Hello everyone, I need your advice. I am going to major in mathematics. I got into Bucknell with a pretty big scholarship, so it is going to cost me even less than Penn State University. Is Bucknell well known university in the northeast? I haven’t seen it in many rankings, so that’s why I’m concerned a little bit about which university to choose. Also, is mathematics good at Bucknell compared to Penn State?
Is Bucknell well known? Not really, especially as you move farther away from Pennsylvania. The average person knows the names of big research universities and those with big sports teams, not liberal arts colleges like Bucknell.
Penn State is well known, but perhaps not for the reasons you wish. It is well known for its sports teams and its scandals.
These two schools are on opposite ends of the spectrum: one is a small private liberal arts college; the other, large public university. You should go to the one that has the environment you are looking for.
Bucknell is a well known and highly regarded LAC. If you are looking on the rankings you need to check the LAC rankings rather than the university rankings. I agree that it really depends on the environment you want – you are comparing a LAC with a huge state university. There are pros and cons to both so do what is right for you.
Thank you for your comments!
Bucknell is well known and pretty elite. Penn state is a great school, but not on the level of Bucknell. Bucknell is the definite right choice. However, Bucknell is in the middle of now where, so that could take some time to get used to depending on what your used to.
It depends on fit, the two are complete opposites of one another. Large Research University vs Intimate small liberal arts college.
Penn State is regarded as more “prestigious” option outside of PA. Job opportunity is also better at Penn State if you stay top 50%
Did you get into Schreyer or Paterno Scholars?
Bucknell is more prestigious than Penn State, much more selective. It’s also heavily Greek and has alcohol consumption problems. This can be a plus or a minus in your book but you need to keep this in mind.
Penn State is a party school too, but any given weekend there are thousands of kids who don’t get drunk and the university organizes free movies and activities for them. At Bucknell, it’s harder to get away from the drinking crowd and I’d recommend asking for a quiet dorm, or a substance-free dorm, unless you plan on partying hard too of course (in which case you have to be very careful to avoid parties during the week - those who don’t, don’t last long at Bucknell.)
In terms of size, Penn State will have lots of very large lecture halls classes, Bucknell will have mostly small, interactive classes. At Penn State, professors’s priorities are first their research, second their grad students, third “service”, fourth undergrads. At Bucknell, undergrads come first, research second, service third, and there are no grad students. If you got into Schreyer, you’ll have some advantages with small classes and contact with professors, so the “large university” problems should be greatly alleviated.
No, I didn’t get into Schreyer or Paterno scholars. Thank you for your elaborate answers 
For academics, you can look at each school’s catalog to see what courses exist, and at each school’s schedule to see how often each course is offered and how large the class size is.