<p>I've gotten great advice from my fellow CCer's in the past - I hope you can help again!</p>
<p>Does anybody have any information on Widener University? The campus is beautiful, the surrounding town so-so, but here's the weird part. We visited at 3:00pm on a Friday and the place was deserted. I have a feeling many students go home on weekends. When I asked the tour guide - he said that most students stay on campus. I don't believe him. My son is very interested in this school because of the Business School. He has a 3.0GPA and, according to his SAT tutors, he should score between a 550-600 on CR and math. I'm a true believer in ones gut instinct, and my gut is telling me there is something wrong with a campus being deserted at 3:00. We went into many buildings and didn't see many people.</p>
<p>Also, do you have any information on West Chester University, York College, Kutztown University and Towson University and Hofstra University. West Chester was his favorite, but seems to be mostly nursing and education majors.</p>
<p>Also, any ideas for schools in this range would be greatly appreciated. He has a processing LD, but advocates for himself, so I know he would do the same in college. He would like to major in business, marketing or advertising. </p>
<p>I'm not really familiar with Widener University, but West Chester and Kutztown are nice schools. You're right about West Chester having a lot of students majoring in education. Kutztown is more know for their art program. I would look into some schools in the Philadelphia area, like Drexel and Temple. I'm pretty sure they have good business programs.</p>
<p>38% of students are out-of-state (a high number), so I would think they'd have kids staying around on the weekend. I've done a lot of Friday tours and yes, campuses do look deserted.</p>
<p>Widener is in a terrible area. I would not recommend it (I am from the area). The kids from out of state are mainly from Delaware, which is 2 minutes away. It is largely a commuter school. West Chester is a much nicer school, although you are correct that there are a lot of education majors. Look at Temple, too.</p>
<p>I think 3 PM on a Friday is a dead time on most campuses. At least in and around the classroom buildings. And who's going to be in the library at this time? I know after their freshman year, both of my kids did everything they could to have no classes at all on Friday. This is a common "goal" for college kids. Friday afternoon classes would be the worst of all...interfering with the weekend. </p>
<p>38% isn't a high number for out of state for a private school. I'm sure Delaware is well represented...NJ too. Remember NJ is 15 minutes away and lots of NJ kids go oos (I live in SJ).
I have to agree with momofwildchild. My brother back in the day went there, transferred out to TCNJ which was far better. I know a # of kids of friends who've transferred. The surrounding area isn't so-so---- it's awful. I can't imagine spending 4 years in Chester, PA when there are so many good alternatives. From the kids I've known who've gone there, a large number go home for the weekend.</p>
<p>For less money, West Chester provides a much better quality of life. What about a Penn State satellite, like Abington, then UPark for last 2 years? Temple has a better reputation, too for less $. If you're from NJ what about Rowan?</p>
<p>The Widener website says that most students come from the Philadephia area, which would incude NJ. I would suspect that many of the 38% are from NJ and Delaware and an easy drive home.</p>
<p>You are absolutely right... ALWAYS go with your gut instinct. I would highly encourage you to look into Drexel. Drexel used to be a commuter school many years ago, but now almost everyone lives on campus. I remember visiting Drexel and couldn't believe all the activities and stuff people were doing outside, and loved the feel.</p>
<p>The Business school is top notch and continuously rises in the rankings, and its most notable for its co-op program, which means you have a real six-month paid job between academic semesters. Campus life and activities, especially in the business school is huge. Drexel is located in University City in the heart of Philly and there's always something to do. Best of all its application is free. Let me know if you have any questions on the drexel message board.</p>
<p>A family friend at UPENN once was in a medical lecture for lumbar extremity problems. The Instructor entered the class, talked for a bit and told the class he went to West Chester... Students in the class sort of chuckled a bit... Two weeks later in the class students were already asking him for recommendations for a fellowship and applauded him for his in depth lectures and demonstrations. Four years later, the same instructor from that class was my specialist for my sheurmans kyphosis(back problem) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I would say it is not a great school, but a decent school... but like any place, brilliant minds can be found anywhere you look.</p>
<p>We visited Widener (passing through) on a Sunday around noon. For the first kid, I wanted to visit or drive through every college possible.</p>
<p>We saw 1 student in the student union, and none on the sidewalks. Of course, we couldn't tell if it was so quiet because they had so much fun on Saturday night, or if the quiet was representative of the school. In either event, my kid decided that what was comfortable at age 18 would be stifling to him at age 22 so he ultimately chose a bigger school.</p>
<p>We used to always stay at the Days Inn in Chester, PA for a week at a time, several times a year, in order to get to the hotel from the freeway, you have to drive through Widener's Campus...Widener always had this eerie feel of quietness and desertedness every time we would drive through it to our hotel...the campus was pretty, but maybe it is a quiet place or since it doesn't have many students it seems to be dead?</p>
<p>We are going to York College next week. also doing the search with my daughter. What did you think? I am concerned about the surrounding area. We went there with my older daughter who just graduated from Iona and i seem to remember a not so great area surrounding the school. Your impressions of the college and...?</p>
<p>One of my very good friends is attending York this year. While she was really impressed with it during her tour there last year and loves its athletic facilities, she is mostly miserable this year. Apparently the social life is lacking if you do not drink. She was disappointed to find out that York does not provide as many social activities as she was expecting before she enrolled, and that the food is really terrible. I know her to be very, very outgoing so it was shocking to me that she is having trouble making friends and fitting in.
I wouldn't disregard York completely, because maybe I'm only getting half of the story. Still, York may require a little bit more investigation.</p>
<p>One of my best friends is at Towson this year, and she absolutely loves it. She lives in the Baltimore area but rarely goes home because there is a lot of things to do on campus during the weekends.</p>
<p>I live in York and there are a lot of drinking busts in the paper and most people that do dual enrollment with York College say that the classes there are easier than high school classes. Also personally I do not like the York area because it is really boring here.</p>