<p>I absolutely love my college. I think it is the perfect size. Yes it is a very small school (approximately 1600 students). However, if you are okay with the small town atmosphere, Juniata is has so many opportunities available to the students. Since the school is so small, the class sizes are also small as well. There are no more than 20 students in all my classes. My professors know me personally and I get special help whenever I ask for it. This is a major advantage I think Juniata has. I was walking down the sidewalk one day and professor I only had once from freshmen year said hi to me and even remembered my name. Of course you'll always have that one "off" professor or faculty member, but 97% of all the administration is extremely welcoming, friendly, and would do anything for you!</p>
<p>I find the image of our school varies. For people that do not live in Pennsylvania, a lot of out of state people say "Juniata? Where/what is that??" But then on the other hand, I have also heard of people in Minnesota who never went to our college talk about how great Juniata is! I am from central PA so all my friends know about Juniata. Every time I talk about Juniata they always say, "Oh yea you go to that 'smart' person's school." I just find it funny that we are referred to as a smart school whereas Penn State would not have that description necessarily.</p>
<p>Juniata is mainly known as that science school. Even though science is greatly emphasized here, I believe that the rest of our majors are given just as much attention as well. The classes are small so I can receive individual help if I do not understand what is going on in class. Professors have set office hours, but most of the time, my professors have told me I could drop by any time i wanted to if I needed help.</p>
<p>When I was a freshmen, I was shocked at the amount of in class participation I had to do. In high school, my grades was never dependent on class participation. Now however, 20% of my grade in nearly all my classes depend on my participation. I absolutely hated this at first. But now that I am a sophomore this year, I realized I really enjoy the participation in class. Participating helps my better understand the topics and develop new ideas on what we're talking about. For the people that are scared to participate, don't worry-the students and professors are almost 100% very welcoming of your opinions and views.</p>
<p>I am an IT major and I love my department. I teach the required freshmen course IA. I really like being bale to take what I learn from class and actually apply it to students I teach if I find the opportunity.</p>
<p>Additionally, a lot of professors live a minute off campus. The head of the IT department and IA is Dr. Rhodes. Before my IA job started, he had all the employees over for a barbeque followed by an orientation for the job. How many professors at other schools would invite you over for a barbeque?</p>
<p>Overall, there is so much to talk about academically at Juniata. Every aspect is amazing in its own way!</p>