Immaculata, PA
Immaculata University

There are so many things that I love about Immaculata, and I think that more people should know what makes Immaculata so amazing. When talking about how the school looks, there is no place on campus that does not have a beautiful view. Immaculata is one of the most beautiful campuses that I have visited and I am so glad I decided to attend Immaculata. The University focuses on the academic successes of students and put academics before sports. As a student-athlete, I appreciate how Immaculata puts great emphasis on the grades of their athletes and has study halls for them in case they are struggling in any of their classes. Tutors are also available for anyone at the University which is very helpful to many of the student-athletes as well as the music majors. Another thing I appreciate about Immaculata is that they allow their students to be open to new experiences. Individuals who are into music and sports are able to do both easily. The atmosphere at Immaculata is much like a family. Everyone cares about each other's well-being, making the campus a safe place. There have been no instances where I have felt unsafe on campus, and I appreciate the family atmosphere. Immaculata also has many traditions, which are some of my favorite events on campus. The one tradition that I love the most is Carol Night, where students and members of the community gather in the rotunda around the beautifully decorated Christmas tree and sing Christmas carols all night. This experience is one that you do not want to miss because it is so beautiful. Another tradition is the planting of the ivy. One of the first things the freshmen do on campus is plant their class ivy by the Grotto. This tradition is fun because you get to see the growth of the University from when it was founded in 1920. These traditions are very important to the University and impact the students in many ways. These are just some of the things that I love about Immaculata.

I have visited Immaculata University for a campus tour. It was a very nice experience, I liked how they had provided us with breakfast before we had our campus tour. The environment felt very safe, calm, and relaxing. The whole staff was very friendly and welcoming. When my family and I were eating our breakfast, which the food was also very great, a couple of counselors asked us if we had a safe drive, from our way to visiting the school. My family and I thought it was a very nice gesture of them. To me it showed that they are caring and kind. They weren't the only ones who asked us if we had a safe trip, another professor had also asked us where we were coming from and what school I attended. She also asked if we were able to find the school and that she hoped to see me over the fall. Overall, I thought the school was very welcoming and friendly.

Love the school psych program! Great professors. The cohort is small and allows for companionship and problem solving with classmates. Professors have varied experiences but are all dedicated to moving the profession forward. Campus is pretty and so easy to navigate.

I believe Immaculata to be a great school. The environment is very friendly and the over all atmosphere is positive. Everyone sticks together as a family on campus which is nice because who doesn’t love family. As a student there currently I would definitely recommend this school to others because it is just the right size. Not too big not too little. The academics are good and the teachers want nothing but the best for their students and want them to be successful.

Immaculata is a small, private university in a quiet area. People are generally more reserved and from higher income families in this area. The class sizes are very small and give a good chance to learn. It is good school academically, but it lacks a lot on the social scene.

My daughter, who attends seems pretty well satisfied. As long as she has no problems I'm good with them.

I consider the faculty and staff the best part about my school. Immaculata University is known for its teachers and flexible scheduling. The teachers here will stop at nothing to help the students. It is definitely a community based university.

Students who are unmotivated or those that are unsure about what they want to do with their future should not attend this university. You need to be able to be focused and driven to be able to be successful here. This is definitely an academic-based school, so only come here if you are focused on learning.

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Immaculata is a small Catholic school that is dedicated to helping its students graduate.

Honestly, I do not think I would tell my 18 year old self much of anything before leaving for college. I think that I had a great experience in my first year that I would not change a thing. I am so thankful for the lessons I learned that first year, it helped me grow into the young adult that I am. But if I did have to tell myself anything I would advise young Caitlin to get more involved. I believe that in my freshman year I was not as involved in school activities and clubs as I should have been. Getting involved is the best way to get to know a variety of people and expand your group of friends.

I believe that the worst thing about Immaculata was the cafeteria. I honestly rarely ate there but the year I spent on campus I did not enjoy the cafeteria at all. There were limited choices and even they were not that great.

