Which school to go to?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>First to tell you a little about myself. I currently live in Long Island, and am a B to A student(87 GPA). I intend on going into a Business major, and for a future career, I want to learn about small business and entrepreneurship. I have so far received a bunch of my acceptance letters, and am very stuck in my choice on which college to go to. While I mostly want to go to school specifically for education, I also want a good community. And by good community, I'm not interested in getting drunk every night. I just want a school with great academics, and a nice, clean community. </p>

<p>My choices in schools are as following :</p>

<p>Long Island University C.W. Post (Brookville, NY)
King's College (Wilkes-Barre, PE)
Quinnipiac University (Hamdem, CT)
Scranton University (Scranton, PE)
Duquense University (Pittsburgh, PE)
Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY)
University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI)</p>

<p>Those are my choices. I have visited C.W. Post, Scranton, and Quinnipiac, and out of all of them, I liked Quinnipiac the most. I thought Scranton was nice and all, but the vibration of the energy there during the tour was really ugly. Every student I saw had a cigarette in their hand at one point during the tour, and I am by no means a smoker. Granted, the food in the cafeteria at Scranton was incredible. </p>

<p>At Qunnipiac, I really enjoyed the scenery, and the dorms. I love the idea of the first year quads, and I know Quinnipiac offers Entrepreneurship as a major. The school had the vibration of a light party school, it felt like some people were there to party, but a lot of people were there to learn and just have a college experience. It felt like a great vibration and I feel like I want to go there, but I can't really find any personal reviews for the school, so I'm not too sure what it's really like.</p>

<p>C.W. Post looked alright, but all the students looked like they did not even want to be there. I also heard that 90% of them go home on weekends. I hear a lot of bad things about the school in general. I also hear bad things about King's College, simply in terms of having nothing to do. </p>

<p>Of the other colleges, I don't know anything about them. </p>

<p>But basically, I know you probably get annoyed with these questions all the time, but I really want to go to the "right" school. And I know, I know, "everybody wants to get into the right school", but the Studentreviews reviews that I read feel waay too dated and I would like experience from someone... I guess you can say more real and up to date. If anyone is willing to give me any advice in my dilemma of choosing a school, I will very very very much appreciate it.</p>

2

<p>Quinnipiac has a beautiful campus but not much to do - all the students go to New Haven clubs and bars on the weekends, so you’d be able to avoid the party scene if you wanted to. Everyone I know that goes to Quinnipiac likes it although the major complaint is that there’s nothing to do in Hamden.</p>

<p>I’d look at Syracuse, too - it’s one of the best schools on your list. However, Syracuse does get the reputation of “we have nothing to do in the middle of nowhere so we’re just gonna get drunk all the time”. My neighbor transferred out of there because she couldn’t stand being in the middle of nowhere, so that environment isn’t for everyone.</p>

<p>Since you seem to have only negatives about CW Post, I’d eliminate it.</p>

3

<p>*Every student I saw had a cigarette in their hand at one point during the tour, and I am by no means a smoker. Granted, the food in the cafeteria at Scranton was incredible.
*</p>

<p>Do you mean that all of the kids on your TOUR smoked at one time? Or are you saying that every attending student was smoking at one point or another? </p>

<p>As for your choices…is money an issue? If so, that may play into your choice in the end.</p>

<p>Do you have a financial safety? Or can you afford any school that you want?</p>

<p>Are you going to get a chance to visit the other schools?</p>

4

<p>To the OP: your instincts about C.W. Post are correct. Avoid it if at all possible…</p>

5

<p>Is money an issue?</p>

6

<p>*Quinnipiac has a beautiful campus but not much to do - all the students go to New Haven clubs and bars on the weekends, so you’d be able to avoid the party scene if you wanted to. Everyone I know that goes to Quinnipiac likes it although the major complaint is that there’s nothing to do in Hamden.</p>

<p>I’d look at Syracuse, too - it’s one of the best schools on your list. However, Syracuse does get the reputation of “we have nothing to do in the middle of nowhere so we’re just gonna get drunk all the time”. My neighbor transferred out of there because she couldn’t stand being in the middle of nowhere, so that environment isn’t for everyone.</p>

<p>Since you seem to have only negatives about CW Post, I’d eliminate it.*
Thanks a lot, You’re definitely right about C.W. Post, just like the guy a few posts under you. I think I’ll just completely eliminate it from the list. Quinnipiac is definitely looking to be the best so far. It had Entrepreneurship as a major, too, which is a huge plus, and I’m interested in a lot of the Extracurricular activities offered. It looks like that’s the place to go. </p>

<p>*Do you mean that all of the kids on your TOUR smoked at one time? Or are you saying that every attending student was smoking at one point or another? *
Oh, I suppose I said that a little scrappy. None of the kids on the tour as far as I’m concerned were, all of the current students of Scranton were. I wouldn’t normally pick it out, but you could’ve literally seen the gunky air, it was that bad. But I know Scranton has great academics.</p>

