the school or city of Scranton's fault, but it shows you that the school's relationship with the city of Scranton is somewhat strained.

Housing- Freshman dorms are your typical college freshman dorms. If anything, they're a lot nicer than most schools because of the recent renovations. Sophomore dorms are nice with having your own bathroom, AC, and a new building. Junior/Senior dorms are apartments, which are again new, spacious and aesthetically beautiful. There are several older houses students reside in, but a lot of them I don't care for since they're old and you feel somewhat isolated from most of the students (unless you're living with a big group of friends). Speaking of upperclassmen housing, it is not guaranteed for juniors/seniors and most move off-campus The school seems to be in denial about this. This may sound great having your own place but all the houses are in horrible condtion with sketchy landlords. It also forces you to sign a lease at the end of freshman/beginning of sophomore year which is stressful and causing many upperclassmen to become RAs in my opinion. However, I have heard that Scranton is planning on building more upperclassmen dorms so this may not be a problem in the future.

People- Compared to other schools in its league, Scranton has mostly nice, down-to-earth people. Don't be fooled by what you hear, not everyone is nice. A number of people, especially girls, were insecure, cliquey, high school drama queens. Unfortunately, I found myself in that crowd so it was a big reason why I left. I agree with a pervious post that other people were friendly, but almost too friendly that they just wanted to be popular. However, I could be very wrong about this so don't take what I said to be the truth. The types of people were pretty diverse here, from being big partiers to more good'ole boys and girls who never drank. So Scranton is good for both people who like or dislike to party and drink. Overall, most people at Scranton are nice, fun, and laid back, but you do have to make sure you find the right people for yourself.

Academics- Majority of academics were great and I got a very good education at Scranton so I can't complain too much here. Academic quality seems to be lacking in more of the liberal art majors such as history and English from what I hear but almost every program offered here is really good. While some professors are standoffish, most professors are helpful and personable. What I disliked the most about the academics was the amount of core courses required. I know it's a Jesuit school, but two classes in theology and philosophy are useless in my opinion, unless that is your field of study. Scranton offered a course called "Computer Literacy" which teaches how to use windows. Most people would agree this is absurd in today's world especially since everyone in the younger generation knows how to use technology.

Socially- Scranton is not school spirited unless you consider the city's St. Patrick's Day parade or campus ministry service work school spirit. Don't get me wrong, those events are great but I wish there was more energy behind Scranton sports. I guess that is not be expected since it's only a Divison III school. Men's rugby and intramurals are somewhat popular, but it's not the same as having a Divison I football or basketball team. As for the partying Scranton has mostly off-campus house parties. While majority of them are fun, they can 1) can get old after awhile, 2) be careful because some of the guys (sorry to be sexist, but it's true) were skecthy and skeezy. Being a depressed city, Scranton had very few bars and no nightlife. Yet, many legal upperclassmen seem to enjoy the bars in town.

I apologize for the long post, but that is my prepsective of Scranton. Again I am bias, and most people love it here so don't base your decision just on my review.