Saint Joseph’s University

If you want to live in Philly or NJ afterwards, St. Joes is a good place to go to school. The school has deep alumni connections in the Philadelphia regional area. But If you want to live or work somewhere else in the country, I would not go here. It is very much a «local» school. St. Joes provides a good education, but it is not a diverse school by any means. Many of the students are the same — white, conservative, catholic, preppy, many of whom come from local Philly Catholic high schools. Not a diverse bunch. It is not the traditional college experience in that regard — you are not exposed to different viewpoints or ethnicities. And I found that is the way many students who go there would prefer it. The social life is very limited unless you are greek. You really need a car. Temple, Drexel, Penn are more fun and diverse, with more to do and see. St. Joes is somewhat isolated by its location. Food and pub choices are limited as well. All in all, if you can get into Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, UPenn, Drexel, they are better choices.

Cons:
–permit-​only parking lots and very little street parking (what PLS student wants to pay $ 150+ for a parking pass when they’re only in class twice a week?)
–the constant construction at the new Maguire campus
–aloof and sporadic escort service from SJU Public Safety (it shouldn’t take an hour to get an escort from this building to the train station, especially late at night when they’re only running once an hour).
Pros:
–Finnesey Field for athletics watching
–great academic support (funnily enough, half my profs have graduated from ‘Nova but always come back to SJU)
–renovated school buildings
Having been to a handful of post-​secondary institutions, I’m so glad that I finally landed at SJU. I’m always proud to cheer — The Hawk Will Never Die!

Go Hawks!

I could try and be all critical and pick out specific things that I liked and disliked, and which dorms sucked and which were awesome, and which classes I liked and which ones I avoided like the plague, and which girls I screwed and which girls just screwed me over, but, you know what? It doesn’t matter. When it comes down to it, I am always proud to scream:
Go Hawks!