(Penn State/PSU) Ok, I know I'm one of the rare ones

How this student rated the school

Educational Quality	C	Faculty Accessibility	A-
Useful Schoolwork	B	Excess Competition	A-
Academic Success	C	Creativity/ Innovation	B
Individual Value	F	University Resource Use	A-
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A+	Friendliness	A
Campus Maintenance	A+	Social Life	C-
Surrounding City	C	Extra Curriculars	D
Safety	A+

Describes the student body as: Arrogant, Snooty, Closeminded Describes the faculty as: Friendly, Helpful

Female

SAT1200

Bright

Lowest Rating Individual Value	F

Highest Rating Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A+

She cares more about Extra Curriculars than the average student.

Date: Jan 10 2008
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
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. Im 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 lets 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 Ill 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. Patricks Day decorations would last (considering PSU is all alcoholics and changed St. Pattys day b/c it feel during spring break to STATE Paddys 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 elses 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…?

Responses

Do you mind if I ask you where else you looked at to transfer to? I'm in sort of the same situation.

Fu*k you with your "all dumb PA kids" I am from PA and I could run intellectual circles around any skull as thick as yours

WOW ok comment kid you're crazy! I said i knew my experience didn't reflect every person at PSU. My roomie was super smart BUT the academics at PSU were not very challenging. Being at Rutgers now i see how challenging college can actually be! Anyway, congrats if you like PSU … i like my new school so we're all happy.

As for the question…I really concentrated on places near NYC. BUT b/c i was super undecided with my major i decided to apply to instate schools so i wouldn't have to pay a lot of money (since i didn't know what i wanted to do). I only applied to Rutgers and TCNJ. If you're from jersey and want to look at state schools or schools near NYC i would say look at Rowan, Stockton, if you can affort it Fordham, New School, NYU… I don't know. Honestly if you want diversity and a large campus that's near a city (NYC) you should consider Rutgers!!!

I just took my son on a group tour of PSU and was impressed, but I wonder about the academic demands. It sounds like you feel that Rutgers challenges a student more academically than does PSU. Are the students at Rutgers-New Brunswick more serious academically or is the faculty more demanding? Do you feel that you get a better education at Rutgers?

First of all, I'm surprised you were admitted to University Park as a freshman with all of your grammatical errors. Spelling seems to be a fairly important skill at the college level. Second, the first year at PSU is definitely the easiest. You have very general, lower level classes designed to give you a foundation for the much more difficult, upper level classes you will have later on in your academic career. Had you stuck around longer, you would have found that out. A 4.0 for a first year is not that impressive. Show me a 4.0 upon graduation and I'll be impressed. I graduated with a 3.3 and I worked my ass off, even with all of the extracurricular social activities, and I immediately got a job in my field right out of college. The PSU alumni networking aspect absolutely cannot be overlooked. Maybe your problem with PSU was yourself. Look in the mirror before you start hurling personal insults at the proud Blue and White.

Ok i really can't believe you're judging me on grammatical errors. The content is clear … i didn't like PSU and I'm happy where I am now. I'm not trying to hurt anyones feelings it's a matter of opinion. The funny thing is my little sister is applying to PSU and it's her first choice. I could really see her being happy there and I support her. She's into the party scene and wants all the big sports teams so why not. But if you're not into partying then don't go to PSU. And I do feel Rutgers is slightly more challenging then PSU. I know ppl will hate on me but NJ public schools are top in the nation with Virginia, NY, and California so therefore I just feel a different kind of population goes to Rutgers. Fight me all you want it's an opinion… and like i said my sister wants to go there and I did go there for a year so there have to be some good things about the PSU…

This is a good review. So what if there were some typos bitter commenter. This is not a dissertation. Some people have a serious chip on their shoulder!

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