A small, Catholic university is the description most often used to describe Immaculata University. And while small and Catholic are very true adjectives, the university is so such more. Immaculata is a place where a student is not just a number or a statistic, but is rather a person with a name, a person with goals and aspirations. No exaggeration, when walking across campus, almost every person that passes will say hi whether they know you or not. The faculty, staff, administration, and students come together to form a community, an Immaculata family that pushes each other to succeed, solves issues when they arise, and provides support when needed. Just as any family, the Immaculata community shares in traditions that help define the university. Beginning freshman year, students are introduced to the customs of this hallowed campus with the planting of the ivy, in addition to many other practices of old. Sophomore year students participate in the receiving of the pins at the pin ceremony. Then as juniors, to signify the entrance into their final year of college and to celebrate their three years of survival thus far, students walk through the giant ring during the ring ceremony. Although Immaculata primarily is a learning institution, what makes it different from other colleges and universities is the traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. From the time students become a member of this university and move into their first ever college dorm room, to the time that they turn their tassel to the left and graduate, students learn about, participate in, and cherish the rituals of Thy Noble Hill. It is important to note that Immaculata is a very conservative school, after all it is a Catholic institution run by the nuns of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In saying that the school is conservative, it does not mean that those of other religions do not attend or that new ideas are not respected. Probably the biggest complaint student’s have with the school is the food, especially residents who eat it three times a day. In saying this, how much can be expected from cafeteria food?

One of the points of college is to change, whether it be physically, mentally, or emotionally. It is almost impossible not to change. Whether you change positively or negatively is up to you, but changing and growing is inevitable. So yes, of course I have changed over my four years of being at college.

Pajamas. Comfortable clothes. Dresses if it is nice weather. Jeans. Sweatshirts. Dress clothing if there is a presentation, an interview, observations, or work. Basically, people wear whatever they want to wear. I would say the most common attire is sweatpants and sweatshirts specific to whatever school you go to. That is what you will see most students wearing.

The hardest thing about freshman year is being on your own and learning responsibility. Your parents are no longer there to protect you. You must deal with problems essentially on your own. You are responsible for remembering to wake up in the morning (or afternoon), for doing your homework, for cleaning, for using your manners. It is one of the hardest things to get used to at college.

Freshman year flies by. It may be one of the easiest years in terms of work load, depending on your high school experiences and major, but your first year is the basis for the rest of your college career. Who you choose as your group of friends, what decided to become involved in, how you present yourself all matter that first year. However, it is important to remember everyone is in the same boat. Everyone is at a new place, away from friends and family, establishing a new life. Freshman year may not be the hardest year in terms of academics because of all of the core classes you need to take, but it is the year when some of the best memories are made.

Student Development and Engagement works to ensure that there are plenty of activities on campus for students to attend. Such events include, Sunday Family Dinner once a month, Cotillion and other various dances throughout the year, and movies played in the theater throughout the semester. In addition, other clubs and organizations hold events such as The Variety Show and Volley-A-Wish. Although changing, many students still go home on the weekends. Also, there are few areas on campus where students can truly hang out.

Honestly, there is no specific stereotype that defines Immaculata. We have students from all walks of life. Any stereotypical group of students conceivable is most likely present in some form here.

I guess that because Immaculata is a Catholic university, many think that only students of the Catholic faith attend. This is untrue. Students of all denominations of faith and those who don't believe in anything at all attend here. Yes, to fulfill core requirements students must take theology credits, but students are able to choose what classes they wish to take in that field. While Catholicism is the dominant religion on campus, no one is forced to practice or believe the practices of the Church.

Every student living through resident housing must have a meal plan. Immaculata has one dining hall where the meal plan may be used. There is a salad bar, cereal, pizza, a sandwich bar, soup, and grill options offered every day. The main bar offerings change for every meal. The dining hall is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In addition, we also have the P.O.D. (Provisions on Demand). It is a new addition to campus. It's a mini market of sorts. It's a place to get coffee, frozen meals, ice cream, Lunchables, salads, sandwiches, and other various snack foods. There, ipoints may be used. Ipoints are given to students as spending money and can be used at the P.O.D.

