<p>Hello, everyone. I am a Korean-American male and I’ll be attending the Pennsylvania State University UP for engineering. Penn State UP was one of my top schools, as it is a world renowned school with excellent engineering programs. However, for some reasons, I keep feeling paranoid that the school might not be a good fit for me because I’ve heard some nasty things about how Asians are treated and discriminated at PSU. All I hear is that State College is “the Alabama of Pennsylvania” and that Penn State students are ignorant and racist. Will I be discriminated because of my appearance and ethnicity? Should I expect overt hatred of any kind? Please be honest because I heard some major horrible stories about discrimination against Asian students. </p>
<p>If you can, please go to The</a> Pennsylvania State University - University Park, PA on Yelp.com and read Darin J’s comment. I am so afraid that I will be also made fun of/ridiculed like this. I can man-up and take subtle racism, but I don't think I can tolerate this kind of BS. </p>
<p>You have to put a lot of that guys review in perspective. From the writing, it sounds like he was unaware that PSU is 75% white. That’s open information and it sounds like he was shocked to find that out. I mean guess what, a lot of white folks live in PA. Also he went from a very liberal area as he stated to PSU which (although I believe State College voted narrowly liberal in the last election) the surrounding area is conservative, which surely made him all nervous. I also think this guy had too high expectations. PSU is a very good school, but from the looks of that review, it seems like he thought he was going to Northwestern instead.</p>
<p>I am okay with the fact that PSU is predominately white, but according to Darin J, there is overt racism at University Park. I am worried that I will be discriminated (even ridiculed) because of my Asian appearance and ethnicity. </p>
<p>I am super excited to go and study there, but I am a little bit concerned about racist PSU students and local State College residents.</p>
<p>You read one review my man. You surely have visited the campus at least once, were you discriminated against then? I’d guess not because you’re still going. It’s like not buying a car that has 500 reviews because 1 out of that 500 is negative.</p>
<p>I mean this just shows this guy did not belong there: “especially when I decided to break the hideous trend of PSU t-shirt, sweats or b-ball shorts with some sandals. No one wants to stand out there, and if they do, they will get ostracized. I’m so glad to have met so many of my good friends there, who helped me get by through the year. I wont even bother bringing in the football scandal issue much, but it only reinforces my argument that a lot of the students here tend to conform to the mass.” The ‘hideous’ trend of school spirit is what PSU is known for. God forbid. Not to mention, if you’re wearing sandals…like legit Jesus-style sandals, you’re probably going to get laughed at regardless of your race.</p>
<p>The other SC residents who are usually here will probably comment too…</p>
<p>SC is not some hotbed of racist jerks. Are there stupid students who benefit from some diversity lessons? Yup. and the surrounding county is conservative but SC is fairly liberal. Our mayor presides over gay marriages, for example. But I would not be worried. How many small towns have a synagogue, a mosque, a thriving East Indian culture, too many Asian restaurants to count, A Russian orthodox church, two Catholic churches, an annual global culture fair and the like? Of course, I am not a minority, and so I may be wrong, but I have lived lots of places and this is the first one where I can watch the Russian grandma, the Korean mom, the nice lady in the sari and an elderly gay couple all talk about onions in line at an Amish market. True story.</p>
<p>“Alabama of PA”
I think you are parroting a comment made by someone on this board who has been discredited. He has made comments about the University and SC, WITHOUT BEING A STUDENT HERE!
He was politely asked to describe the source of his knowledge of PSU (does he attend? How long? how long has he been in state college?) and he never responded. People did some digging and found conflicting posts that suggest, at best, he might be attending a branch campus THIS UPCOMING YEAR. Far from the expert you might expect from from his posts. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, with the exception of this one post from darrin J, please share with us the source of the scary stories. Are they credible? Did you hear them from the person making these claims Considering the size of the university, its liberal leanings (this includes the students, not just faculty) and the number of asians, you should be sure these stories are true and not exaggerated before creating anxiety for yourself. Where do you think most students come from? Philly, Pitts, NJ, NY, MD and metro-washington DC. Not exactly conservative parts of the country.</p>