American vs Penn State University

Colleges and Universities A-Z American University
1

<p>So here’s the deal I’ve been accepted to Penn State and American University. I just received my financial aid packages from both AU and PSU. Penn State is offering to cover most of my cost of attendance. I also received merit aid from PSU. None from American. My question is I really want to work in Politics and in Washington, DC to be specific. By going to American University I’ll be in the center of it all access to internships, the federal government, everything. While at Penn State I’m farther away and it’ll be harder to network and make connections compared to if I were in DC itself for college.</p>

<p>So what should I do? Take the almost full ride to Penn State or go into a lot of debt by attending AU in Washington. </p>

<p>The positives for American are that I will be living in the city in which I want to work in after graduation and have opportunities that I would probably not have if I stay in PA.</p>

<p>While Penn State’s positives are that its cheap cheap and cheaper than AU with the aid package that I received. Plus Penn State has the biggest alumni network of any college or university in the country. Also its biggest alumni chapter is the Washington DC chapter so obviously PSU is well represented in the DC area.</p>

2

<p>I can say a lot of nice things about AU, even after the Great Admissions-Notification Debacle of 2011, but I can’t say that I’d go into Yale-worthy debt for it.</p>

3

<p>Sounds like too big a price difference to justify AU.</p>

<p>I would go to Penn State and then spend one of your undergrad semesters doing the Washington Semester at AU or the Washington Center program. Most colleges cooperate with one or both to provide a semester worth of credit while you do internships in DC. As far as college credit, it works the same way as a semester abroad, and they each also offer housing for the semester.</p>

<p>Penn State’s graduate level political science programs are highly rated by US News, for whatever that is worth. Also, Penn State does a great deal of distance learning. That might allow you to take some public policy classes from the Harrisburg campus.</p>