<p>Does anyone attend, have a son or daughter who attends/attended, or know anyone who attended? I would love some opinions.</p>
<p>Isn't it listed on the "40 Colleges that changes lives" list?</p>
<p>I'd never heard of it, until January....while visiting in the D.C. area, we ate breakfast one morning next to the entire women's basketball team! (they were on their way to a game!!) haha, for what it's worth, they were all very polite, and much more awake than I was at that time of the morning!!!</p>
<p>As the coach was sitting almost in my lap in the crowded restaurant, I did overhear her conversation with an assistant, and the driver of the bus....she was talking about all the reasons why many people choose Juniata over Penn State (I assume they're both relatively close together??) </p>
<p>Check out the "40 Colleges" list/info....and good luck getting some "real" info!!</p>
<p>That makes sense. I believe that they play against Catholic University and Goucher. </p>
<p>Yes, they are a CTCL school. They only have 1400 students. They are fairly close to Penn State (might be 40 minutes apart), and they offer a shuttle to Penn State on weekends.</p>
<p>Juniata is a lovely small school that yes, is one of the "Colleges that Change Lives." We looked at it for my son and they even offered him significant merit money without receiving his app. (He decided he wanted a school with a full engineering program, and Juniata only offered 3-2 engineering, so he never applied.)</p>
<p>We thought the school was very personal and supportive. Diversity is lacking though. Nice campus if you are OK with it not being urban or near much else. The school has an additional ecology-based campus on a lake that is used for certain semester-long programs. No frats (a plus as far as my son was concerned.)</p>
<p>I would consider Juniata a "hidden gem" for the right kid, as well as a school that is generous with merit money. (I think having to compete with Penn State makes the school very proactive with that aspect.)</p>
<p>i am a fan. my best childhood friend attended, the girl down the street attended, my father has spent quite a bit of time there working on science programs for high schoolers and i have spent a decent amount of time on campus for various high school activities. my first-hand experience is therefore somewhat limited, but i do have a good feel for the school.</p>
<p>first, its a lac that is affordable for a lot of people. good high school students (3.5+, 1200+) typically qualify for $15,000 per year in merit aid, which brings the total cost of attendance down to a maximum of less than $24,000. even students with lower stats and no demonstrated need usually attend for less than $30,000 per year.</p>
<p>the real strength of the school is in the sciences, particularly biology and chemistry. the campus is home to a great new science building and science graduate/medical school placement has historically been very strong relative to incoming student quality. my friend went through the accounting program, which he felt was good, and had a solid job upon graduation.</p>
<p>in terms of location, juniata is situated in a town of under 10,000 (huntingdon) and isnt particularly close to anything more exciting. civilization is a good 40 minutes away in state college (home of penn state) or altoona. unfortunately, being a somewhat regional school, most students hail from a two or three hour radius of campus, which leaves the school lacking in most forms of diversity.</p>
<p>regardless, a definite 'thumbs up' for a good, but perhaps not great, student who wants a rural atmosphere... especially if he is thinking about majoring in the sciences.</p>
<p>They prepare students well for medical school and have stellar med school acceptance rates.</p>
<p>A good friend of D's had Juniata in the final two last year, but chose Fordham since he wanted to sail - he highly recommended it, so we are visiting during the summer. You might want to visit the web site since I believe they just posted some open house dates. It is well known for its very high med school placement rate, and its POE (program of emphasis) approach, which we are drawn to since I want my D to go in with a plan B if she is pre-med and it doesn't work out...they have a lot of pre-professional arrangements with graduate health programs.</p>
<p>My girls attended camp near Juniata. Older D, now in college, described the area (not the college itself) as rural/remote, conservative and very White - - in short, not a place where she'd want to spend 4 years. </p>
<p>As for the college itself, she didn't find the description in CTCL very appealing (I believe Juniata was described as recruiting and having a large percentage of students from rural PA). I also think it was just farther from home than she wanted to be. Again, just not her cup of tea.</p>
<p>We did visit the campus recently. My son really liked the school. He liked the way it was presented as having certain traditions. For example, he was told that an email is sent about a week before tickets go on sale for a Christmas dinner. The professors cook and serve the meal to the students and there is a lot Christmas Carolling. There is also some contest to get "five golden rings" involved. Apparently everyone wants a certain table for this event so students group together with their friends and set up tents and camp outside for a week (one person needs to be there at all times). Attendance is taken and if nobody is present that group must move to the end of the line, or they must perform, or do something silly. Participating in this is all voluntary.</p>
<p>Programs of emphasis sounded interesting. We all liked the idea. One can design their own program of emphasis (major), or use a template of a typical program. There are still madatory classes in each catagory (ie: humanities, natural sciences), but it eliminates core classses and creates more flexibility to design a program around one's interests with the help of an advisor. </p>
<p>Food- We ate in the dining hall and the food was very good. I found that they had typical college food, but also had some healthy food options. I ate some pasta with cooked vegtables which were prepared for me (this was typical, it had nothing to do with a special prospie tour etc.). They offered pita with various dips (ie: hummus), fresh salad bar and fresh fruit, and 3 types of soup. The regular fare was grilled cheese, and I noticed someone eating peanut butter on a bagel. Pizza and fries were available. They served a beef dish option which did not look appealing to me, or to a couple of students who I noticed passing this station. Sweets included ice cream, cookies, and cake.</p>
<p>The dorm we were taken to is available for sophomores and upperclassmen. It was old, but spacious. The drawers and closets were built in, allowing for more room. I was told that one could have a fridge, microwave, and even a George Forman grill. No candles are allowed. There is a substance free dorm. Most students live on campus for 4 years, but I believe one must live on campus for 3 years. Housing is guaranteed for all four years. </p>
<p>General campus layout- Buildings are in a square with a green lawn in the center ("the quad").</p>
<p>Sports complex-they had a workout room with the usual equipment. Community members may use it and we saw a few of them there. They have raquetball/handball courts, dance studio, olympic sized pool, and a large gym for basketball games. They have an indoor and outdoor track. There is a football stadium, but we did not go to see it.</p>
<p>Town- We found the area to be very lacking. There are perhaps a handful of restaurants in town if one wants to escape on campus dining. There is an older movie house that runs current movies. I was told that the school is in the poorest county in PA. Many programs are brought on campus to keep students on the campus on weekends. There is also a shuttle provided on weekends to Penn State. We could not find a mall in the area, but a Walmart opened up recently and the school offers a shuttle to Walmart as well. There is an Amtrak station one mile from the school.</p>
<p>The school is quite small with 1400 students. My H and I both got the feeling of it looking a bit like a junior college, and a bit like a middle school or high school inside one of the buildings. Class sizes are genrally small. I was told that the largest ones top out at about 40 students.</p>
<p>We would love to hear from other posters who attend, attended, or know someone who goes to this school.
