<p>Has anyone here ever heard of this school? I'm considering it as a safety...is it a decent university or more like a nice community college? Any thoughts? Anyone else considering it? I was just curious about its reputation.</p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>It's a Jesuit school. I've heard it's good. Read the reviews on Collegereviews.com. (Take them with a grain of salt!) Overall, it's well reviewed.</p>
<p>US News ranks it 9th for Universities that offer Masters Degree in the North. Nearby schools are Ithaca College, Rochester Institute of Technology, St Joseph's in Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>Yeah I'm also considering it for a safety and I'd like to know more about it</p>
<p>It's an excellent school. D just graduated in May. Any specific questions or majors you're interested in?</p>
<p>Do you have any experience with merit aid there (do they give out a good amount, is it reasonably easy to get if you have stats like 1420/2130 SATs ?)</p>
<p>How are the students there? Friendly? </p>
<p>Are there a lot of activities for the students to do on campus or do they go off campus a lot?</p>
<p>How are the dorms and food?</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>I have a friend who's a professor there. He likes it a lot.</p>
<p>We felt merit aid was very good. D had a little over 1/2 tuition merit award with lower SATs than yours (however she was top 10% in rank with solid ECs). </p>
<p>It was the students and the general feeling and spirit of the campus that made her choose Scranton. She did an overnight and was totally convinced.</p>
<p>As far as I know, there are plenty of activities on campus if you choose to participate. Lots of clubs, service opportunities, plays, comedians. Scranton is very close to Montage Mountain and Wachovia Arena which hosts concerts and minor sporting events. Steamtown Mall is within walking distance. Another mall is a short driving distance.</p>
<p>We thought the food was excellent (particularly for college food, but really for any food!) Large selection of all kinds of food, and tasty too! She lived in the dorm all 4 years (had a single for the last 3) and was perfectly content. They are very well kept, light housekeeping is provided and are very secure.</p>
<p>Faculty, for the most part, were excellent - very challenging, but helpful. Academics were strong - you actually had to work. She loved the Jesuits that she had - demanding, but kind and caring. </p>
<p>And - we are not Catholic, but she fit in fine. Absolutely no problem with that.</p>
<p>It's worth a visit for you to see for yourself. We're going back to the October Open House for our son who is considering it. </p>
<p>Any other questions? Just let me know.</p>
<p>"And - we are not Catholic, but she fit in fine. Absolutely no problem with that."</p>
<p>Yeah, jesuits are really good about that kind of stuff, jesuit schools are, in my experience, always super-nice and open</p>
<p>awesome!!</p>
<p>-how about the social life? parties, etc. greek life?
-how were the loans in your fin aid package?
-geographical diversity of students...are they all from PA or northeast or from all around?
- honors college?
- study abroad experiences to share?
- how did D like the size? too small?
- do most students live on campus? is the campus a COMMUNITY? </p>
<p>thanks!!</p>
<p>Buffalo- sorry can't address your questions, but
recently spoke to a 2001 Univ of Scranton graduate who has a job as a Physical Therapist and he was part of the five year program there.</p>
<p>He had a good experience- I think the business program is particularly strong.</p>
<p>Interesting- check out their web site and read about the new 30 million dollar student center due to Open Jan 2007.</p>
<p>" Yeah, jesuits are really good about that kind of stuff, jesuit schools are, in my experience, always super-nice and open"</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info kitty, I'm definitely going to visit soon </p>
<p>some other questions I thought of:</p>
<p>How are the students split politically?
Do the students support the athletic teams or do they not care? (like is there usually a decent showing at football or basketball or whichever games?)
