Juniata College has a small town big community feel that is comfortable and relaxed. This college is relatively small, but provides large opportunities particularly through stellar academics and a strong push to travel and expand upon the curriculum outside the classroom setting. Faculty, staff, and community members are very approachable and make this campus feel like one big family.
Do you have any tips for prospective students?
Prospective students really need to visit the campus and sit in on classes while students are here to understand if Juniata College is going to be the right fit. The atmosphere of the campus, students, and faculty is one thing unique to this school and is either a hit or miss with many people. The small highly personalized classes and Programs of Emphasis (POE's, comparable to majors) are things that students really need to experience and hear about first hand from students to understand their uniqueness and significance in higher education.
Do you find there’s enough academic rigor at your school?
Juniata's Program of Emphasis approach to Majors makes everything highly individualized and open to manipulation by students if they so choose. The courses here involve the same standard amount of work as courses at other colleges would, but Juniata also offers many less traditional courses (such as classes on Field Research where students travel across the country and do field research in the desert for credit). Each student can decide what he or she can handle and wants to be involved in, whether traditional or not, and course loads are manageable to encourage students to participate in Juniata's many extracurricular activities.
Describe the dorm life at your college.
Juniata College dorms are, well, college dorms. Our dorms are clean and well maintained, but everybody wants more space. The dorms are a little overcrowded this year, forcing some groups to triple in a room meant for two, but a new super eco-conscious dorm building is being constructed to alleviate this over crowding. Dorm goers in different buildings have different levels of social interaction, but overall dorms are easy to travel between and are generally clean. Each student's gold card / ID will swipe them into any dorm building at any time of day or night, which is a luxury. Individual room doors have manual keys, which just means student's can't accidentally shut themselves out of the room!
Describe the food and dining at your college.
Dining services at Juniata College are provided by the food company Sodexo. There is great variation in the buffet-style dining area. The pizza and pasta line, sub line, self-created stir fry, and grill area always offer varied options (including vegan, etc) to accommodate each student's needs. Various food areas around campus offer meal exchange that allows students to grab quick meals between classes without crossing campus and counts them on their meal plan like a normal meal. Dining hours can be inconvenient for some sports teams and depending on how students schedule, but the school is good at leaving doors open for specific teams and events as they learn of schedule conflicts.
What’s there to do for fun at your college?
Outdoorsmen and the environmentally inclined will love the numerous hiking trails, walking/running paths, and cliffs within a ten minute walk of campus. The nearby Juniata river provides an opportunity for many recreational activities. Raystown lake is about 20 minutes away, and Juniata offers free kayak, canoe, and watersport equipment rentals to students and faculty. Monthly bus trips take students to State College (40 minutes away) on weekends for shopping, etc and many students carpool to tailgate or go to football games. There are local caves that offer tours as well. Juniata also provides many on-campus activities such as movies on the grass, concerts, game nights, etc to bring people together on weekends and evenings.
Do you feel you’re getting value for the money you’re spending on college?
Juniata College is small and private, so it is very expensive but holds the potential for great scholarships and huge reductions in cost based on both academics and financial need. The education offered by this institution is well worth the price, and they work to get scholarships, jobs, and internships for any student who expresses interest.
Share any unusual traditions or locations on campus
On the secret unannounced mountain day students on the activity board are called and provided air horns at 5am to wake all the students on campus. Classes, meetings, and jobs are cancelled for the day and the school hosts a huge number of activities on campus for students and faculty to get outdoors and enjoy the good weather. Mountain day is 'always tomorrow' until it actually happens!!!
Which types of students will excel at your college?
Students that want their professors to actually know their names, students that want small classes, students that want to travel or study abroad, and students that want to embrace diversity and get to know the people at their school on a personal level would love Juniata. The college's international and study abroad programs are unmatched in participation and provide great opportunities for students!
Are you involved in any clubs or activities?
Student run organizations are a big deal on campus. A big festival called Lobsterfest introduces them all to students during the first few weeks and students are free to choose what to participate in from sports to comic books to environmental coalitions. The variation is incredible.
Are you involved in any clubs or activities?
There are no frats or sororities on campus... officially at least. The club sports teams sort of take that place, but parties are mostly contained to the upperclassmen dorms of East on Saturday nights and are nondiscriminatory. If someone wants to party, they definitely have the opportunity, but parties at Juniata are also easy to avoid for anyone who doesn't want to be involved.
How would you describe campus safety? Do you feel safe on campus?
