Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus Top Questions

I would have to say the best thing on campus is the Oak Grove. We have a lot of pride in this grove and a lot of events usually take place here. It's also the place where most of the buildings and classrooms are located. If I could change one thing about IUP, it would be the prices of EVERYTHING. Recently, prices have increased for both pop and snack machines, washers and driers, books, prices for one's meal plan and housing, etc. No one has enjoyed this little hike and believe me, I have heard my share of whining, complaining and general disliking of this. Most people get confused. They think that the college in in Indiana state with a town called Pennsylvania....Really. I don't understand why so many people believe the school is in Indiana state! I spend the better portion of my time in the Oak Grove. Yes, it's a college town. No doubt about that. I would like to say that the adminstration is fair, but.....it just depends on the subject of which you're talking about. Hopefully that makes some sense. I've been aboard this spring term, so I can't call this is "recent". In the 2007 fall term, our mascot and school team name (Mascot was a bear and our school name was the Indians) were changed to a red-tailed hawk. Now, our administration let the students pick a new mascot to replace our old ones. A large portion of the student communinity wanted the school name to be the "Fighting Squirrels". In our Oak Grove, we have a rather large community of squirrels, so everyone's thought was "Yeah...why not squirrels?" Our school quickly tossed that suggestion out the window saying that squirrels wasn't a moral boosting animal a.k.a. it wasn't manly enough. There were more choices than just squirrels, but this was the most popular opinion by far. So, the school decided that we would become the Crimson Hawks. Saying that we have hawks in the Oak Grove to and had a "picture" to prove it. Needless to say, the student community was less than thrilled and was only made worse when this little piece of news got out. Once the new mascot got approved, news sweeped the campus of an online comic website with a female heroine called the "Crimson Hawk". Sadly, said "heroine" got raped in each and every comic and had to fight with a lot less clothing on. Most of the students, including myself, started to rant on and on about how our school had fallen so low as to pick a "whore" for our mascot. "We were better off with the squirrel!!!", we would say. The school tried to get the guy that owned the website to shut it down and preserve what was left of our school pride, but the guy basically said, "No, I was here first. So, suck it up!" Now, we just don't talk about it, it only serves to remind us of what we now have to live with. There's nothing highly unusual about us. My one experience is coming here and meeting some of my best friends. We complain about our cafe's food. We don't get a lot of choices and the food gets repeated a lot throughout the terms, but that college life: You have to deal with world now.

THE BEST THING ABOUT IUP- the diversity is great, the availability of the professors is great and the size of the school is great. Many people may think our school is soooo far away but, my response to that is, its far enough away that you feel like you are somewhere where you can begin a whole new chapter in your life and your in a completely different surrounding. You are still able to get home easily no matter where you live. ONE THING I'D CHANGE- I would love to change the fact that our school is not a smoke-free campus. The amount of smokers on our campus is un-believeable. when youre walking to class, 4 out of the 5 days of class you are behind a smoker. THE REACTION OF PEOPLE- people are very familiar with my school and they are excited to here that i attend IUP! COLLEGE TOWN- IUP is a lovely college town and my father loves coming to visit Indiana. Its much more welcoming than Punxsutawney. Its nice to just walk down Philly street and observe the way of life in this town, as oppose to the city atmosphere that I am used to. SCHOOL PRIDE- the level of school pride is HUGE! Once football season comes the school clothing turns into "crimson hawk" territory! CONTROVERSY- when there is controversy amongst students the faculty tend to be a little lax about it until something major happens. That would be one downfall of the university to me. I have been in some situations that were poorly handled. MEMORIES- homecoming is always very fun!!!! ONE UN-USUAL THING: 90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of students are very academically conscience!

The best thing about IUP is the size, you can walk anywhere and not have to take a bus. Most of the time at IUP I spent in my house with my roomates, or at night on South 7th St, when I turned 21, Phildelphia Street is the best place to go, there are so many people who are just out to have a good time. Not many people participate in the athletics at IUP. I was only at two games. The best experience I had at IUP was joining a sorority. Greek Life is very big at IUP. There are several sororities and everyone finds their perfect one.

Although I respect and admire almost all of the respected professors at IUP, the administration seems to be all about business. The average IUP student graduates in 5 years. However, this statistic is misleading. Considering the classes needed to fulfill the Liberal Arts requirements, the frequency they are offered and the capacity of the class, its a wonder that students are able to complete college in 5 years and not 6 or 7. If IUP is going to call itself a 4 year university, it needs to hire more proffessors to teach the classes it requires.

I think the school is just the right size. It has a good environment

Size wise, IUP is very comfortable. Though there is a large number of students that go to school here, it still has a small quaint feel to it because you seem the same faces EVERYWHERE. An issue of questioning my security here was one that never crossed my mind because of it's small feel but my sophomore year I lived in the new suites that they are building EVERYWHERE. One time I was walking home late night and upon arrival I was told I was not allowed into the building because it was on "lock down" I replied with a "I live here, officer. It is 1 am and I want to go to bed. I have an early class." He still refused and told me that there was a person in the building with a handgun and no one could go in. I called my roommate (who was in the building) to see if she knew what was going on. She had no idea. So much for IUPs dial 911 new security procedure. The one where you had to give them a phone number so they could contact you in case of an emergency. ...Apparently NO ONE in my building receive a message about there being someone in our building with a gun. I was incredibly pissed. I would want to know If there was someone running around the area that I live in with a fucking gun.

IUP was the best place for me. It wasn't too big or too small and everything in the town was very convenient. Te best part was being part of the Marching Band and living in the dorms....that's where you meet your friends. IUP school pride is great too. I do think that is has dwindled though because of the constant change of our mascot. We are and always will be the IUP INDIANS.

One piece of advice I want to give an incoming freshman is that IUP can change you for the worse if you let it. When you get here you have to find your place and if you try too hard to fit in with the crowd that you think is the coolest you could end up being miserable until you graduate. A friend of mine pledged Delta Tau Delta (this frat is known for a lot of bad things on campus)his freshman year and he is a senior now and he still says that it was the biggest mistake he ever made. Pledging somewhere is not for everyone especially at IUP the greeks here are pretty terrible. It doesnt matter where you want to pledge meaning if you want to pledge an historically black organization or one if the others be aware that just because they sounded good online or because you are a legacy doesnt mean that the members here are going to be nice to you. One last hing, this is not high school anymore people, if you were the hottest chick in your hometown of the big bad ass than trust me it wont mean a thing when you get here because at IUP there will be a hundred high school hot chicks and another hundred big bad asses.

The size of IUP is just right. It is located in Indiana, PA, which may be considered a college town, but the permanent residents are great people. If I could change one thing, it would be our mascot, the Crimson Hawk. I think one of the best things about IUP is its beautiful campus.

Personally, I enjoy attending IUP. Personally, I come from a small town where nature and the outdoors are a way of life. Here at IUP, the beauty of nature coexists with the rapid pace of city life. You are able to enjoy the view of trees, and squirrels while having many forms of entertainment including malls, movie theaters, bars, and night clubs all at your disposal. For me, being a sophomore, I feel the one thing I would change, would be to live on campus, rather than commuting my freshman year. Commuting, although convenant for my family, excluded me from many social events throughout the year. However, thankfully to Work Study, I am able to experience IUP at a faculty and student level. Being a student employ enabled me to really feel as if I was part of this striving campus despite the distance of my commute!