Susquehanna - Likes and Dislikes

Colleges and Universities A-Z Susquehanna University
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<p>Sportsman, congrats! The business school is very oriented towards getting kids real world skills resulting in jobs. Kids work hard, in small classes, in a very modern building. There is a wide range of courses–it is an entire separate school, not just a major, as at most schools of similarly small size.
The campus is beautiful, although in the 2 weeks, it will likely still have snow on the ground. Spring Break begins at the end of class Friday March 4 through the following week (there is also a short Easter break), so time your visit accordingly if you can, to get a good feel for the campus. Feel free to call and request a meeting with faculty and a business major.</p>

<p>The sports facilities, varsity through intramurals, are also excellent. Kids and staff are very friendly, but the location is very rural.</p>

<p>Best of luck in making your decision.</p>

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<p>Hi everybody. I hope you don’t mind me entering the conversation. I’m a creative writing freshman at SU and I absolutely love it! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. I’m also in the Honors Program so I can talk about that as well.</p>

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<p>Welcome Buzzing!
Are you able to answer any of the previous questions about size of merit awards; how kids like the elementary and secondary ed, early childhood and business programs; having enough to do on weekends; whether it is a good place for someone who is quiet or artsy; and whether the Hillel program is active?
Sorry to dump so many questions on you, but an actual freshman participant is a huge benefit to parents!</p>

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<p>I’ll answer as many as I can!</p>

<p>Merit Awards: I received a Presidential Scholarship which is worth $18,000 annually, though I’m unsure if that amount fluctuates or not. In addition, the class of 1969 gave me $3,800 for each year, though that came later. My mom called into the financial aid office after I was awarded the $18,000 to ask about addition funding because, although that’s a pretty good amount, it was still going to be difficult for us to swing it. I can’t be sure but I think her calling might have helped me to get the 1969 scholarship. So, be active - let them know if it’s not enough and they may be willing to work with you.</p>

<p>Weekends: I’m not into the party scene, so I mostly hang out with my friends on the weekends - we watch movies, play games, etc. However, the Student Activities Committee (SAC) and other organizations almost always have something going on all week long. For instance, Charlie’s Coffee House screens movies that are out of theaters but not on DVD yet (last night I saw Tangled) and has open mike nights, student performances, magicians, hypnotists, etc. There are also lectures and performances by student groups (choir, band, orchestra, drama department) and by professionals. Selinsgrove is a kind of quiet town, but there are some pretty good restaurants downtown and if you want more variety you can always go to the strip where there are lots of stores and a mall with a movie theater. I’m pretty sure that there’s also a bowling alley and a rollerskating rink. When the weather’s nice, you can go down to the Susquehanna River, which is gorgeous and pretty close by so you could go rafting, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, etc.</p>

<p>Quiet and Artsy: I think it’s a great place for anyone, honestly. There’s not much pressure to be a partier - if you want that, you can find it, but if you don’t it doesn’t come to find you. I read somewhere in this post that SU seems kind of conservative, and I guess in comparison to an art school it is, but everyone’s pretty openminded here. We also have an on campus art gallery in Degenstein (the campus center) that rotates through different art exhibits throughout the year. I know that our art program isn’t as big as the music and creative writing programs, and I don’t have any art majors as close friends, so I can’t comment on that.</p>

<p>Hillel Program: I haven’t participated in any of its programming but I do often see flyers about activities its sponsoring around campus. The program has its own housing on University Ave and a full-time rabbi.</p>

<p>Business school: I don’t have any business student friends, but I do hear that it’s a pretty tough program. The business school perspective class (we all have to take perspectives - it’s a freshman intro to college kind of thing) is far harder than any other perspective class - it’s worth more credits and I know students have to give presentations by the end of it - so you get your feet wet pretty quick. I had a business professor first semester for an honors class and I liked him a lot - though he told us he’s much more easygoing when he’s not teaching business classes - he said they run a really tight ship at the business school. As well, the London Program (a semester study abroad program) is specifically designed for business students.</p>

<p>I don’t know much about the education program, though I think it’s pretty good. Hope this helps!</p>

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<p>Thanks very much! Congratulations–it seems you found a school which fits you very well; your mom (using your accomplishments) negotiated a very good package; and you found a group of like-minded friends quickly–freshman year does not get much better than that!</p>

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<p>Thanks for your info buzzing bee. My student was awarded a Deans Scholarship of $16000 per year. It was very generous, but I was disappointed recently when I received a “preliminary” finl aid package from SU. It did not include an alum award as well, something we were counting on, especially as the total projected cost for SU increased nearly $3000. Should I circle back to the finl aid office and inquire about an alum award? I’ve been a faithful contributor toward SU since my graduation…any thoughts?</p>

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<p>Buzzingbee - that was a very thorough and helpful post. Do you mind a few more questions?</p>

<p>My son is a hs junior interested in SU. He would probably major in Psychology and possibly minor in business. Do you know any Psych students? If so - how has it been for them?</p>

<p>What dorm do you live in? Do you know where you will live next year? We only saw one dorm when we visited - I forget the name but it was very close to the football stadium. How do you find the dorms to be?</p>

