KayciN

Quality education

Juniata is mainly known as that science school. Even though science is greatly emphasized here, I believe that the rest of our majors are given just as much attention as well. The classes are small so I can receive individual help if I do not understand what is going on in class. Professors have set office hours, but most of the time, my professors have told me I could drop by any time i wanted to if I needed help.

When I was a freshmen, I was shocked at the amount of in class participation I had to do. In high school, my grades was never dependent on class participation. Now however, 20% of my grade in nearly all my classes depend on my participation. I absolutely hated this at first. But now that I am a sophomore this year, I realized I really enjoy the participation in class. Participating helps my better understand the topics and develop new ideas on what we're talking about. For the people that are scared to participate, don't worry-the students and professors are almost 100% very welcoming of your opinions and views.

I am an IT major and I love my department. I teach the required freshmen course IA. I really like being bale to take what I learn from class and actually apply it to students I teach if I find the opportunity.

Additionally, a lot of professors live a minute off campus. The head of the IT department and IA is Dr. Rhodes. Before my IA job started, he had all the employees over for a barbeque followed by an orientation for the job. How many professors at other schools would invite you over for a barbeque?

Overall, there is so much to talk about academically at Juniata. Every aspect is amazing in its own way!

I would not choose anywhere else

I absolutely love my college. I think it is the perfect size. Yes it is a very small school (approximately 1600 students). However, if you are okay with the small town atmosphere, Juniata is has so many opportunities available to the students. Since the school is so small, the class sizes are also small as well. There are no more than 20 students in all my classes. My professors know me personally and I get special help whenever I ask for it. This is a major advantage I think Juniata has. I was walking down the sidewalk one day and professor I only had once from freshmen year said hi to me and even remembered my name. Of course you'll always have that one "off" professor or faculty member, but 97% of all the administration is extremely welcoming, friendly, and would do anything for you!

I find the image of our school varies. For people that do not live in Pennsylvania, a lot of out of state people say "Juniata? Where/what is that??" But then on the other hand, I have also heard of people in Minnesota who never went to our college talk about how great Juniata is! I am from central PA so all my friends know about Juniata. Everytime I talk about Juniata they always say, "Oh yea you go to that 'smart' person's school." I just find it funny that we are referred to as a smart school whereas Penn State would not have that description necessarily.

Overall, Baker food is always questionable, the small classes are fantastic, Women's field hockey, basketball, and volleyball are the sports you should go to, and east is the place for your average Saturday night parties. And that's all you need to know about Juniata.

Somewhat diverse

To be honest, the diversity at the school is not the most...diverse. However, there are many clubs for different groups on campus. This way, people of different backgrounds, cultures and ethnicity can interact with one another and meet others from different backgrounds as well.

In regards to the LGBT community, the main group for that on campus is AWOL (all ways of loving). There are numerous events held for the community to discuss LGBT issues on campus or in general. For example, I actually just went to a discussion called "Straight Talk" where people of gay, bi, straight, and transgendered personification talk about their experience at Juniata.

Juniata is located in Huntingdon, Pa. In case you did not know, Huntingdon is a very small community with a Walmart, a bowling ally, and a movie theater. Students who come from very large cities feel out of place in a small town environment. Although it is somewhat of a culture shock, I have known different students from New York City and Los Angles that have adjusted to the environment. The students here are very welcoming and nice and would help anyone out with anything if they needed it.

Students of all financial backgrounds go here. Personally, I receive scholarships which help with my tuition significantly. Without them, I would not be able to attend here. However there are other students that do not receive financial aid and their families are able to pay the full amount of a private institution anyways. Overall, there is a mix of financial backgrounds.

A decent mix of everything

The most popular athletic events to go to would be women's volleyball and basketball. They both go very far in their conference and there are always tons of fans at the games! As for football, well, there is always room for improvement in the future! Obviously Juniata is not nationally known for all of our sports. However for the sports we are good at, we do fairly well. We have men's and women's soccer and basketball. Then there is a swimming team, track and field, cross country, field hockey, and football. There is also a club dance team of sorts students can join as well. If you are looking for a big ten Division I school in sports then you're coming to the wrong place. But I would not talk down about a majority of our sports team whatsoever. For a division III school, a lot of our athletes are serious about what they do.

The bar or a east party

As for the social scene, there is honestly not many places to go party or hangout around Huntingdon. If you're looking for a social scene, for students over 21, there are multiple bars that a majority of the older students go to on the weekends. For younger students, just hanging out with your friends on the weekends in their rooms is always fun and a good way to meet new people. Also, there are always the "east parties." This consists of loud music and a lot of dancing (usually).