Thanks to all for responding!</p>
<p>Thanks for the great post. D just got accepted with generous merit and wants to take a drive out there. I can't imagine her in such a remote location but will show her your comments. Did you tour the art facilities? She is attracted to the school because of the museum studies program. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>applicantmum, no we did not tour the art facilities. We really did not have the time. If your daughter wants easy access to a mall, and more than a handful of restaurants, modern movie theatre don't bother. If a small campus full of traditions, the POEs, high graduation rates, and a cohesive student body are a priority over off campus life, then this college is worth considering. If you have basic questions you can ask here or in a PM. I sent a PM to you a few days ago about Juniata as well (knew you were interested). I might not have access to a computer until Monday.</p>
<p>The only Juniata alum I know, won a Nobel Prize as an adult. He went to MIT for grad school.</p>
<p>My son has been accepted to Juniata College with very generous merit aid. He is also being "recruited" for a sport. We have visited the campus 3 times and found it to be a lovely small school. Everyone that we have met at Juniata has been very friendly and enthusiastic about the school. I completely agree with northeast mom that the town around campus leaves something to be desired. However, my son could care less about that. One of the things we really like about the school is that every student has 2 advisors, so you cannot get lost in the shuffle. Also, Juniata is very big on internships. DS is going to have a very hard decision because he received a "likely leter" to his dream school. He will have to decide if he wants to continue playing his sport and be part of a college athletic team or go to a much larger school and stop playing his sport.</p>
<p>It is listed in the forty colleges book by Pope. Our neighbor attended Juniata and had a very good experience. She majored in geology. The department trumpets a one hundred percent rate of employment or graduate school acceptance at graduation. Nothing I know would dispute this.</p>
<p>I got pointed here by someone -- I'm a current Juniata student, and if you have any specific questions feel free to ask me/PM me :)</p>
<p>Re: Museum studies -- We have a really nice on-campus museum, and a friend of mine is doing a dual-degree at Lille, France on her abroad year (so she'll end up with both a Lille degree and a Juniata degree when she graduates).</p>
<p>If your kid doesn't fit into the standard science-majoring, sports playing, white christian mold, they may have a hard time. There are some different cliques, but most of those hover around the small group of humanities/social sciences majors, most of whom go abroad with our pretty awesome study abroad program (the highlights I think are the three schools in Germany, the Czech Republic, and the Gambia internship program).</p>
<p>The PoliSci and History departments have a good history of students getting Fulbrights on a fairly regular basis.</p>
<p>PS: Do not be fooled by the food on tours ;)</p>
<p>I attended JC many, many years ago and specifically chose it for lack of fraternities etc. and small, more intimate campus. There definitely was individualized attention since the student body was smaller and this even ocurred in non-major classes. When I attended, the seniors in my major were invited to our professors houses for dinners, sledding etc. I totally felt safe on campus. While there (this was decades ago) I was happy to attend and participate in movies, dances, coffeehouses etc. on campus, intramurals, clubs, and just hanging with friends. </p>
<p>Though the campus was small my friends and acquaintances included international students from asian and european countries. Also I got to know students from rural towns in PA and larger cities from PA and nearby states. </p>
<p>I remember going to State College only one time and didn't really miss not being able to go away from the campus. However, I was a geology major and participated in several field trips far from town every year. </p>
<p>Sounds like many of the campus traditions are still going strong and the Madrigal dinner was great fun as was Mountain Day and Rafting down the Juniata River on rafts that we built ourselves. Those types of events provided great ways to bond with new and old friends and gave me many great memories.</p>
<p>My only regret from those days is that I wasn't exposed to ceramics until my senior year when I found I really enjoyed it. Perhaps they provide many more art classes for underclassmen nowdays. Back then, you couldn't get into Jack Troy's ceramics class without being a senior.</p>
I’m looking for current information/thoughts about Juaniata College. My daughter is interested in Geology and we first came across this college in CTCL. Thank you
Please post a new question/series of questions about the school. Use old threads only for research. Posters tend to answer the original poster who is long gone and not you. And Your new post can target what things you really want to find out.