Your entire life, you have been told you that you can be anything you want to be. At Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), you have everything you need to do that, but there’s more to the story. IUP isn’t concerned just with your first job out of college, although that’s very important. IUP is as concerned that you are prepared for life-long success — not for one year after graduation, but for decades after.
Just ask IUP alumni. In a recent study, 94 percent rated their decision to attend IUP as good to great, saying they rely on their IUP experience — the classroom lessons, the hands-on research, internships and out-of-classroom opportunities, and the networking connections they made with fellow students as well as alumni — in their daily lives.
With more than 140 majors and 60 minors, IUP has the academic programming you want, but you won’t be alone in your educational journey. IUP professors themselves — not graduate assistants — teach you and engage you in real research early in your academic career. Learning directly from the experts is a major advantage.
IUP professors have made breakthroughs in prosthetic vision, excavated shipwrecks through underwater archaeology, developed technology to monitor food temperature, developed a better understanding of storm water flooding, and much more. They include students in their own research projects and often lead trips to foreign countries or into workplace settings.
You will benefit not just from that expertise but also from a wide range of support. IUP’s new University College provides a home for students who are still exploring their options for a major course of study. It’s another way the University helps you find the path that works for you. So, if you aren’t yet sure what major to pursue, you can explore your options and stay on track to graduate in four years.
IUP students have become Fulbright and Goldwater scholars and earned many other national and international prizes.
Hands On: Learn Outside the Classroom
IUP’s campus has been described as a park-like setting, so you might be surprised at how often the University asks students to venture away to pursue internships, clinical experiences, and more. After all, your path to success needs more than what’s found within campus borders.
You might find yourself trading real money on the stock market or out in the field — literally — measuring biodiversity. You could study proteins in zebrafish kidneys to understand how diseased human kidneys regenerate, or you might write and perform in your own musical. IUP students have studied ways to fight antibiotic resistance, investigated corporate social responsibility in the fashion industry, and designed simulations to help police officers de-escalate confrontations.
Through the University’s Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement Center, you’ll have the opportunity to immerse yourself in campus life, while interacting with people from diverse backgrounds. You’ll pick up valuable skills that are important for career success but not necessarily tied to your academic course of study.
You can choose to live in a living-learning community, where you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in subject matter — science, foreign languages, and business, among others. You also will have access to 250 student groups that give you access to leadership opportunities, whether in the form of academic-related organizations or just plain fun. Opportunities run the gamut, from accounting to animé, from rugby to professional communications, and more.
Careers and Lifetime Alumni Network
Career preparation begins in your freshman year. IUP students can follow a career game plan and can pursue a minor in Effective Teamwork and Communication, the only program of its type in the nation. This program ensures you get the soft skills employers want. That’s why more than 240 employers come to campus annually to recruit employees.
Once you enroll at IUP, you become a member of a 150,000-strong international alumni network. Networking events connect you with those who came before you, and IUP alumni are glad to pass on what they know to help you jumpstart your career.
IUP alumni work at places like Google, Apple, and NASA. Many have expanded their options by attending the graduate program of their choice.
Because of your experience at IUP, you will graduate as an informed, rational, thoughtful, and compassionate leader and problem solver who will have the ability to make the world a better place.