Just a few short years ago, Immaculata was an all girls school. Although the number of guys at the school continues to rise, girls still outnumber the boys, no matter what the statistics say. There are Immaculata couples, but many, especially girls, have boyfriends who are not Immaculata students.

I don't know that is any one class that is most popular. It would be hard to determine which classes are the most popular because of core, major, and minor requirements. However, there are professors who's classes are almost always full. Because we are a small school, the required classes run every semester or every other semester, but the extra classes tend to change. Every semester there's something new and exciting to take. For example, last semester, the English Department offered a class on graphic novels. This semester, the Honors Program and History Department is offering a class on the Holocaust. Professors are always looking for new material to teach and new classes to add.

We have four sororities and two fraternities available for students to join. There is also Greek Council that governs Greek life. Each sorority and fraternity holds different events throughout the year for sisters and brothers to participate in as well as non-Greek students too. All six sororities and fraternities uphold the core values of Immaculata and prides themselves on ensuring to upholding Immaculata's mission statement.

Our campus is small.The farthest anyone has to walk to on campus is Draper Walsh Stadium. If one lives in the farthest on-campus dorm, it takes a maximum of ten minutes to walk to class and that's walking slowly. Immaculata has a mixture of new and old buildings. It's quite obvious which buildings are new and which have been there what seems like forever. It adds to the charm of the university. Our campus is beautiful. I can't even explain it. It just has to be seen in order to be understood. We have two buildings for classes, Loyola Hall and Good Counsel. Other buildings on campus include Gabrielle Library, Alumnae Hall which houses the theater, the pool, the fitness center, and the gym, the Bruder Center for Health Services and Career Development, and the new Financial Aid and Admissions building. Nazareth Hall, which houses the dining hall and a few classrooms, is connected to Villa Maria which holds our chapel, dorms and offices, and is also connected to Lourdes which is mostly just dorms. DeChantel and Marian are a connected dorm building where Student Life and Engagement is also located. We also have tennis courts, a softball field, a baseball field, a training facility, and Draper Walsh Stadium for sports.

When I came to Immaculata for an open house, one of the big selling points for me was that the professors who where introducing me to my prospective department knew about me before I even entered the room. They obviously had taken the time to review my file before I can to open house. They cared about who I was and what I was interested. I wasn't just another number to add to their department. That type of attention has continued throughout all of my four years here. While I've had professors who have not been my favorite, in every class I've felt as though the professors cared about my success as a student and a person. Almost all of my friends have at least one professor whom they have grown close to and can go to for advice or for just a casual conversation.

As with any institution, students have complaints about professors, rules, and of course financial aid. However, all of these things are common complaints among college students everywhere. Besides the food, student's often complain about how Immaculata is so conservative. To this, all I have to say is that it's a Catholic university. The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) order of nuns run the school. The universities conservativeness is not hidden.

Many students who attend Immaculata have family who live close to campus, so there are quite a few students who go home on the weekends. In saying that, when I first started here, every weekend campus would look like a ghost town. However, I've noticed that more students are staying here on the weekends. With the addition of certain sports teams, student activities, and an increase in admission numbers, students are more inclined to stay on campus.

Immaculata is a part of the Division 3 Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC). We currently offer basketball, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball for women and baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and track and field for men. Because men's and women's basketball are the only sports that play during the winter, they receive the most support. In addition, Immaculata has been named "The Birth Place of Modern Women's Basketball," and a movie called "The Mighty Macs" was made about the 1972-1974 championship basketball team. So, basketball is a big deal here. In terms of intermural sports, whiffleball, 6 v 6 speed soccer, volleyball, basketball, flag football, and softball are available to play. The intermural staff is always looking for new ideas though.

Honestly, the best place to get work done is the library. There are computers on all three floors that can be used. There are cubicles on all three floors that student's can just hide out in to study or do work. Also, if groups want to work together, there are study rooms available that can reserved for two hours at time. The library offers comfy leather chairs and there are also new chairs with swivel desks that are great for work too. During finals week, the library offers extended hours and provides coffee, tea, and snacks for students.

