Campus Life at a branch (Abington)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
1

My son has the option of pursuing an Accounting degree with a 2+2 program starting at Abington. We are in NJ, and also looking at other NJ and OOS options. Finishing up at UP and Smeal seems like a great plan.

But I’m concerned that DS is going to be miserable his first two years at Abington. How is the campus life at Abington, esp. on weekends? We attended a recent Saturday open house. It was quite clear that the campus is a ghost town on weekends, and the new dorm seemed very quiet as well. Are PSU branches in general, and Abington specifically, places where everyone skips town on Friday afternoon? Are schools like Delaware / Temple / Rutgers better for somebody who wants the “college experience?”

2

Abington is more of a commuter school I think because the dorms there are brand new. Many of the commonwealth campuses would be considered commuter with the major exception of Altoona, Harrisburg and Behrend. Those are colleges in their own right with all the ‘college feel’ that any other college would have. I have a daughter at UP and a son at Altoona and I can say that Altoona is not boring. My son has found plenty (too much?) to do! If you are concerned you can always try to switch to a commonwealth that has that college feel. I’m sure there are other colleges closer to home that have that college feel as well, but graduating Penn State Smeal is quite a boost on the resume.

3

You could try to see if he can be assigned to Harrisburg instead - you may have been given Abington because it’s the closest to NJ, assuming he’ll go home on weekends as most students at Abington do.
If not Temple, UDelaware, and Rutgers all have a more residential life/community feel. Of the three I think UDel has the most traditional feel - Temple is urban and Rutgers is split with buses running between campuses. UDel is residential, self contained, near a walkable college town.

4

Thanks for the replies. We will check if it is possible to switch to Harrisburg. Still not sure if PSU 2+2 is the best choice, but perhaps Harrisburg is a better fit than Abington.