There really aren't any security problems on campus, dorms are secure, and theft is rare if not unheard of. Students trust the system enough to leave backpacks and laptops out in public areas unattended without fear. The campus really feels like a family, rather than just different people living close together. That's the thing about a small campus, it has to be that way to work.
Juniata College has a small town big community feel that is comfortable and relaxed. This college is relatively small, but provides large opportunities particularly through stellar academics and a strong push to travel and expand upon the curriculum outside the classroom setting. Faculty, staff, and community members are very approachable and make this campus feel like one big family.
Prospective students really need to visit the campus and sit in on classes while students are here to understand if Juniata College is going to be the right fit. The atmosphere of the campus, students, and faculty is one thing unique to this school and is either a hit or miss with many people. The small highly personalized classes and Programs of Emphasis (POE's, comparable to majors) are things that students really need to experience and hear about first hand from students to understand their uniqueness and significance in higher education.
Juniata's Program of Emphasis approach to Majors makes everything highly individualized and open to manipulation by students if they so choose. The courses here involve the same standard amount of work as courses at other colleges would, but Juniata also offers many less traditional courses (such as classes on Field Research where students travel across the country and do field research in the desert for credit). Each student can decide what he or she can handle and wants to be involved in, whether traditional or not, and course loads are manageable to encourage students to participate in Juniata's many extracurricular activities.
Juniata College dorms are, well, college dorms. Our dorms are clean and well maintained, but everybody wants more space. The dorms are a little overcrowded this year, forcing some groups to triple in a room meant for two, but a new super eco-conscious dorm building is being constructed to alleviate this over crowding. Dorm goers in different buildings have different levels of social interaction, but overall dorms are easy to travel between and are generally clean. Each student's gold card / ID will swipe them into any dorm building at any time of day or night, which is a luxury. Individual room doors have manual keys, which just means student's can't accidentally shut themselves out of the room!
Dining services at Juniata College are provided by the food company Sodexo. There is great variation in the buffet-style dining area. The pizza and pasta line, sub line, self-created stir fry, and grill area always offer varied options (including vegan, etc) to accommodate each student's needs. Various food areas around campus offer meal exchange that allows students to grab quick meals between classes without crossing campus and counts them on their meal plan like a normal meal. Dining hours can be inconvenient for some sports teams and depending on how students schedule, but the school is good at leaving doors open for specific teams and events as they learn of schedule conflicts.
Outdoorsmen and the environmentally inclined will love the numerous hiking trails, walking/running paths, and cliffs within a ten minute walk of campus. The nearby Juniata river provides an opportunity for many recreational activities. Raystown lake is about 20 minutes away, and Juniata offers free kayak, canoe, and watersport equipment rentals to students and faculty. Monthly bus trips take students to State College (40 minutes away) on weekends for shopping, etc and many students carpool to tailgate or go to football games. There are local caves that offer tours as well. Juniata also provides many on-campus activities such as movies on the grass, concerts, game nights, etc to bring people together on weekends and evenings.
Juniata College is small and private, so it is very expensive but holds the potential for great scholarships and huge reductions in cost based on both academics and financial need. The education offered by this institution is well worth the price, and they work to get scholarships, jobs, and internships for any student who expresses interest.
On the secret unannounced mountain day students on the activity board are called and provided air horns at 5am to wake all the students on campus. Classes, meetings, and jobs are cancelled for the day and the school hosts a huge number of activities on campus for students and faculty to get outdoors and enjoy the good weather. Mountain day is 'always tomorrow' until it actually happens!!!
Students that want their professors to actually know their names, students that want small classes, students that want to travel or study abroad, and students that want to embrace diversity and get to know the people at their school on a personal level would love Juniata. The college's international and study abroad programs are unmatched in participation and provide great opportunities for students!
Student run organizations are a big deal on campus. A big festival called Lobsterfest introduces them all to students during the first few weeks and students are free to choose what to participate in from sports to comic books to environmental coalitions. The variation is incredible.
There are no frats or sororities on campus... officially at least. The club sports teams sort of take that place, but parties are mostly contained to the upperclassmen dorms of East on Saturday nights and are nondiscriminatory. If someone wants to party, they definitely have the opportunity, but parties at Juniata are also easy to avoid for anyone who doesn't want to be involved.
There really aren't any security problems on campus, dorms are secure, and theft is rare if not unheard of. Students trust the system enough to leave backpacks and laptops out in public areas unattended without fear. The campus really feels like a family, rather than just different people living close together. That's the thing about a small campus, it has to be that way to work.