Emporia State University — Attraction in Emporia

We attended the Kansas Bandmaster Marching Championship 10/18/2025 that was hosted by ESU and that was the worst experience ever! We have attended many marching competitions at KU, K-State and WU. This is the second year KBA was at ESU and last year was bad, but they defiantly didn't let us down on another horrible experience. I am in charge of our high school's group that feeds the band and at every other facility you are allowed to have 2 vehicles at the location the band sets up their home base, but not at ESU. We pulled in the grass off of Highland St. to get set up and with in minutes the police were there ready to write tickets. There are no parking signs along Highland so we were trying to obey the rules in a manor that seemed most appropriate. So at this point we assumed we could have our 2 vehicle's at this location, but no, not only could we not keep our vehicle's there, but they wouldn't even allow us to stay there and unload. You would think anyone intelligent would have said move off the grass once you get unloaded since we were already parked right where we needed to unload, but wrong, they wanted to write us tickets if we didn't move immediately. So then we moved to the street and the police officers continued to sit there and watch us. I asked them what they needed and they said there is no parking along Highland so they were going to write us tickets for being there. I lost it and asked how in the world we were supposed to get our stuff unloaded and they finally said we could stay there to unload and then go park two blocks away in the overflow parking. We watched numerous other vehicles pull up, turn their flashers on and get out to drop stuff off to one of the other schools and within minutes the police would be there with their lights on pulled up behind them. Why on earth would ESU want to host an event like this and be so unwilling to work with people. We are all just volunteers trying to help the school and kids out and we were getting treated like criminals. Maybe the school needs to either raise their tuition so they don't have to make all of their money off of parking tickets or don't host events.

Worst school ever!!! ESU does not have the parking lot space to host an event of this size but they could make it work if they were more accommodating. I will be getting ahold of KBA and see if they can find a different facility for...

I applied to this schools MBA program last year due to the price for the program since I would be paying for it myself and am trying to save money and over an hour on the phone with the intake specialist in admissions going over requirements for the program, etc. I advised him that I did not meet on gpa and would not apply, and he said based on me being a veteran and my work experience and resume, they would waive gpa requirement. I applied and was sent an email stating that I was accepted and I could start taking classes. A few months later I contacted the school to find out when I could start taking classes, because I was not able to when I first got the email, and I was told I was not accepted. I inquired about why and the email I received that mentioned starting classes, I was told because of my GPA. I asked for a refund of the application fee of $75 then since I was lied to by the representative that said gpa would not be a factor as long as I had over 10 years work experience and a veteran, and took it all the way to management with the school. After months of going back and forth with the school, they still refuse to refund me my money and said I was told acceptance into the program was solely based on gpa based on notes. I told them several times that was not true and that I was obviously lied to. What sense does it make that I would apply to a school knowing I don't meet on gpa to throw away $75. The principle here is that I want my money back at this point, because I believe the school is lying to prospective students to get money, and/or the guy I spoke with didn't know his job and shouldn't have been in the phone with me. Be careful if you apply to this school, because I feel they are liars and don't care about helping students, because obviously considering this situation, they could've refunded me for the error that was made with the representative misinforming me and giving me false information. I will go ahead and cancel the payment instead with my credit card company. The University I attended for my undergrad has an MBA program for just a few thousand more and my GPA meets, so obviously if I want lied to, I wouldn't have applied here. What a...

I went there for a Computer Science major and graduated in 2015. Great school especially for international students. People are very nice in Emporia and the town is very Liberal compared to the surrounding cities in Kansas. The classes are very easy to pass and if you pick the right professors you will enjoy learning. I was active member on campus, I worked there and was member of 4 clubs including my own club Hornet Robotics. If you are interested in Greek life Join Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. Very diverse and has great members with balance between fun education and partying. Now I am a CEO of a company in California IGES LLC and since I left Kansas I have been working for big tech companies in California. I met my wife at ESU and now we are living happily. It is a great day to...