California University of Pennsylvania

This place was cool in 2002. We could smoke in our dorm rooms in Stanley Hall… yes, smoking inside past the new millennium. Made some killer friends, all while earning my degree… graduated a semester early in fact, which wouldn’t have been possible without some really great professors supporting me. The amount of clubs and organizations was extremely large, so almost everyone could find something they enjoy. Ahhhh… college…the good ‘ol days!

As an alum, and with time as a perspective, it pains me to review this college as one of too much PC bull and not enough pragmatism as an institution of higher learning.
Absolutely dismal graduation rates on par with SEC sports programs.
Male graduation rates are roughly at a ratio of 58% women to 42% male.
LESS THAN HALF OF ALL INCOMING MALE FRESHMAN WILL FAIL TO GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE THESE DAYS!
That’s a failure rate of nearly 58%!
Totally unacceptable!
But if you look at the billboards and web pages of the university, the majority of the faces you see encouraging enrollment are women and minorities.
Most of the incoming students are the first in their families to attend college, and as such require a bit more expertise in navigating the expenses associated with paying for higher education.
Women and minorities are given special consideration (CUP actually goes to NYC and DC to actively recruit low income and minority students), of which I find ironic given that Fayette, Greene and Washington counties have an extremely high rate of poverty, and little, if any recruitment is done locally.
I had the grades and the curriculum, but nobody came to my door knocking encouraging me to attend college.
If it were not for my family, and their support and sacrifices, college would have been impossible.

I may be a bit partial as I write this review, as I am an alumnus of good olé Cal U. But I will keep it concise.
California University of Pennsylvania, or Cal U as it is known commonly may be one of the smaller of the state universities, but it is one of the more close knit of the state universities.
Like the university, the town is small. But that means you will get to know the area fairly quickly and just where to go to get the right things you need.
Since I have graduated this have changed a bit on campus. But that doesn’t mean it changed so dramatically that you cannot navigate the campus. New buildings have gone up and the old ones have been remodeled to sustain the culture of the university.
Hail to Cal U, or as the locals call it, Harvard on the Mon.