Best State Universities in Pennsylvania

College Search & Selection
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<p>Sven: It was just a summer semester when I went to KU. I took a Bio, a Philosophy and a social work class (9/10 credits in one month.) I thought the classes were good deal easier than my regular classes at Albright. Bio was very well-taught, but the tests, labs and assignments were all very easy - this was to fill my gen ed requirement, it was a course for non-science majors. The social work class only had one written assignment and a few very easy readings and tests, it was pretty much a joke. The Philosophy class was the only one of the three with a fair amount of work - we had 2-3 readings and a paper due every class(4 days/wk) and the grading of those papers wasn’t super easy either - I felt like I got my money’s worth for this class. </p>

<p>The dorm was very nice, I had a large double - directly out of my window I was looking at the graduate center along the “main” street, (which had horse and buggies going down it quite frequently.) The dorm had hardwood floors, large closets, air conditioning but it did have hall bathrooms. What I liked most about it was that my morning class was in the same building - so I could wake up and roll straight to class. Since it was summer only the main dining hall was open. The food there was decent; there seemed to be a good number of other options that would be open during the regular school year. The campus was nice, very clean, everything was spaced out pretty far so I did a good deal of walking there.</p>

<p>I only stayed there Sun-Wed nights, and went home every weekend, (it was my summer after all.) So during the nights I was there, it did not seem like there was a large party-scene, but my view was limited. </p>

<p>I liked the students I met there, but they may be a self-selecting group, since they were the ones who stayed for summer semester. Many were not traditional college age, (they were in their late 20s and 30s,) and a few were from other schools, (e.g. I went to Albright during the regular year, my roommate was a Pitt student, a girl in my Bio class went to Elizabethtown.) They seemed to be mature, responsible, motivated people who were well-grounded. Most were engaged in our classes and everyone seemed to keep up with the work, I really don’t remember there being slackers in my classes.</p>

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<p>I’d agree that Pitt fits the bill. I go there so I’ll comment on some things.</p>

<p>Our student newspaper, The Pitt News, is pretty popular. It’s published daily on weekdays and a lot of people peruse/read it.</p>

<p>I think we’re pretty strong in the areas you mentioned, but not sure about international studies. There are a lot of research and study abroad opportunities, and Pitt UHC is pretty good.</p>

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<p>Okay folks, here is the primer in PA higher education:</p>

<p>There are four (4) State-related Universities:
Penn State
Temple
Pitt
Lincoln (Historically Black)</p>

<p>Penn State, Temple and Pitt are all very good schools. I know kids at all of them who like them a lot. They all are large schools with a wide variety of majors and programs. All are doctorate level institutions and Penn State is a land grant university.
Temple has a satellite campus in Ambler PA, outside of Philly.
Pitt has a couple of satellite campuses - one is Johnstown and one in Bradford.
Penn State has multiple satellite campuses - if you live in PA there is one not far from you. Some only have the first two years of the bachelor degree but at many you can finish your degree there without going up to State College. Some have dorms but many are commuter schools.<br>
The downside for many is cost - for public schools they all have quite high instate tuition; Penn State is about $13000 for just tuition.</p>

<p>PASSHE - PA State System of Higher Education
These are the 14 State Universities all across the state. Some are competitive for admission and some are not. The majors and programs vary and are not as comprehensive as the “big three”. They were all teacher colleges and all do a great job in teacher training.
They are residential colleges with varying degrees of on campus housing availability.<br>
IUP (Indiana University of PA) is the only doctoral institution. The rest offer Bachelor and Master’s degrees.
West Chester is actually pretty selective and has a good reputation in PA. The kids I know who are there love it for the most part. No school pleases everyone though. Some don’t like it because the area is shady and parts are dangerous.</p>

<p>Kutztown is in a nice little college town. They attract lots of kids from Philly and the suburbs who don’t get into West Chester (which is how it’s known as the STD capital). They have a fantastic Art program and the Education dept is top notch.
The upside, of course, is affordablity. The tuition for PASSHE colleges is really low and affordable for many families at <$8000/year. Since the colleges are all across the state - likely there is one near you and many kids do commute to save on costs.</p>

