<p>The stereotype I heard was that the school was odminated by kids from Philly Catholic high schools. How true is this? </p>
<p>If you are neither a big drinker nor totally driven by your GPA, is this a good place for you?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Well, my son, wife and I visited St. Joseph's yesterday, and I came away favorably impressed, or at least as favorably impressed as you can be from a college visit. We live in Boston, and my son has been accepted there. Our tour guide was very nice gentleman, a sophomore from Indiana. I asked him about who went to St. Joseph's and how many were out of state. He said that it was purely a guesstimate on his part but that he would guess that 80% or so come from the surrounding tri-state area, but that having said that, he knew of students from CA, Seattle, and Asia. I must say that arriving for the campus tour, we had the warmest welcome that we have had at any campus we visited from a seemingly very nice group of students. For whatever this is worth. I too am looking for as much insight as I can get into this college and the other schools on my son's list.</p>
<p>In my suite over half of us are from out of state, including Cal. Md, RI,
Mass, New York, NJ and Conn.</p>
<p>I am not sure but I heard that stereotype too, and I am not from a catholic school. But when I visited, I thought that the whole college was pretty laid back. If it is true, I don’t think it would be a big deal. I saw a stat that about 50% are from private schools so it is split.</p>
<p>the greatest thing about SJU is the fact that there is soo much to do, even if you don’t drink. Philadelphia is literally a 10 minute train ride from campus.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone</p>
<p>I have a question about this too… I’m not a big drinker or anything but I would like to have the opportunity to “party” or whatever, and I’m wondering if St. Joe’s is considered a big party school in any way? I was accepted there and my final two choices are between SJU and UMASS Amherst.</p>
<p>Most of the kids are from catholic high Schools in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs like Delaware County, PA and South Jersey. Like most colleges, there is a lot of drinking at St. Joe’s. It’s not a big deal if you don’t want to drink but at most parties/gatherings people will be drinking so you will certainly be around drinking. If you don’t want to join in that won’t be a problem though. As far as gpa focus, most of the kids care about grades but are not grade obsessed.</p>
<p>To laxgal: St. Joe’s is not considered a big party school by state school standards but every college has its share of drinking. The college culture is that way. Social activities generally involve drinking. Don’t let that bother you though - drinking is fun. No one is going to force you to drink but college is more fun when you drink and hook up.</p>
<p>To laxgal: Not sure if it’s still true, but I recall UMass Amherst having quite a reputation for being a party school, and referred to as “Zoo-Mass.” A likely reason is that there isn’t much to do in Amherst MA. At SJU, you’d be minutes away from Philadelphia with many more options for things to do besides drinking.</p>
<p>Lehigh is known as a party school for that reason. It’s in the middle of nowhere so there isn’t much to do except drink. It’s also 60 % males so that probably contributes too. </p>
<p>As tricia says, there is probably a lot of drinkin at UMass Amherst. But don’t think small catholic colleges don’t have their share of drinking. You just need to know how to use your head and STAY OFF THE ROADS! Drinking itself isn’t bad as long as you are smart about it.</p>
<p>laxgal:</p>
<p>Our son is looking at SJU and we live right next to the UMass campus. There is a lot to do in Amherst and the surrounding area. There is also a lot of partying that goes on, but that has been curtailed somewhat in the past few years. Our son did not apply to UMass because it is too close to home. We have attended quite a few sports activities. I went to UMass in the early 80’s and it was definitely known as ZooMass then. It has many more options now for those who do not want to drink. Our son is really leaning toward St Joe’s because of the size and he felt it was a friendly campus. He also likes the idea of Philly being so close. His only concern is the distance from home, so he is waffling between St. Joe’s and Providence.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can go wrong with either UMass or St. Joe’s. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Doesn’t PA have some of the strictest underage drinking laws in the US? I know underage drinking happens just about everywhere but somewhere I got the impression that the Minor In Possession laws were tougher and more strictly enforced in PA. Is that accurate? Does it have an impact on the party culture @SJU or no?</p>