<p>We were planning on taking our S up to PSU for admitted engineering majors on Presidents Day 2/20. The last time we visited was over the summer and Im concerned that there will be no students on campus again due to the holiday. Is it worth going to admitted students day or should we try to get a more intimate visit on another day ie.. with academic dept or have him sit in on a class etc.. We did this with Vtech in the fall and it really gave him a feel for the school. Other than PSU being a large campus, I dont think he has a real feel for the school when all the students are there.. Any advice?</p>
<p>There will be students on campus, so make sure you take advantage of having lunch in a dining commons, and walk around the engineering buildings. Go rest your feet in the HUB and walk around in Pattee/Paterno library too. If you have time, go shopping downtown – there are a couple cupcake places!! — which gives you a nice sense of student life. If you have a musician, check out the music buildings. If he’s an athlete, go visit Rec Hall or the White building or drive through the intramural fields. The “official” tours are nice, but sometimes don’t hit the things you most want to see. </p>
<p>Of course, dress warmly. February is usually cold and wet!</p>
<p>Greenbutton is correct–President’s Day is not a student holiday so classes are in session. The only time there are no classes during the fall and spring semesters is the entire week of Thanksgiving, MLK day and Spring break (a week in the first half of March).</p>
<p>And don’t forget the creamery, even if it is too cold!</p>
<p>I think President day weekend is THON weekend. I would definitely try to stop by the BJC and see THON in person while you are there. The campus will definitely be full of students.</p>
<p>Glad to hear its not a holiday …actually Im glad I asked because we almost changed the date… Thanks for the advice, we may have to go up the day before to fit in all this visiting.</p>
<p>Thon will be over Feb 19, so visiting on the 20th wouldn’t be a problem. ( PSU wouldn’t schedule an admitted student reception for the same time as Thon). The following weekend, Feb 25, is the unofficial holiday of State Patty’s Day, and visitors definitely want to steer clear of that entire Fri-Sun space. PSU isn’t even allowing tours to be scheduled then.</p>
<p>bandgy- I would highly recommend taking the opportunity to sit in on some classes whether you attend the admitted students session or not.</p>
<p>last year my D attending that session and also attended classes. you can find class times and locations at this link. if the class is a large lecture, you can just sit in. if it is a smaller class, you should email the prof ahead of time to find out if it is ok. [Penn</a> State University - Office of the University Registrar - Schedule of Courses: Course Search](<a href=“http://schedule.psu.edu/]Penn”>http://schedule.psu.edu/)</p>
<p>You might want to talk to someone in the college and ask for a recommendation on a class to sit in. One of the freshman seminars would probably be interesting.</p>
<p>you can look at the recommended program for your major here [2010-11</a> Programs Guide](<a href=“http://www.engr.psu.edu/AdvisingCenter/programguide2010-11.aspx]2010-11”>http://www.engr.psu.edu/AdvisingCenter/programguide2010-11.aspx)</p>
<p>then you can plan to sit in on the actual courses that you would take.</p>
<p>Most of the early engineering courses are things along the lines of chem, math, physics, econ, english. I don’t think the seminars are listed in the program guide. Engineering students are not accepted to specific majors until the third year.</p>
<p>i would think it more valuable to sit in on the suggested courses for engineering majors such as calc and physics since that is the meat of the program. the link above contains teh suggested plan of courses for engineering students, you can see for example that if you are intended to be a civil engineering major, the second semester freshman year suggested courses are: Math 141, Phys 211, Chem 111, Econ 2, 4 or 14, one general education and one phys ed. if that means your first year is going to be mostly large lectures filled with beginning enginneering students, better to know that going in and see what it is like than to sit in on seminars which won’t be representative of the courses you would take.</p>
<p>The seminars are listed in the programs guide, just not the specifics of what is being offered in any given semester. (Calc and physics are not suggestions; they are requirements.) As the parent of an engineering student, I think my son would have been more interested in visiting a seminar about his particular area of interest, than he would be in a basic intro class from one of the other colleges. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be worth while to do that as well, but it would be a shame as a student in the College of Engineering to not sit in on an engineering class. Because most engineers don’t enter their major until junior year, some of the most relevant courses are the freshman seminars.</p>
<p>How about a cmpen course for computer engineering would be a sophmore class but in his major. He has to look at the schedule for admitted students day to see if we can fit it in</p>
<p>I don’t what that is, but if it looks interesting to him it might be a good one.</p>
<p>Here are a couple freshman seminars–</p>
<p>CMPEN 111S
Computers and Computer Hardware (1) A brief orientation to University life and resources and an introduction to computers and computer hardware. </p>
<p>CMPSC 111S
Logic for Computer Science (1) An introduction to logic and its application to problem solving and computer science.</p>