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<p>@JohnAdams, we get your sarcasm, but it’s getting annoying. and 2k posts in ~4 months (likely all the same snarky comments)? come on.</p>

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<p>Future Actuary–you mentioned that you attend Albright. That’s another college that I’m looking into. What have your impressions been of the school thus far? What are considered to be the best/worst programs? What sort of students does Albright attract? What is the state of their extracurricular opportunities/study abroad program? Danke for your help!</p>

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<p>Bloomsburg · California · Cheyney · Clarion · East Stroudsburg · Edinboro · Indiana · Kutztown · Lock Haven · Mansfield · Millersville · Shippensburg · Slippery Rock · West Chester<br>
Pennsylvania State University · University of Pittsburgh · Temple University</p>

<p>Why do only the last three offer engineering? I’m probably not going to get into the first two, and Temple isn’t a sure shot either.</p>

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<p>Sven: </p>

<p>I’m actually an Albright Alum - I graduated in 2003. So my impressions may not be the most current, but I’m not THAT old either. (The summer I was at Kutztown was in 2002.)</p>

<p>I think very highly of my Albright experience. Now that I am taking courses elsewhere, I feel even more strongly about that. I think Albright really helped me grow, and as trite as this may sound, “find myself.” The academic environment is not very competitive, and that does not mean that the academics aren’t challenging, but rather that professors take a more nurturing/mentoring type approach, you’ll do a lot of group projects and generally professors really don’t grade on a curve- it’s not a sink-or-swim type culture. You will do A LOT of writing - I even had writing assignents in my calculus class on top of the problem sets. For the most part, I felt my professors genuinely enjoyed their jobs and being with students, and did a lot more than they were required to do for us.</p>

<p>Albright’s is strong on the liberal arts. There’s no nursing or engineering departments - so if you are looking for one of these more “practical” majors, it’s not the place. But if you are wanting a great college experience with a well-rounded academic path, then by all means take a look there. From my perspective the greatest strength, of the Albright’s majors, is the interdisciplinary nature of them - nearly everyone I knew was a combined, double or triple major. I had a combined Poli Sci/Sociology major. As far as best/worst I really don’t know that I can answer that in any more of a specific way than I just did. According to the numbers, the most popular major is apparently business, but I think most people combine business with a humanity, science, social science, language, art, etc… As far as having a liberal arts focus and having a career - I don’t know of any of my classmates who didn’t find work shortly after graduation. My boss is actually the father of one of my classmates.</p>

<p>As far as type of students, Albright largely attracts middle class students from Eastern, PA. Many students I knew received generous financial aid. When I was there, students were largely t-shirt and jeans types - brand names and expensive cars were by no means common on campus. Apparently Albright’s population is considered to be rather diverse in comparision to similar schools. I think most of the students there, were good students in high school, but not the super-achievers that we see here on CC. They are kids who take their academics seriously, but also know how to just be kids. </p>

<p>Something like 1/3 of students join a frat/sorority - I didn’t and I didn’t feel like I missed anything by not doing so. Sports Teams are Division 3. I knew there was sports teams on campus and that they were competitive within their conferences, but I didn’t know which of my classmates were athletes or not, unless I knew them outside of the classroom - which was really refreshing that those programs were pretty low-key(I went to a Catholic High School with very competitive athletic teams.) I did play some club sports while at Albright, those were fairly popular on campus and purely just for fun. Albright has the usual newspaper, literary journal, student government, radio station, hillel, theater, etc clubs that you’d expect. They host a lot of cultural events, (Speakers, Plays, Art Exhibits in the Gallery, etc.) on campus and Freshman/Sophomores are required to attend 16 of these over the course of those 2 years- which is very easy since there is 3-4 of these “events” each week and most are free for students. </p>

