Allegheny- A small, quiet school

Introduction
First of all, if you are looking for an easy school with little work, remove Allegheny from your choices. I chose Allegheny because I wanted a small school that was not too close to home. Allegheny is just that, however, there is nothing really nearby in case you want to get off campus for a weekend. I do not really regret this decision, but unless you have a car or live nearby, chances are you you won't get off campus to often to visit the surrounding area. I'm sure there are plenty of other small schools with big cities or other things to do that are nearby.

Campus Life and Social Life
Allegheny is a small school, so you will be seeing a lot of the same faces at parties and whatnot on weekends, which has its pros and cons. The pros being the people you do meet you will be closer to. The cons being you will likely meet less people. Allegheny isn't really a big party school outside of the first week of school and Springfest in the spring semester. Most house parties are on Fridays and are usually pretty packed, meaning you'll have to wait in lines and walk arond with your hands in the air to avoid bumping into people. Saturdays are a little quieter as most people are still burnt out from Friday. The bars in Meadville and the surrounding area are nothing special either. If you're not a partier, however, there are a pretty wide range of options for clubs and sports as far as small schools go, and is one of the high points, I would say, about this school. Clubs range from athletic clubs like flag football, rugby and frisbee and many more, to political and academic clubs as well. Their is also a strong greek presence, if you are interested in joining a fraternity or sorority. Academics
Allegheny is supposed to have a pretty renowned academic profile. It should as there are really no easy departments. Classes are usually pretty small, which has pros and cons as well. The pros are you have a better opportunity to interact with professors one on one and receive overall more attention. The cons being, when you are not at a class or miss an assignment, you stick out. Some professors have very strict attendance policies where you more or less need a death certificate to miss class. Also, Allegheny has very few TAs, as pretty much every class is taught by a professor. Most of the professors are pretty good with assisting students on a personal basis, but some are exceptions. Also, most professors are pretty liberal and it may seem that what they are teaching is biased. If you are a conservative, Allegheny may not be your best option. Also, there are quite a number of stuck up professors that demand respect from their students, while they don't show much in return.

Student Body
There is a pretty broad range of students at Allegheny as far as a small school goes. Most are from PA, OH and NY, with random people from other states across the country and a few students studying abroad. Like mentioned earlier, there is a strong greek presence at Allegheny, so if you are not interested in joining a fraternity or sorority, be warned that you will likely receive pressure to. While most students are pretty liberal, there are a good number of conservatives. You will typically find that most students are involved in many activities from athletics to political organizations and many others.

In Closing...
If you are looking for a school where there are tons of parties where you can hook up with some random person then skip class the next day, Allegheny is likely not for you. Social life is dead during the week, peaking on Fridays. Also, the weather in northwest PA is pretty terrible, its cloudy here probably five days a week. If you are looking for a small quite school, Allegheny is a good option, however, there are probably others that are at least close to something for less than $30,000 a year.