In the winter of 2010, my sophomore year, we had a huge snow storm here. If people hadn't left campus early enough, they were stuck here. So, my friends and I had a sleep- over because there was no way we were having classes at least for a couple of days. The next day, we got up, went down for breakfast, and stole trays from the cafeteria so that we could go sledding. Even though our campus still has great hills for sledding, at the time, they hadn't build the baseball stadium, so we had an amazing hill to sled down. The campus was so beautiful with the snow and a lot of students had nothing better to do than play outside. Not only was it great to have off of classes for a few days, but forgetting about the stresses of college and just playing like kids again was a day that I will never forget.

Our university is full of traditions. Three of my favorites are Midnight Breakfast, Carol Night, and Christmas Banquet. Midnight Breakfast happens twice a year during finals week. It occurs at night, usually starting at about 9 pm until usually 11pm. It's a time when various faculty and staff make food, specifically breakfast food, for the students. Not only is the food amazing, but it's a chance to take a break from studying for finals and really just have some fun. The cafeteria is packed during Midnight Breakfast and it's great to just eat good food, take a break, and hang out with friends. Carol Night is one of most cherished of all of the traditions on campus. The university puts up a large Christmas tree in the rotunda of Villa Maria hall. It's a beautiful sight to see. On Carol Night, past and present members of the Immaculata community gather together and surround the tree on all levels of the rotunda. Musical groups of the university lead the crowd in singing various Christmas carols. The whole thing is broadcasted over the radio. Seniors play a special role in Carol Night and have a chance to carry baby Jesus into the rotunda and place Him under the tree in his manger. The seniors, dressed in their academic attire, surround the tree with candles. What's great about Carol Night is that so many people make it a tradition to come back to year after year. It's a chance for family to come together and really remember the true meaning of Christmas. Finally, I love Christmas Banquet because it's great food, it's a chance to get into the Christmas spirit, and it's a great time to have with friends and faculty. Wherever Banquet is held, the place is always decorated and everyone's so happy because it's Christmas time.

When one steps immediately off campus they are either entering a wooded area or roads. Now, if one travels down the road, they will hit either Frazer or Exton, the two closest areas around Immaculata. Exton offers a nice mall, Main Street in Exton (another shopping complex), and various places to eat. Frazer offers strip malls, various places to eat, and a movie theater. When people turn 21, West Chester is the common place to go to the bars. West Chester is about 15 minutes from campus. King of Prussia mall is less than 30 minutes away from campus. Of course traveling to Philadelphia is always an option too. It's about a 45 minute drive to the city, depending on traffic.

Immaculata is located on a hill and the view up here is AMAZING! We have quite a few weddings and other special occasions that take place on campus because it's so beautiful. We are also located on the highest point of the South Valley Hills in Chester County, PA. Our iconic dome atop of Villa Maria Hall can be seen for miles around. In terms of unique stories or legends, there are all kinds of ghost stories that are told about different areas on campus from children heard playing marbles, to nuns haunting various floors of the old buildings. We also have a unique tradition on campus to ring a bell that sits next to the statue of The Infant of Prague. Students and faculty ring it for good luck because the founders of the school prayed to The Infant of Prague to be able to build the school and He answered their prayers.

Immaculata offers five resident housing options. On campus there is Villa Maria, Marian, DeChantel, Lourdes and off campus there are the Marchwood Apartments. Villa Maria has one wing of girl's dorms and one wing of boy's dorms. The girl's side of the dorm offers a communal kitchen. Lourdes dorm is two floors of all girl's suites. A suite consists of two dorm rooms with two people in each that are connected by a full bathroom. Lourdes and Villa Maria are connected buildings. Marian/DeChantel dorms are the newest dorms on campus and are connected. DeChantel is an all girl's dorm and Marian is both a girl's and boy's dorm. However, the boy's and girl's are separated by floor or by a connector room on the floor. One of the floors in DeChantel offers a communal kitchen. For each of the dorms, with the exception of the apartments and Lourdes, bathrooms and shower rooms are located on each floor. Every floor of every dorm on campus offers a lounge that includes at the very least a television, seating, and a microwave. In Villa and in Lourdes, each floor has two washers and dryers that don't require quarters to run. Laundry is included in Room and Board. On the bottom floors of both Marian and DeChantel, large laundry rooms with multiple washes and dryers are offered. In all of the dorms, heating and air conditioning is available.