<p>I knew students who studied in Australia, Spain, London, Japan, Russia and elsewhere. There’s an office on campus for study abroad, but I don’t know too much about those opportunities, since I never looked into them. </p>

<p>Good luck in your decision!</p>

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<p>Because only the last three are research institutions. Research institutions are more likely to offer engineering.</p>

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<p>sven - to answer your question. Both my kids ended up at small out of state private colleges. At our income level and their stats it was a better financial deal than the states here in PA. For lower income folk the PA state schools are not such good deals. Temple was their number 2 choice though and West Chester is generally thought to be the best of the state funded schools.</p>

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<p>But Cornell IS a state school! Here’s the State University of New York (SUNY) official list of New York State public colleges and universities. Cornell is listed not once, not twice, but 4 times!</p>

<p>[SUNY:</a> Complete Campus List](<a href=“http://www.suny.edu/student/campuses_complete_list.cfm]SUNY:”>http://www.suny.edu/student/campuses_complete_list.cfm)</p>

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<p>Only four of Cornell’s constituent schools are state funded “statutory colleges”: New York State College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, NYS College of Human Ecology, NYS School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and NYS College of Veterinary Medicine. They aren’t under state control and are like the “state-related” schools in Pennsylvania. The other 9 schools and colleges at Cornell are private, including the main College of Arts and Sciences. At Penn, only the vet school receives significant state funding and it is not administered by the state, so it is more like the other “state-relateds”. Neither of these universities are considered to be “public” by any categorizing body.</p>

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<p>Thanks Future Actuary. Albright sounds like a really good fit for me. I think I’ll try and visit it sometime this summer.</p>

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<p>@moneydad - I always thought Woodrow Wilson was part of Princeton Community College in Princeton, New Jersey ;)</p>

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<p>dan92, actually the original name of Princeton University was “College of New Jersey” and remained so for 150 years until 1896</p>

<p>pretty cool name eh?</p>

<p>I believe another institution has now taken that name.</p>

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<p>FA, thanks for your post on Albright. That also sounds like a very good fit for me. I was always under the impression that Albright was for underachievers, but the environment there sounds great. The types of students there sound like a match for me too. I am getting good grades in high school, but I don’t get hyped up about schoolwork.</p>

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<p>There are 14 state owned Universities in Pennsylvania.</p>

<ol>
<li>Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.</li>
<li>California University of Pennsylvania.</li>
<li>Clarion University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Edinboro University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Indiana University of Pennsylvania(biggest of the 14 state owned with almost 13,000 students)</li>
<li>Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Millersville University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Mansfield University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>West Chester University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Klutztown University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Slippery Rock of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Cheney University of Pennsylvania</li>
</ol>

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<p>OP – </p>

<p>Of the PASHHE schools, West Chester and Millersville have classes coming in with the highest stats. Both in the eastern side of the state</p>

<p>As far as Honors colleges in the PASHHE schools, nothing beats IUP - Robert E Cook. Mr. Cook dumps a lot of money into the program. The program is very focused on the individual.</p>

<p>In my experience, high stat kids can get a deal at the lower tiered LACs and small universities in PA which can make the costs equivalent. Schools like Ursinus, Arcadia. These smaller schools do NOT have a journalism program, but will prepare you very well for a career in journalism.</p>

<p>Temple has a full tuition plus scholarship that they just came out with. <a href=“http://admissions.temple.edu/sites/admissions/files/uploads/188_1213_scholarship_info_sheet_FINAL.pdf[/url]”>http://admissions.temple.edu/sites/admissions/files/uploads/188_1213_scholarship_info_sheet_FINAL.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>This is a 2 year old thread. I’m not sure why it’s being revived now.</p>

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<p>Albright</p>

<p>I know the parents of a student who is entering sophmore year. They LOVE Albright. The student was accepted to higher ranked schools, but the financial package at Albright worked best. She believe the academics are challenging. She is involved with sports and a few clubs.</p>

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<p>If you are a Pennsylvania resident, its better to go out of state. </p>

<p>All PA state-owned Universities are tier 2.</p>