Pennsylvania State University

I arrived here ready to work hard and participate as much as possible. I was impressed by the reputation and the beautiful campus. I also relied on the many positive reviews of the school on this website. Well, there's more too Penn State than appears in the glowing reviews.

A degree from Penn State goes a long ways, but the actual courses are taught on a high school level. Very little work is assigned. Your entire grade will depend on three tests and maybe two homework assignments. Class size? Expect a fair share of 500 person lecture hall classes, not to mention teachers who can barely speak English. Imagine a 500 person science class in which the professor spends three weeks reviewing the metric system. That's what you'll be getting here unless you're in the engineering program or an honors student.

Social life is great if you enjoy drinking to blackout every night. No one does anything else, and there are no real "alternatives." You will be identified and harassed if you don't drink. Think that's an exaggeration? I did too until I came here, so I can understand. I drink excessively right along with everyone else, but I know that some people don't. If alcohol poisoning isn't your thing, seriously consider a different school.

One big Penn State myth floating around is that "There's Something For Everyone" if you want to get involved. Not correct. Many of the advertised clubs and organizations don't even exist in real life!! The ones that do operate do so AT PROFIT and YOU WILL PAY EXTRA (sometimes a lot) just to participate and get involved around campus. Once you're in, expect a lot of political drama and competition. That having been said, there are many good people here. You just have to work very, very hard to find them.

What about financial aid and administration? Penn State awards the least financial aid of any comparable school in the United States. Its not a secret: They tell it to you in their own literature if you look. 80% of your aid will be loans. Mine was 100%. That was a cool $15,000 in private loans for one semester. Oh, and the tuition here is also the highest of any comparable school in the US. Just something to think about.There really are people that love it here, so don't make a decision based on any one source. A good test of whether or not to go here is this: Did you love high school and want to stay there an extra year or two if you could? If that's you, then you might genuinely like it here. Check it out and make an informed decision. Good luck!

1st Year Male -- Class 2010

Campus Maintenance: A, Education Quality: D

Ok, I know I'm one of the rare ones that didn't like PSU. Maybe b/c I was an out of state (NJ) and didn't feel like I could relate to the other students ... or maybe b/c from NJ and PSU seemed to be completely out of the way and in the middle of nowhere.

I could only take a year of PSU and transferred out of there asap. I’m glad I did.
My major beefs with PSU are that I felt that they somewhat deceived me. Example, I was looking for a large, DIVERSE, school spirited, challenging University. I got two of those... it's large and the school spirit is out of control! I truly miss that aspect sometimes. But, it's definitely not diverse and I didn't find it particularly challenging. So first let’s talk about diversity. I went to a very yuppie white high school and was looking to branch out in college and meet different people from different backgrounds. When I went to PSU for a tour they put all us students in a room and talked to us about how great the school was blah blah blah. They had the frat boy, the token black guy, the geeky science girl... everything was covered... I bought it. I thought wow I’ll find my click and there are so many different people here. LIE!!! This is the least diverse school ever! It was literally my high school on a larger level. It's pretty much the same white girl in uggs, tights, and a north face with highlighted hair and probably a fake tan and a hundred frat boys with PSU sweatshirts. Honestly zero diversity. Oh and everyone I talked too about PSU said it was such a difficult school to get into and challenging when you got there. Ok I honestly didn't really have that experience. I felt I did nothing and pulled off great grades with little effort. Maybe it's because the school is just all dumb PA kids... ok well that's harsh there are a lot of smart kids and they're not all frat boys and pretty girls BUT the fact that my bio/chem major roommate got a 4.0 her first year makes me really question how difficult this University truly is.

Another HUGE issue I had with PSU was with orientation. Since I wasn't from PA I really didn't know that many people who had gone to PSU and was looking forward to meeting people and making friendships. Well... didn't happen. My RA did a shit job and we maybe spent all of 20 minutes meeting people on the floor and saying two words about ourselves. No ice breakers, no dumb games to get to know each other, NOTHING! So my roomie and I (who I did love) left our door open and tried to get to know people. No one cared. Everyone else had there doors shut and that's how it was going to be. Let me remind you that my experience was just unfortunate event after unfortunate event and that I'm sure it's not always this bad a PSU... but for me it was. Continuing... I soon found out that I was put in an all girl dorm (asked for coed) and was with people who already knew their roommates (choose them) or had gone to summer session and already knew people. Therefore no one needed to make any new friends. My roomie and I tried and neither of us succeeded in making friends with these crazy bitches. Anyway, some highlights of my freshman year were... putting up Christmas decorations and having them torn down multiple times by drunk dumbass people (like I said we didn't even know anyone on the floor of 60!!! girls and didn't have any known enemies) we even made a bet on how long our St. Patrick’s Day decorations would last (considering PSU is all alcoholics and changed St. Patty’s day b/c it feel during spring break to STATE Paddy’s day to make sure they got there drinking in you WOULD think people would embrace the decorations… no) torn down in a week. Having stuff written on our door (every door on the floor actually). EVERY weekend waking to throw up all over the bath room... oh yeah the bathrooms are gross!!! At least in the east dorms. Stay away from east! Go for west or south.

Ok so my experience was that the girls were bitches and that the guys were kinda ... um... hickish. God I sound awful but they called me dirty jerz so whatevs.

My main issues with PSU were that there was NOTHING for me to do on weekends. I would go to football games, gymnastic meets (guys won nationals!), and movies but i don't drink therefore my time at PSU was a waste! WARNING: if you do not party or drink DO NOT go to this school b/c you'll be bored shitless and you'll end up babysitting someone or stepping in someone else’s puke. yum. I tried really hard to find things to do on weekends but since i didn't drink i was pretty much seen as an outsider cause everyone at PSU is an achoholic. Not kidding. One of my friends came to an exam tipsy. WTF.

I also was under the impression that i could easily take a bus or something to Philly but not the case. Stuck in "happy valley" with a town a centimeter big was torture. If you need to be near a city don't go here. I went crazy! Oh and the weather SUCKS! I flurried everyday during spring semester when i was there. So depressing.

Ok now that i ranted I'll tell you some good things. The profs really care about there students and embrace PSU. Like I said school spirit is out of control. One time i was waiting online for a comedy show and we had been waiting soooooooo long... soon enough PSU chants started! People were surfing the line, it was a lot of fun! It's really safe. The class you can take at the gym white building like step and kickboxing are GREAT! Football is an experience though the school I go to now is better (RU) lol there is nothing like a PSU game.

Personally I know a lot of people who had a great time at PSU and I still have some good friends that go there but in the long run i knew it wasn't right for me and i'm glad i transferred.

Overall... college is truly what you make of it! I probably could have put more of an effort into making PSU a great experience but with factors i couldn't control (like the weather and location) I honestly wouldn't choose this school. Hope this was informative...?

1st Year Female -- Class 2010

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Individual Value: F