<p>Finally - do you have friends who are juniors and seniors? How have they liked SU? Do the seniors have jobs?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your help.</p>

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<p>momuvthree - One reason you might not have been offered an alum award is that according to the website, they don’t select winners until mid-February and they might be behind on that. The extra amount I received was not an alum scholarship, but your student might still get one like I did because they didn’t include that in my preliminary aid package - I didn’t get it until later in the year. I can’t guarantee anything, but I would suggest that you give financial aid a call - explain your situation, stress that you’ve been an active alum - it can’t hurt.</p>

<p>rockvillemom - The question I can answer best is the one about rooming. I live in Reed which is one of four dorms freshmen can live in (the others are Smith, Aikens, and Hassinger - that’s probably the one you visited). I love Reed. It’s not too loud and there’s a good amount of room. Hassinger has the smallest rooms; if you’re in there you’re almost guaranteed to have your bed bunked. Smith is the largest dorm for freshmen and Aikens also houses upperclassmen. I won’t know where I’m rooming next year for a bit. My friends and I are going to try to room in Seibert by applying for GROWTH housing (this is when you get a group of people together based on shared interests) but if that doesn’t work we’ll have to be entered into the lottery. Let me know if you want to anything more specific.</p>

<p>I don’t think I know enough to answer your question about the psychology program. I do know some seniors and juniors and they seem pretty happy here. However, the ones I know are mostly creative writing and English students so they’re focusing on grad school after this, rather than employment. I won’t know who got into what for a bit, but I do know that our creative writing students have a history of getting into the top grad schools.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your info buzzingbee. I may just place the call to the finl aid office.</p>

<p>Can you tell me anything about the business department? Is it challenging? I recently noticed that SU offered an accounting minor. Do you have any insight into this program? Is it as challenging as SU’s accounting major? Do many from the business school participate in the study abroad option? Is the SUCIP program only open to finance majors or can others in the business school participate?</p>

<p>We were hoping to be accepted in the Honor’s Program. When does SU notify those student’s of that decision? Our student’s cum is quite good, at least 1.5 above what is historically accepted from our hs, but no mention of the honors program in our offer. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>Finally, Tell me about the weekends at SU. Do many leave campus and go home? How’s the party scene? I sense the campus has calmed down considerably since my time. Do fraternities still host parties? Do you feel there is school spirit, especially at football games? These are important questions that will weigh in my student’s decision.</p>

<p>There is nothing like a current student’s perspective! Thanks so much for all of your info. Any info you can provide would be helpful–take your time! :)</p>

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<p>I graduated SU in 2005 (six years ago already!) and I still return on a frequent basis (returned last weekend for Alumni Meetings and even made a donation to the school tonight). I am hoping I can answer some of the questions I saw posted earlier:</p>

<p>Question: I am a little concerned that the size is a bit small and am wondering if there is enough to do.
Answer: The size IS small, but that is what makes Susquehanna what it is. You have small classes, professors know you by name, and you end up developing strong friendships with many more people. I feel like I can go through my yearbook and still identify 80% of the people I graduated with.</p>

<p>Question: What types of activities do you do on the weekends? How are inter-mural sports? If you are not from PA - are you comfortable - or do you feel like "everyone’ is from PA? How is dorm life? What have you enjoyed the most and/or disliked the most?
Answer: During my time (2001-2005), there were plenty of things to do on weekends (the coffeehouse, hanging out with friends, intramural sports, watching SU sports play). I played intramural wiffleball, kickball, soccer, and more with some friends. It’s a lot of fun and the Athletics facilities at SU are second to none. I even played rugby on the side a bit. Other activities I did were join Student Government (became Sophomore and Junior Class President - which I could have NEVER foreseen before going off to college) and joined a fraternity. I am from New Jersey, and I feel like it never really mattered where you are from, since you will run into people from PA, NJ, MD, NH, and even internationally. Dorm life is great too…all the buildings are great and you are going to have people around you in the same boat as you. </p>

<p>Question: The study abroad program is impressive and we thought the career services looked very good as well. Is it as good as they say?
Answer: I studied abroad with the university twice, once with the Sigmund Weis School of Business in the Spring of 2004, then again with the Summer Program that summer (it is sadly no longer offered). Studying abroad opened up my eyes to international experiences and led to me pursuing an MBA in Global Business. I still strive to travel more and have been to 27 countries, despite being on 28. Career Services helps out A LOT in the job search for seniors (even for internships too!). The Director of Career Services at SU now is the same one that was there in 2004/2005. She has probably helped thousands of SU graduates find jobs.</p>

<p>Question: Our reservations center around the size of the school primarily - so I’m asking again for feedback - how do you like the size? Particularly for juniors and seniors - does it feel too small by graduation? Do you wish you had gone to a larger university? Or did you like the small size? Do you find that there is enough to do?
Answer: I loved SU for the small size… Everyone graduates together and you get to share that moment with all of your friends. You all made it through together and it’s a culmination of everything you earned. The small size keeps you all close knit.</p>