<p>As for your choices…is money an issue? If so, that may play into your choice in the end.
Money is not too big of an issue at all. I know I got a huge scholarship to King’s College, but it feels like that’s telling me the school is desperate for people. </p>

<p>Do you have a financial safety? Or can you afford any school that you want?
Money is not too big an issue, </p>

<p>Are you going to get a chance to visit the other schools?
Being that it is January right now, there’s not a chance to visit any other colleges other than the above mentioned, but I wouldn’t mind visiting University of Rhode Island sometime this month.</p>

7

<p>OP wrote: “but the Studentreviews reviews that I read feel waay too dated and I would like experience from someone… I guess you can say more real and up to date”</p>

<p>Any reviews within the past 10 years are likely to be fairly accurate… Universities change v e r r y slOOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLYYYYYY. It takes decades for meaningful change to occur, owing mostly to the tenure employment structure.</p>

<p>Most any review published in the past 10-15 years should be fine.</p>

8

<p>Regarding the University of Scranton - both of my kids go/have gone there. Neither of them smoke and none of their friends from there do either. My D is very anti-smoking and my S has asthma, so a smokey environment would not be good for him. Yes, there are kids who smoke, but there are plenty who do not.</p>

<p>As an accepted student, you will be invited to do an overnight and sit in on some classes. You should take advantage of that to see more of what life is like on campus. There is a great sense of community of campus. I think that is one thing that drew both my kids there. You are right about the food and the academics, lol! Both are excellent.</p>

<p>If you have any questions about Scranton, feel free to ask!</p>

9

<p>Kitty56,</p>

<p>We took a road trip to Scranton on Monday to check out the City. It was a very pleasant surprise. Much more culture there than we expected. Also liked the fact that things are walking distance from the campus (mall, movies, restaurants, etc.). (Driving distance from our home is about 5 hours, but we were in NYC on Sunday night.)</p>

<p>We were the only ones walking around the campus, and it was very cold. The campus was a bit hilly, but pretty. </p>

<p>We will plan a trip when students are there, and D will go to admitted student day.</p>

<p>She is concerned about whether they overemphasize religion (at Scranton). She currently attends a Catholic high school and has some more liberal views than many of her classmates…
She wants to get a better feel for what the student body is like. It was hard to tell with no one there…;)</p>

<p>She is also looking at Quinnipiac, but so far Scranton has offered some Scholarship money, and nothing from Quinnipiac.</p>

<p>D will be majoring in nursing, and we were surprised to see 3 hospitals in such close proximity to each other in a City that size. We would think that would be a positive for the clinicals, particularly in light of the small size of Nursing Dept.
Do you know anything about nursing there?</p>

10

<p>1sokkermom ~ You know, we have become quite fond of the city. The downtown has been revitalized, the mall area is nice. We have walked there from campus several times. On Labor Day weekend, there is an Italian festival where they close off the streets by the courthouse and vendors line the streets with all kinds of yummy foods. My S and his roommate last year would go for walks all over the city (even to the ski area which is about a 10 minute drive from campus), so he likes to show us all the cool spots he has been! This year they have their cars, so they can drive to all their favorite places. As he is living off campus this year, he and his roommates are going back out to the house for New Years’ Eve. </p>

<p>The campus is really very nice. It is very well maintained as are all of the buildings. We were always impressed with the cleanliness of the dorms. As you may have seen, the student center is new, just opening in January of 2008, and one sophomore dorm at the top of the hill is new, having opened in Fall of 2008. They are beginning construction of a new science building (you may have seen that) to be open for fall, 2011.</p>

<p>We definitely feel they do not overemphasize religion. Being a Jesuit school, they welcome and embrace all people (not just students). We are not Catholic or even overly religious and my kids both love the environment. Of course, there are masses available for those who wish to attend, but there is no requirement of any kind. The Jesuit priests who are there are really awesome. It is not unusual to see the President around on campus and he stops to speak with students very frequently. Your D should get a good picture if she does the overnight.</p>

<p>I am not completely familiar with the nursing department, but I’m sure if you contacted someone there, they would be happy to tell you more about the program and answer any questions you may have.</p>

11

<p>*Most any review published in the past 10-15 years should be fine. *</p>

<p>That may be the case, and it may NOT be the case. This is why. In the past several years, many colleges have been using Enrollment Consultants and hiring “Enrollment Managers” to increase ranking, to increase diversity, to increase applications from top students in and out of state, and to increase enrollment of top students in and out of state. </p>

<p>By doing so, some campuses have changed their “make up” and culture within the last 10 years. Some schools are now getting more OOS students or more high stats students. All of those things “change” a school.</p>