Auburn vs Penn State

I am very torn on which school to choose. Obviously auburn is higher ranked by design intelligence over penn state. I also got waitlisted at Virginia tech and I accepted to waitlist but is it even worth it? I have toured both schools and loved both. Penn state gave me pretty good financial aid, a scholarship, and I might be able to qualify for instate tuition. It’s also only 3.5 hours away from home. On the other hand I really like how at auburn I can also get a degree in interior architecture and I can participate in urban and rural studio and do an exchange program for my thesis. I didn’t get any merit scholarships from them and I still have to hear back about financial aid but since I’m out of state I doubt it will be any good. It’s also about a 13 hour drive from where I live. I did a little more digging into the design intelligence rankings and found that while auburn ranks really high in some categories they are 15th for job placement after graduation. However, penn state ranks 3rd in this category. I’ve been told that penn staters are everywhere and because of that I am practically guaranteed a job upon graduation. I think that Penn state would be the smarter choice for me but at the same time I don’t want to miss out on Auburn’s prestigious program or just hope that I get off Virginia Tech’s waitlist.

Congrats!. Actually, Penn State is a pretty good school. DI ranks PSU Arch in top 15. So it is not far from Auburn. Also, as a university, it is ranked around 50 by US News.

Since it is only 3 1/2 hrs and you got money. It is no brainer. One area you may want to explore is Architecture Eng. PSU is one of the few schools has it.
If I were to choose university band name. If will follow the following

  • TOP Private U (Ivy, or similar)
  • Univ of
  • State Univ
  • Tech
  • Ploy
    There are expections such a CalTech, MIT, GT, etc

On the list PSU is better than most of the school.

I’d go with PSU and I must say I’ve peen noticing Penn State alumni a lot these days since my son got accepted lol… ranking wise over all Penn State is way higher than Auburn plus the instate tuition would be great…

My FD is in the arch program at penn state. Super challenging but she loves the professors, the school, everything. Good luck!