I wanted to go to a school that wasn't too far from home, but was far enough way.Immaculata wasn't even on my radar of schools until I was sitting at the beach and saw a plane fly by with an advertisement for the university. When I went to an open house, I felt so welcomed. The professors I met with were so helpful and seemed to actually care about what I was interested in. One professor had even done research into who I was and what I was involved in in high school. The students knew each other while walking me around and I could just tell Immaculata was a close knit community. I had another school that I was seriously considering, but in the end I chose Immaculata because I knew I could become involved in anything and everything I wanted to, I knew I would be considered an equal to professors, and I knew my opinions would matter.

The typical Immaculata University student is involved in multiple clubs, organizations, or leadership positions on campus. This allows students to expand their friendships and meet new people. Students at IU are typically middle class and most are paying at least some part of their tuition for school. This creates hard working, money conscience students. Most students call home anywhere from 5 minutes down the road to about 2 hours away. Although we have students from other places, most of our students are from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, or New York. As a Catholic university, many students claim Catholicism as their religion, but that does not necessarily mean that they practice. Many students attended Catholic high schools in the area such as Little Flower, Cardinal O’Hara, or Bishop Shanahan. Just like any university, students wear whatever they want to class. Anything from sweatpants and sweatshirts to jeans and sweaters can be seen worn to class. And like all college students throughout the United States right now, finding a job after graduation is pretty much number one on everyone’s mind. Because of the economy, many students are not necessarily focusing on how much money they want to or can make after graduation, but are instead focusing on trying to land a job.

We have a wide range of students at Immaculata. In terms of an overall stereotype of the student body, just like the university itself, many students are Catholic and conservative. Many students have gone to Catholic school all of their lives or at least have gone to one of the Catholic schools in the area. But that’s a very broad generalization of the student body. Just as with any large group of people, those who have similar interests tend to hang out together. For example, we have very impressive music program at the university, so we have many musically inclined students who sit on back campus and play their guitars and sing. Like any school, if one were to look at our lunch tables, for the most part they are separated into the jocks, the geeks, the partiers and all the other stereotypical groups that exist. But because Immaculata is such a small school, students tend to fit into multiple groups. A music major, who can be heard singing down the hall, can also be a member of a sorority and play a sport.

Academics are the first and foremost reason students attend college. At Immaculata University, learning takes precedence over all else. The university offers the Honors Program and various honor societies to challenge students and keep them motivated. The school’s Dean’s List can only be achieved with a 3.7 grade point average or higher, higher than the average Dean’s List GPA of 3.5 at other colleges and universities. Immaculata takes academics seriously and works to push students to their potential. Professors are an integral part to the academics at any institution. At Immaculata, small class sizes offer students and professors the opportunity to forge bonds. It is not uncommon to go into the faculty center and see students walking from office to office, conversing with professors about grades, classes, and even life. Professors are not just teaching to teach at Immaculata; they are there to share experiences and knowledge that they have acquired in their field in the hopes of seeing their students succeed inside and outside of the classroom. Professors also take pride in learning from the students at Immaculata. In my experience, professors are open and encourage their students to think, suggest, and question thoughts and opinions before, during, and after classes. Once a student chooses a major, that department becomes his or her family. Between clubs, organizations, honors societies, and socials, members of a certain department are always coming together. As an English major, I have had at least one class with almost all of the professors in the department, I know most of the students who are in the major, and I take pride in calling myself a member of the English Department. While I am a part of the larger Immaculata community, I also am a member of the English Department community, who I know I can turn to for support and guidance during my years at Immaculata and after.