T-pini•n: check out York College if living within 4 hours!
Written: Feb 10 '00 (Updated Oct 05 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Solid academics · competitive tuition · good student services · small college appeal
Cons: Higher up administration seem impersonal · low student wages · did not like bookstore prices
The Bottom Line: With competitive tuitions, solid academics and its small college appeal, York College is worth a serious look for those in the region hoping to get the best from their education.
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| tipu's Full Review: York College of Pennsylvania |
During the 3½ years ('96 - '99) I studied and muddied my already questionable reputation at York College of Pennsylvania (YCP), I wasn't too involved with the college social life. I was a mechanical engineering student (I have a departmental review of that program here); after the first year, the ME program moved to its own building away from the main campus, and I spent much of my free time there. Besides core classes at the main campus, I was a math and physics tutor, so was on the main campus for an average of 12-15 hours during a normal week. So I feel the impressions of YCP that filtered through to someone like me are probably some of the main points about the college.
Tuition
While I was there, the college always did pretty well on ratings that considered what the students got compared to the resources available to the college: I think they landed US News & World Report's best buy in the northeast position a couple of times. You can see whether they have done anything like that recently by going to their web site—http://www.ycp.edu/. The reason I ended up choosing York from the contenders while I was looking for a college while in Dubai (yep, I'm an international student) was for its promise to deliver quality for a low price. fransbebe (04/10/00) mentions that the tuition was too high for her without scholarships. I believe many of the students also get some form of financial aid to take the burden off educational bills. The aid package can take the form of direct scholarships, federal loans, work-study offers, etc. Those who want to can easily find part-time jobs at local businesses.
Housing
The college had about 3500 students and counting, with about half of them commuters. I think dorm space was available for approximately half the students. I lived in a mini-dorm for a semester and didn't like it, but that's just me—I wanted a quiet place to study or relax. College housing is also available in the form of small apartments for 4 students or so—the ones I've been in looked decent, and are priced reasonably. I believe the college is adding on more dorm and parking space on campus. Off-campus housing is available 1-3 blocks from campus, but this area isn't exactly Versailles, mainly because of the concentration of students living there. Decent and decently affordable apartments can be found within a 10-15 minute drive.
Academics
YCP is a small liberal arts college. Most core classes will probably have 20-35 students. I may have been lucky here—I had several teachers that made classes I'd felt would be boring (history, English Comp, communication) very interesting. The college hires a lot of associate profs and 'evening'-class profs—in my experience, they were GREAT people. I think the departments with the best reputation are nursing and criminal justice. The nursing program has a lot of equipment (when they added the nursing wing to the engineering building, classmates and I wandered around in there before they officially opened it) as well as access to York Hospital's facilities. I've heard that during the summer, some out-of-state companies looking for security staff ask for YCP crim justice majors. While it's a lib arts college, the math and science departments have some WONDERFUL people. One hopes the college will also be known soon for their… ahm, sterling engineering students.
Educational Support
The library is about what you'd expect for a college of this size; however, you can probably find what you need through the free inter-library loan. You'll probably find the computing services to be adequate; Internet hook-up through the college is available in the dorms. In the Learning Resource Center, you'll find wonderful writing tutors to help you write a report for ANY class, as well as the Math Tutors. You'll have to take at least one math course no matter your major, so if you shake in your booties at the barest hint of math—you'll find these tutors a great help. I was a math tutor—my opinion might be a bit biased. The serious student will find the career service center very helpful too.
Sports & Recreation
Baseball, basketball and wrestling are probably the big sports here, though volleyball and soccer are also well represented. Even to someone who didn't pay too much attention, it seemed like the college didn't mind wasting a lot of money on college sports. During the semester, the gym, fitness center and pool are available for student use for a few hours daily. A movie theater is also available free to students, though they don't exactly screen hot new releases. The college radio station seemed pretty active, and the activities board seemed to be able to draw some popular musicians to the campus.
Eats
I've heard students complaining about cafeteria food; I think it's jut something students feel they have to do—complain about cafeteria food. In my experience, the food is decent; I felt the cafeteria staff did a better job with non-meat based food than meat-based food, which was average. They don't let you walk out with some extra food (but you can be inventive and get away with that), preferring to throw it away, as far as I could tell, which I didn't like. 3 meals served on weekdays, brunch and dinner on weekends. Outside school, besides the usual junk food & pizza establishments, there are some decent and affordable eateries close by.
Surroundings
The college looks decent most of the time, and is pretty darn cute during spring. While the college itself is safe, slightly north of the college you're in questionable territory (McKay Hall—holding the engineers and the nurses (go figure) is in a very decent neighborhood), but that's where the college hangout—Murph's Study Hall—aka, bar is located. Murph’s is your destination about a block north of campus if you’re looking to shoot some pool, get plastered and searching for the perfect one-night stand. There are other locations nearby to satisfy the average thirsty college student. The closest city of note is probably Baltimore, 45-50 minutes away. Personally, I enjoyed visiting the parks available with an hour's ride.
Complaints
While I found most employees glad and willing to help, the higher up in administration you go, the more snobbish, stuck up people you seem to meet. I'm sorry, I don't complain easily, but I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. I think many students were unhappy with the parking situation. I was unhappy with the bookstore—I almost always found cheaper prices online—with shipping included. Almost all the student workers get minimum wage, pretty unfair considering the hard work some of them have to put in, but I guess that’s probably a college tradition everywhere. If you need a job, you can easily find the usual student type of jobs off campus. But if you keep searching, you may be able to find some pretty fulfilling jobs on campus.
To conclude, I think that if you live in northeastern US or in the Mid-Atlantic states, you'll profit by taking at least a look at YCP. If you do come here, I think you'll enjoy your stay as long as you don't need to deal with the upper administration too much. However hard you try, you might actually learn stuff!!
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Epinions.com ID:
tipu
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Member: t-þoo
Location: dunroamin duncarin dunlivin
Reviews written: 49
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