Student Profile
Anonymous
- Class: Junior
- Major: Journalism
- Gender: F
- High School: Jefferson-Morgan Junior-Senior High School
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
IUP is the perfect size. It's just large enough to enable shy people to blend into the woodwork if thatÕs what they really want to doÉand just small and personable enough to encourage those same shy people to step up and become involved. There are a lot of negative feelings toward IUP President Tony Atwater. Recently, he has considered doing away with departmental graduation ceremonies and combining them all in a huge ceremony to take place in the stadiumÉa huge ceremony that would include all graduates, taking approximately 4 Ð 6 hours. There isnÕt a lot of school pride at IUP. Students donÕt often frequent sporting events unless they have friends on the teams. But a lot of people had a lot of opinions about the recent adaptation of IUPÕs new mascot, the Crimson Hawk. Many IUP students and faculty members experience problems locating and financing parking spaces throughout the semester because of the inadequacy of parking lots and facilities and the high costs of permits. That is the most common complaint.
Academic Life
Once I got into my major classes, the class sizes decreased and all of my professors learned my name. They say hi if they see you walking down the hall. My favorite classes are the public relation ones within the journalism major; they have helped me begin to perfect my writing skills, which is important in the field I want to get into after I graduate. And the teacher is phenomenal. The journalism department is small, and everyone knows each other. The most unique class I've taken was College Writing...made interesting by the teacher. She was very untraditional and believed in a "learning contract" rather than grades.
Student Body
Above all else, most IUP students come to class dressed in sweats, and even pajamas. ItÕs easy to pick out the freshmen, who can be caught wearing miniskirts and high heels to their 8:30 a.m. classes. A lot of students are from Western Pennsylvania, but there are also a lot of people from the Philadelphia area. Surprisingly, many of my friends are from out of state: New Jersey, Maryland and Washington. I would say that most students come from lower, working and middle class families. It would be rare to run into a wealthy student, most wealthy people would choose to get their education at a school other than one of the cheapest state schools in Pa. People do talk about how much they will earn, but this has developed in conjunction with growing up. Freshmen year, we weren't really concerned about that. But now that graduation is within sight for me and many of my friends, our thoughts have turned to the future and possible incomes we may be facing.
The Best Things
The Oak Grove
The Worst Things
parking
