The Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Date: Aug 04 2010
Major: Criminal (This Major's Salary over time)
I love IUP. That being said, I probably love it because of the people here rather than the institution itself. When searching for my perfect college, IUP seemed to fit my ideal exactly; medium sized (14,000 students), Division II athletic program, an engaging Honors College, and a solid criminology department.

What I found at IUP differed from my expectations although not immediately. The classes were challenging in the Robert E. Cook Honors College, but not so much for the rest of the university. I chalked it up to intro classes that were just there to weed out the kids that didn't want to be in college anyway.

The Honors classes are great and are based on Socratic method teaching for humanities. Basically the students sit in a circle and talk about the previous night's readings and nightly journals. The program is writing based so you will never see tests or dreaded scantrons but you have to be prepared for a lot of writing - a major difference from the rest of classes on campus. These honors classes are limited to 20 students each (100 total for each incoming class) and everyone knows each other because they live in the same building for their first year. It is a very welcoming atmosphere that encourages critical thinking and academic thought.

The rest of the classes varied in academic challenges; I love my department and the professors are interested in who I am as a person and what I want to do after undergrad. Other classes, I have had good and bad professors. Thankfully, I have only had 2 classes stick out as ones that I would not repeat.

What disappointed me the most about campus was the overall apathetic mood from the students. Involvement, especially political involvement, is difficult to come by. For those that are especially active this may come as a shock and should be a consideration when looking at schools. The administration can also be difficult to work with when there are political ideals being expressed (speakers/voter registration etc). The administration is changing right now, and that problem may change.

Extracurriculars, however, are extensive and there are clubs for any and every person. If there is not one that you want, it is very simple and easy to create one. I love IUP's Alternative Spring Break - you go on a week long trip to do various service projects throughout the nation.

Indiana, the town, is small. We are in a rural area but only an hour from Pittsburgh. The town is not the most exciting place but combined with campus there is always something to do whether it is a concert, pick-up frisbee games, hiking (we have an outdoor co-op area), watch movies. If you complain about not having anything to do, it is your own fault.