<p>NOTE: BTW, I posted the same kind of thread on the AU and UMD boards. I you know anything about these schools, post there too. Thank you.</p>
<p>Hello all, I am an African-American male from Philly who is about to become a high school senior. For many months, I have been going through the whole "college preparation" thing with my parents. We've been going through it picking schools for a list and finally, I think I have a good list. PSU is on it, and my stats are about "match-extremely slight reach":</p>
<p>1190 SAT, 2.8-3.0 GPA (school doesn't calculate GPA or rank students). Will have great recs, great essay, and am VERY involved in EC's</p>
<p>I really don't care right now about my chances for the school, as I have two safeties. What I want to know is the ATMOSPHERE of PSU, and the little things that I wouldn't be able to get out of the guidebook. Like, how's the food there? Is there a lot of racial tension on campus? Do blacks/whites separate themselves from each other? How are the dorms (big, small, what do they come with?) Basically, just a whole lotta stuff about PSU you think I should know. Good or bad. I am visiting the school soon, btw. Thank you.</p>
<p>I recently toured PSU and can answer a few of your questions. PSU has great food. There are no complaints with food, so there's no need to worry about that (unlike Johns Hopkins which is known for horrible food). You could probably find pictures of the dorms on the PSU website. I do not believe there is any racial tension, as it is a very nice community with a great little town right off of the campus. When I visited I saw no evidence of racial tension either on campus or in the surrounding areas. For more about the lifestyle at PSU, check out the Princeton Review's page on Penn State. Penn State is a larger campus but a very eventful one. You will be given all of this information when you take your tour. The tour they give is great as well, so I'm sure you'll find all that you need. If there's anything else you want to know, reply back to this thread!</p>
<p>IMO after 2 visits there I have to say the food is pretty "average", especially at school. If you're not into much variety the food will be okay for you, but if you are more of the adventurous eater type and dine out a lot in big cities like Philly, the menus can seem a bit narrow. Since you asked, I assume it's kind of an important factor. Our family is a mixture of ethnicities and we live in L.A. so our daughter grew up eating at a wide range of sushi, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Italian and Thai restarants, etc. We tried one Indian restaurant downtown for example, and were pretty disappointed with it. But maybe after a few weeks of hamburgers, pizza and sandwiches, my daughter will think it's great ;)</p>
<p>It seems like most of the students come from the small towns and suburbs nearby--not too many from out of state such as my daughter. The student cashier at the bookstore stopped and had a conversation with us and seems impressed that we came out all the way from California. Looking at the student HUB and taking the bus around the school a few times, one can see a fair amount of mixing in social and study activities, but again like the food you're not going to see huge diversity like in a big city. The atmosphere seems pretty relaxed and friendly. Students happily stop and give directions. Not much snobbery evident. People seem to dress for function and weather, not to impress. 90% seem to move around campus hooked to an iPod or other earphones. </p>
<p>When you go visit, send me a PM--I can recommend a particular person in the admissions/recruitment dept who you should talk with, and some other tips.</p>
<p>I thought the food was pretty good, and there are great places to eat (even Indian food) in State College -- a Mongolian place called the Green Bowl was my favorite. In the dining halls the food is mediocre in East Halls (where most freshmen live) but pretty good in West and in South.</p>
<p>People tend to hang out with the people they live with or know from ECs without regard to race. The dorms are all right, nothing spectacular, and a lot probably depends on whether you click with your roomate and the people on your floor.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed the four years I spent at PSU and try to get back to State College whenever I can.</p>
<p>Not a student, but a parental unit. The DailyCollegian today had a picture of an integrated African dance unit. How's that for diversity!
Good luck with your search.</p>