What did your daughter major in, and what is she doing now that she has graduated? Did she find potential employers knew of the school or did she find it hard to get a good job after graduation? In particular I'm interested in majoring in English and/or Psychology
Also, were there any not so great aspects of the school or things she would have changed?</p>
<p>Thanks so much</p>
<p>There is no Greek life at Scranton. I believe there were parties available off campus, but D only chose to go to a couple of them.</p>
<p>I think the usual loans (Stafford) were offered, but we declined them.</p>
<p>The majority of students are from PA, NY, and NJ, but D did have friends from as far west as Oregon and also Nigeria.</p>
<p>They do offer an Honors program as well as their SJLA program which stands for Special Jesuit Liberal Arts. SJLA is offered to approximately the top 50 incoming freshmen and was a phenomenal experience for D. You can investigate these programs further on the Scranton site - <a href="http://www.scranton.edu%5B/url%5D">www.scranton.edu</a> and plug in SJLA in the search box.</p>
<p>Study abroad is available with many different opportunities, but D didn't choose to do that. </p>
<p>I think she felt Scranton was a perfect size for her. There were about 4000 there when she enrolled.</p>
<p>She would say the campus is definitely a community. That was the feeling she got the moment she first set foot on the campus. From stats I've seen, about 50% of the students live on campus. And even though we live only 1 1/2 hours away, she did not come home every weekend. There were always enough people on campus for the weekend.</p>
<p>What major are you considering? Yes, PT is big, sciences are strong, education is popular (she had 2 teachers in HS who were Scranton grads.) and business program is very good.</p>
<p>as far as the loans went, i meant was she loaded down with (if u had accepted them...u were fortunate enough to decline) 20k+ debt upon graduation or only a couple thousand? some numbers would help since i dont know the "standard" loan numbers.</p>
<p>oh, and what do you think qualified her for SJLA program? how did she get into that?</p>
<p>thanks for answering my questions!!</p>
<p>unwritten2 ~ Most people leaned conservative but like anywhere, there were a few die hards on both sides. There are active political groups on campus but if you aren't interested, you can avoid it.</p>
<p>Students definitely support the sports teams. Women's basketball traveled to Massachusetts for the D3 final four the past 2 years and Scranton fans took up more than their fair share of the stands. There is no football team but basketball has been the popular sport to attend.</p>
<p>D majored in Criminal Justice and Philosophy. She has had somewhat of a hard time finding a job but that's probably because she knows what she does NOT what to go into, which limits her options. She has friends from other schools who are also having a hard time finding jobs.</p>
<p>The psych department has many connections to internships and potential employers in the city.</p>
<p>The school needs to be more selective. They are accepting more students than they can handle and housing is an issue for juniors and seniors (they give freshman and sophomores priority because they are required to live on campus). </p>
<p>P.S. (These statements are directly from D - she walked by as I was typing and I asked her to answer since she would know these better than I would!)</p>
<p>GetOuttaBuffalo ~ I really don't remember the loan figures she was offered. She also qualified for some need based aid and had some outside scholarships as well. You can always apply (no app. fee if you visit or apply online) and see what they offer in the way of fin. aid.</p>
<p>She qualified for SJLA because she was one of the top 50 in the incoming class.</p>
<p>The city of Scranton is a run down coal mining town, it can be quite depressing at times, just to tell you there motto is, "Restoring the Pride" they are trying to revive from the coal depression...Also the campus is very small, and little diversity in the student body ( i think i saw one or two black and two asian kids out of about 100 kids), good academics but relatively unknown outside of the area. But please take a tour for yourself...it is a good school overall, if you dont mind the area and dont mind a not so diverse student body there is alot of irish/polish kids on campus and St. Patricks day is very big over there. There high med school/law school acceptance rates is mostly because of the weeding they do to the non serious students.</p>
<p>hmm.. yeah diversity is fine and all but definitely not my main concern so I don't mind that</p>
<p>Scranton.. is it unsafe or just a bit run down? How is the area around the campus? Would most girls feel safe walking alone at like 6PM right near the campus but not on the campus? (sorry, I know I should just visit, but safety is kind of a big issue because I'm paranoid so it's not even worth visiting if the area right near the campus is really unsafe)</p>
<p>The immediate campus is safe.. I really wouldnt worry about that...but the outskirts of the city felt unsafe, and its even more rundown then the central part of the city. The city consists primarily of a mall, a movie theatre and lots of mom and pop shops along with a few hotels. They are also very historic in the Lackawanna train run. Its a big train city (you even hear the trains on campus sometimes, the ones with the whistles). Take a look for yourself, its the only way you will know. I am one who likes to be in a diverse area with a nice and vibrant surrounding city or at least one I can relate to. (hey i was born in manhattan). Scranton is pretty proud of their Jesuit tradition so if you dont mind alot of Jesuit ideology in papers, speakers...etc...then you could like it. Also if your not from the area...it can get VERY cold, i went there in the winter and my car doors froze shut and it was sunny outside. My horn also changed pitch. It was weird lol.</p>
<p>Yeah I go to a Catholic school run by nuns now so it probably can't be much worse lol</p>
<p>Hmm don't really like the cold.. I live in NJ so I'm not looking to go to a much colder environment but if everything else is good and I get good merit aid I guess I could deal</p>
<p>I'll go and look for myself, thanks for the info</p>