Temple University
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Temple University - Comments and Student Experiences | |||||||||||||||||||
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I've really enjoyed the academics at Temple. Some people advised me to attend a small, liberal arts college, but I've been pleasantly surprised with the academics here. Believe it or not, every single professor I had this year was excellent. It helped that I'm in the humanities (there's few required required courses only taught by one prof, so you have a lot of liberty to choose who you want). Some of my friends in the sciences have had positively sadistic professors, but in any field, there's always a few good ones. It's great being in Philadelphia, because sometimes professors assign fieldwork in the city or may take your class to a museum. Temple has almost every class you could imagine, from glassblowing to Vietanmese to hydrology to Renaissance music performance. One downfall is that it is extremely difficult to major in or even take classes in totally different fields. I know people at other colleges combining interests like Flute Performance and Chemistry, but stringent requirements here make that a rarity. I'm in the Honors Program and it's great having the benefit of priority registration and access to small class sizes. However, I do feel that the Honors Program is limitting, in that you have to have at least 10 honors courses. If you're in a major with few free credits, then you basically have to take all your upper level coureses through honors, meaning you can't dabble in areas of your discipline that you're interested in. Oh yeah: Temple has tons of grants for undergraduate research ($2,500+)
Now for the absolutely worst part of Temple: the bureaucracy. I was investigating an accelerated degree program, fast forward four months, and suddenly all traces of the program disappeared. I emailed some staff members to find out if it was still available, no response. Someone finally got back to me only to deny that the program was ever existant. I was ready to give up, then a month later, someone told me "Hey, it's available and accepting applications!" It turns out that the program was suspended. Miscommunication here is rampant. If you attend Temple, you must be proactive and willing to fact check any information a staff member gives you. It's also important to know that getting a work study is very difficult. Temple rarely updates the job bank online--I applied for one position only to receive an email "sorry, we filled that April last year!" Your best bet in terms of finding a job is to subscribe to as many Listservs as possible--that's where the /available/ jobs can be found.
If you're shy and/or have limitted time to devote to making friends (i.e. you have tons of obligations and can't devote hours each day going to events/"hanging out" in hopes of hitting it off), Temple isn't the most conducive atmosphere to build relationships. I was sick of my small high school, seeing the same people everday, but I didn't realize that by being with the same folks in English, math, and art, you have a high likelihood of developing friendships, whereas at Temple, you'll most likely have different people in each class (less exposure=less opportunities to connect). I equated 30,000 students with much more friends than one might have at, say, a college of 2,000, but I feel rather isolated here, like 90% of the time I'm surrounded by strangers. Walking around campus, it's rare that I run into a friend or even a classmate.
So...living on campus. The dorms here are actually really nice, aside from Peabody. I lived in 1300. It's a beautiful, modern suite/apartment building, private bathrooms=yay! I do think it is more difficult to make friends in suite-style housing. If you hit it off with your suite-mates, awesome! But if you don't, well everyone else is hanging out in their own suite, sorry. I didn't realize how much of a party school Temple was until I attended; definitely, the majority of the school is out getting drunk on Friday nights. Temple's food is all over the spectrum. At the beginning of the year, it was phenomenal: made-to-order stirfrys, cheesecake, delicious pizza. However, as you approach a break, the food goes sharply down hill, and by the last month, pasta is hard, entrees are cold, salad is wilted.
+ You're in a major United States city. SEPTA buses, the subway run through campus to whisk you downtown to a cafe, concert, or bohemian cultural event.
- You're in North Philadelphia - an absolute ghetto. You will get used to hearing sirens and get asked for change by panhandlers everyday.
+ You're in North Philadelphia - get out of your stupid suburban comfort sphere and learn how to deal with the real world: learn street smarts, safety, and shake off your racism.
+ Temple students are humble. Most are fending for themselves paying off loans, working a job, and trying to get through it all having fun. They aren't pretentious and like to have a good time, but care about grades.
+ The professors that I have had are all very intelligent and dedicated to seeing their students succeed. I'm a Spanish major and my professors give good advice, are available to talk, and shape their lessons to be fun.
+ Temple is a great excuse to get in shape. I walk miles and miles each day around campus. There's a great gym on Cecil B. Moore Ave with an elevated track. Lots of programs to get you off your butt.
- As soon as it hits 10:30pm, if you're on on-campus freshman you're screwed when it comes to food. The dining halls close and serve 4th meal - a medley of fried and fatty foods. The only things open are greasy pizza shops and Chinese hole-in-the-walls. Make sure you stock up on snacks.
- The SAC food court is run by the local population - brace yourself for slow service and lazy workers with an attitude.
+/- The Honors College is great. If you're lucky enough to get into this exclusive club, they will help you out with internships and making the most of your time here. In the rest of the colleges, take a number and have your OwlCard ready since the service is a bit impersonal.
+ Yes there is a lack of university housing, but not housing in general. Besides, living with a random snotrag your senior year isn't that much fun. Get a rowhome a few blocks offcampus with your friends. It's safe if you have common sense and teaches responsibility.
+ Sports - Basketball season is mostly what matters around here. People love Temple's basketball players. The team has done well recently and made it to the NCAA Tournament. Football is much to be desired. Games are played at the Linc and about a few hundred are in attendance.
- There are a lot of fancy new buildings like Alter Hall and 1300. Most were built during the 60s and 70s (an architectural dark-age) and could use a facelift. Yet most state schools are this way. + Tuition is cheap! You get the most bang for your buck.
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