<p>Question: The only complaint that I heard was that students are not allowed to have microwaves in their dorms.
Answer: That is correct, but the university provides microwaves in all the residence halls!</p>

<p>Question: Can you tell me anything about the business department? Is it challenging? I recently noticed that SU offered an accounting minor. Do you have any insight into this program? Is it as challenging as SU’s accounting major? Do many from the business school participate in the study abroad option? Is the SUCIP program only open to finance majors or can others in the business school participate?
Answer: I studied Marketing and the SWSB is challenging, but that is what makes you excel in the business world. When employers see that you went to an AACSB-accredited school, there is a sense of legitimacy to your degree. I still keep in touch with one of my accounting professors after all these years! I studied abroad with the business school and I can honestly say that I chose SU because of their semester in London.</p>

<p>If anyone has any more questions for an SU grad, please let me know and I will be glad to assist you! I still keep in contact with a lot of the faculty/staff at SU, so I may even be able to connect you to someone who may be able to help!</p>

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<p>Thanks SuGrad2005 for all of the info. Can you comment on the weekend scene at SU? Are there still parties to go to and is there enough to do if the party scene is not your thing? Is the greek system still strong and does it drive the social life on weekends? Thanks!</p>

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<p>SUgrad2005 - that was great! Thanks so much. I personally feel SU is a relatively unknown school that should be on more peoples’ radar.</p>

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<p>The weekend scene is definitely good. Now I am speaking of my own experiences of 2001-2005, things may have changed since then…</p>

<p>There was plenty to do on weekends. Greek Life was fairly strong when I was there (I was in a fraternity, but didn’t spend all my time in the Greek Houses) and there were parties then. You shouldn’t have parties dictate the school though. They may or may not have parties still…as I haven’t ‘partied’ there in a few years and couldn’t give you the first indication about the current social scene.</p>

<p>Despite being in a fraternity, there were still plenty of weekends where SU had movies to see, someone performing in the coffeehouse, or other things to do. Greek Life does not drive social life at Susquehanna. </p>

<p>Susquehanna did not seem like a suitcase school to me at all. In fact, I opened up a lot more as a person at SU. In high school I was fairly shy and reserved… Susquehanna helped me develop a lot personally. I would have never imagined running for Class President in High School (where I was in a class of 150), but ran for (and won) in a class of 500+. </p>

<p>And one of the things that I remember to this day was when I was applying to SU, I wanted to learn more about the business school from Admissions… They brought in the Dean of the Business School to meet with my parents and I to discuss the programs there. It was that extra mile that really drew me in and resulted in my choosing of SU.</p>

<p>If you have any other questions, please feel free to let me know! I can speak (personally) of the following areas: Study Abroad, Student Government, Greek Life, Community Groups, Sigmund Weis School of Business, Graduate Degrees After SU, Out of State Student, Work Study, and more…</p>

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<p>We had a similar visit experience - my son is interested in possibly majoring in Psychology - our tour guide (we had our own private tour guide) was able to bring us to meet the head of the department and my son was able to speak with her for a few minutes. I have done close to 20 college visits/tours between 2 kids and this was the only time we had a private tour guide and the only time we were able to meet with a department head. And I think this is what stood out to me about SU the most - the amount of personal attention. Nothing I have experienced before or since rivals it in that category.</p>

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<p>I agree with you Rockvillemom. Susquehanna does provide that extra attention, and it doesn’t end at the campus tour. I also agree with you in that this is a school that should be on more peoples radar. It’s campus is second to none, and it offers diverse programs that are challenging and rewarding. The one common comment I hear from students who graduate from Susquehanna is how much they loved the school, and how much they grew as individuals. We will continue to keep it on our list!</p>

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<p>Susquehanna is also on my son’s short list. We toured several colleges last spring and we had a personal tour guide at Susquehanna and also at Juniata College. He’s done overnights at the three colleges he likes most and is close to a decision. The schools are all very similar. The only reservation we have about Susquehanna is that during the application process, my son wrote to two different admissions counselors with very specific questions about academic programs, and neither one wrote back. With Juniata, he’s had a running dialog with his admissions counselor via email for months.</p>

<p>In general I think that most small schools give prospective students personal attention simply because they’re small and fewer numbers of kids apply. For example, during my son’s overnight at Juniata he met for an hour with a Business/Finance professor and another hour with the History Department Head. They also arranged for him to have lunch with a viola player (because my son plays viola), and then the Admissions Dean met with him for about 45 minutes. I doubt that this would happen at a larger school simply because there’s not enough time in the day for professors to entertain prospective students.</p>

<p>And not to dispute anyone’s wonderful experience at Susquehanna or anything, but I think that just going to college for four years is a maturing and life-changing experience in and of itself, no matter what college one attends. That’s why we’re trying not to stress out over the details so much, because most kids end up happy wherever they go.</p>

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<p>We had a nice visit in February. The tour guide was a senior and very knowledgeable one of the best we have had so far. There was just one other family in our group so everything was personalized. The music building was bustling and the jazz band sounded great! We felt comfortable there - a great safety school for S2.</p>