Info about Indiana , Pa (Pittsburgh, Erie: apartment, condo, crime rate)

[kgold97]

I am currently 20 yrs old and living in Mayfield Hts, Ohio (suburb of cleveland). I am considering transfering to Indiana university of Pennsylvania this upcoming year. Can somebody please tell me the reputation of the university , information about the town, and where people usually seek employment after they graduate. I visited IUP a few months ago but couldn't really get the grasp of the town because I was in a bit of a rush. Also how do employers in the Pittsburg area view an IUP graduate?

Thanks for all of your help. I look forward to your comments.

[dullnboring]

My dad went to IUP. I don't know much about the school. I know that it has a reputation as a big party school. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The town of Indiana itself is the most sizable (around 15,000 people) in the area but as a college town has most of the amenities you'd want. Pittsburgh is around an hour and 15 minutes away and many graduates tend to gravitate there after college. I'm not sure what industries they flock to after graduation, nor what the reputation of the school amongst employers is. I believe it's thought of as a decent school though.

[paintballer1708]

I moved from Pittsburgh to Cleveland about two years ago. I lived in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. Indiana was about 2 hours away. Indiana is out in the middle of nowhere. Its a nice smaller city, but not much to do. The job outlook is not good at all either. Its north of Johnstown, PA. About 45 mins. I think Johnstown is the most depressed small sized city in the nation. I really wouldnt consider a move to this area. Good luck anyway.

[kgold97]

paintballer1708 and dullnboring thanks for the replies. I have visited two universities in Pa. I first visited Edinboro and absolutely hated it. It was only 60 miles away from Mayfield so thats why i decided to visit. On the way there was the most depressing trip I have ever had. I saw shack after schack. Even when I got into Edinboro it didn't even seem like a town. Is there something that I missed? Indiana , Pa on the other hand was a completely different story. I can definitely say that I am not a rural type of a person. Going on the campus visit to IUP completely changed my mind. Going through rural areas on the way to IUP made me think how beautiful the area was. During the campus visit i fell in love with the town and the university. My main concern is that when I graduate IUP the degree will have limited value in Pa and absolutely no value in Ohio.

Paintballer I need your help with this question since you have lived in both Cleveland and Pittsburgh.Would you attend IUP if you were planning to stay in the pittsburgh suburbs or one of the other major cities ? Would you attend IUP and then go back to Cleveland? The colleges costs in Ohio have increased so much that I am looking for out of state options.Cleveland state is the cheapest university at 8000 but I would like to live on campus as well. I am looking for a university in western Pa that will not put in major debt and will provide a decent not great education. IUP seems like perfect fit with tuition being 7500 for ohio students. If you dont think IUP is a good fit can you please give me a few universities in western Pa that you would reccommend. All the help would be greatly appreciated. I have batteling with this decision for the past 3 months. Still cannot decide what I should do. I currently attend Lakeland CC and will have to make a decision in the upcoming months.

My #1 question is what do people think of an IUP graduate? Do they say slacker , party freek, or bright individual with limited budget?

Thanks to everybody who responds. I really need your help.

[paintballer1708]

Well kgold, i think going to Indiana might be best for you. I wouldnt tell people to move to Pennsylvania if you have Ohio and Indiana that arent too far away and they are much cheaper to live in. I completely agree that colleges in Ohio are getting more expensive, but i believe that is happening all across the country. Now after you are done at IUP are you planning on moving to the Pittsburgh metro? I strongly dont recommend that. Once you are done with college and say your living in Pennsylvania you will find the taxes are very high. Pennsylvania's taxes are some 4-5 times higher than Ohio's. Also, the job outlook is not good. You have Johnstown, Altoona and Erie outside of Pittsburgh. Not much of a choice IMO. Here in NE Ohio you have Cleveland, Akron (which is booming lately), and also dont forget Toledo. All the cities in NE Ohio have over 200,000. Akron has 212,000, Toledo has 305,000 and Cleveland 460,000. Once you leave Pittsburgh with 320,000 you drop down to Erie with 100,000. A bigger city with a bigger population means bigger job oppurtunity.

Now have you done a complete outlook at colleges here in NE Ohio? Try looking into YSU. Youngstown State is a great college that isnt very expensive. I heard it has gone through millions of dollars in changes. Now i dont know what all it offers.

But, heres my idea. I think you should go to college in Western PA. I would go with IUP. Finish up in Indiana then look to moving back to Ohio. Im sure you know all of Cleveland's great suburbs and dont forget Akron. Cleveland and Akron have really changed their economies around to the high tech. Esp Akron. But dont leave out Columbus and Cincinnati. A lot of my friends that have moved out of the Pittsburgh area moved to Columbus for the oppurtunity. Once you graduate and after living in PA you will want to move back to Ohio. This is coming from a former Pennsylvanian. My opinion on and IUP graduate would have to differ. It really depends on the type of person you are. You seem very responsable and determined. I would have to say that you are a bright individual with a limited budget.

