Bucknell Physics Major

That they come from wealthy families, went to private schools, drive nice cars and mostly fit into a sorority girl/ frat boy stereotype. Also that most students very smart, and that the engineers work all the time.

The stereoptypes are accurate to an extent, as there are many Bucknell students who did go to private schools, are wealthy, and a large percentage of the campus is involved in greek life. Most Bucknell students are smart, but certainly not all. The engineers do alot of work for certain classes or at certain times of the semester, but I think the amount of time they spend doing work and the idea that they do more work than any other major is exagerrated. As with all stereotypes they certainly don't apply to all of campus, but have some basis in truth.

I think Bucknell is just the riht size - big enough that there is a big variety of classes, people, and point of views to get to experience alot of new things, but small enough that its not uncommon to have classes with 8 people on them. I spend most of my time working at the Weis Center/ for Performance Services and I love my job. Bucknell is somewhat of a college town (since alot of students like to rent houses in town and frequent a few of the restaurants on main street), but you can mostly get anything you need on campus, so it's not really necessary to venture into town much. Though I don't know very much, from what I've heard and see I think the administration spends too much money on things that don't necessarily benefit the students (fancy dinners for alumni and other guests) and to make ends meet tuition is now going up, making us the 3rd most expensive school (tuition wise) in the country. There are also alot of disappearances within the administration (people who either "leave" or are fired) and general turnaround without much explanation (bordering on secrecy) of why.

All of my professors know my name and we call most of them by their first names, which I think creates a great atmosphere for learning as mature adults. My department (Physics) is really great. It's very small, with a graduating class of about 10 majors per year, so classes are very small and we get alot of individual attention from professors. Our labs are also really wonderful - we do alot of very interesting experiments that I don't think other schools do. The professors int he department also know all of the majors and are very willing to help us with anything - from reccomendation letters for internships, help with finding grad schools, to homework help or even supplementary math help. If you need help they are always there and willing to help - even if you're not in their class. I think Bucknells academic requirments are very reasonable and allow you enough freedom to have plenty of electives and explore things outside of your major, but at the same time you don't have to spend alot of time doing general requirments and can really get into the material important to your major right away. Something I also think is great is that we are always taught by real professors. A friend that goes to a bigger school has alot of classes taught by grad student TAs, and I think that if you are paying so much to go to college you should get real professors who are willing and excited to teach students rather than just do research all the time and leave the teaching to TAs.

Students at Bucknell are mostly from upper middle class to upper class backgrounds and almost all fit into the "preppy" stereotype. People dress very fashionably to go to class, and are generally very concerned with their appearance - hence they frequent the gym alot. Most Bucknell students are from New York, PA, and MD. Students don't seem very politically active and I would say while campus is still fairly liberal, for a college campus it is pretty conservative. The LGBT and ethnic roups on campus are pretty active and visible on campus though the student body is not very diverse.

People party alot at Bucknell and fraternities/sororities are very important. A campous group called ACE provides alot of alcohol free events on weekends including comedians, concerts, trips to various cities, carnivals etc. Basketball is the most popular sport here, and theater isn't very popular with students. Not many students leave their doors open, though some do during the first few weeks of school and on freshman halls. Dorms (at least upper class ones) are generally pretty quiet on the weekends as most people are respectful of their neighbors and aren't in their rooms on weekend nights anyway. The dating scene pretty much doesn't exist - people just hook up (alot). I met my closest friends through a friend on my freshman hall and at work.