Overall i say go to college in Indiana, then when you are done look for an apartment/condo or house back in Ohio. Im looking out for you in the long run. Pennsylvania is a more expensive state to live in, but NE Ohio offers the same oppurtunity. SW Ohio around Columbus and Cincinnati offers even more. I wish you the best of luck in your decision, and hope everything turns out ok. I will be more than happy to answer more questions if you have any.

[kgold97]

paintballer1708 thanks for the great reply. My objective fromt the very beginning was to go IUP and then return to the Cleveland suburbs. That way I could go to a university that I love , save a bunch of money, and return to the suburbs of Cleveland. Then after talking with my friend and thinking it through it became more bleak. My friend who goes to Case Western Reserve University told me that I should not go to IUP if I planned on moving back to Cleveland. He told me that employers in the Cleveland area would not know any thing about the university. They would confuse it with Indiana-Bloomington. I also figured that If I moved back to Cleveland I would not get assistance from the university in finding work and I would have no networking options in Cleveland or in Pennsylvania. That is kind of like three strikes against me if I choose to go back to Cleveland. I was looking into possibly settling into one of western pa's suburbs and not actuall pittsburgh. I know how bad major cities can get.

I have researched colleges extensively. I have researched Bowling green,Youngstown state, Toledo, Akron, Cleveland state, Ohio state, Ohio, John Carroll, Findley, Clarion, Edinboro, IUP,Duquesne, Robert Morris, Pitt,Penn state, Villanova, among others. Youngstown state is close to what I am looking for but the crime rate and the cities reputation scare me. Youngstown is considered one of the most crime stricken places in Ohio. I have researched Youngstown state extensively and I wouldn't say that It is great in any way. They basically have a open admission policy. 12% of the student pollulation had a g.p.a of 1.5.

IUP has very impressive accolades. It has been featured in Princeton Reviews 345 best colleges and Top 120 business schools. IUP also has the biggest business intership program in the state of Pa. I am going to major in Accounting so that is a major plus for me.It has also been featured in Barron's Best Buys in Higher Education, Money Magazine, U.S. News and World Report. Plus IUP has a acceptance rate of 55% witch means that it is moderately competitive. I should not have a problem getting in. During my first year of college I had a 3.85 g.p.a. . I also joined the national honors society. I am pretty sure that I wont have problems getting in.

I basically live right in between Akron and Cleveland. I am in the outer suburbs of Cleveland. My dad commutes to Cuyahoga Falls which is near Akron. If I knew that IUP was know by Ohio employers I would go there without blinking twice.

paintballer1708 why do you say that it is so expensive to live in Pa. According to my research most of the houses are under 100,000. I live in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. Almost any house here costs 125,000 and up. Do the taxes really make that big of a difference in quality of life. Also how is the winter driving in western Pa? That is one of the things that concerns me the most. On the way to Indiana,Pa I almost had a heart attack because It felt like my car was always leaning and that was in perfect weather conditions. Do the roads get cleaned in rural areas? I would have to drive back home during winter break. That would be like suicide in those hills. Mayfield Heights is mostly flat and it is still a huge mess on the roads during winter.

Thanks for all of your knowledge. Hope to hear from you.

[paintballer1708]

^Well im glad i could help. The taxes can get bad in PA, i think that having lived in both Ohio and PA, i can see a differance. The houses are cheap in PA, but that might be in the rural areas. Pennsylvania has some of the worse roads in the country. Construction wise it takes them about two years to resurface a little bridge over a river. Winter time in the mountains can get bad. And over by Indiana it is always about 10 deg. colder than here in NE Ohio because of the mountains. During the winter months it can get very bad. I have heard horror stories from people living in Altoona. They were in their car going up the hill and they were sliding backwards. Even in Pittsburgh it gets bad. I remember driving in that crap during the winter months. I hated it. You think lake effect snow is bad? Try driving in the mountains with snow. God, even one inch on the hills is bad. The Pittsburgh metro is nothing but hills. Pittsburgh is a very poorly designed city. Most people see its excellent skyline and think nothing of it. Well living out in the suburbs you saw the poor design. I lived by a new shopping center they built, well after about a year there was a big crack going up the side of the building because it was built on a slidding hillside that was beggining to move. Thats just one of many stories. If you look at the Pittsburgh skyline and then look west you will see big slopping hillsides. This is where the Incline is and the Fort Pitt Tunnel. Well on top of these high hills they were building new homes, well into about a month of getting built the hill was beggining to slide. The development was moving the landscape. They were no longer able to build there. I am and Urban Planner up here in Cleveland. I was one in Pittsburgh for about 5 years. Let me tell you the building and planning here in Cleveland is so much easier. I also didnt like being landlocked. Cleveland is right on the lake with some very nice beaches in the summer and also the Cuyahoga Nat'l Park is nice. Nice mountains surrounding Pittsburgh, but they do have their challenges. The landscape brings in some difficulties.