<p>Hey, I just finished my first semester at University Park and love it. Happy Valley is the greatest place on earth. I am in the Smeal College of Business. I would gladly answer any questions about the school.</p>
<p>what kind of stats did you have in HS,(SATs gpa course rigor) so i can develop my chances</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What is the weather like, more specifically, how does it compare with New York City?</p></li>
<li><p>[Only apply if you have taken AP courses in HS]. How does the rigor of UP courses compare to the rigor of AP courses?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>These are the only questions I can think of right now. I'll come back if I have more.</p>
<p>ericg1: Congratulations on a successful first semester. How large were your classes? If you had any TA's as instructors, how were they?</p>
<p>Hey, Thanks for taking the time to help us out.</p>
<ol>
<li>I am an international student and will be going to PSU this spring as a transfer (I will be staying in one of those supplemental rooms), so I would appreciate if you could tell me about how the atmosphere for international students is and what goes on in supp rooms--like, is too crowded/chaotic?</li>
</ol>
<p>Also, how are the lectures in general? Have you been impressed or disappointed with the quality/number of people in lectures and how is the campus?</p>
<p>ilovematt, i had a 1220 out of 1600 on the SATs. i went to a very well respected public school in NJ and was top 20 percent. I had around an A-/B+ gpa..... i took tough classes but that isnt too much of a factor here at psu</p>
<ol>
<li>What is the weather like, more specifically, how does it compare with New York City?</li>
</ol>
<p>The weather is not the best here at Happy Valley. It rains alot but it was beautiful the first couple weeks of school. It is like 5-7 degrees colder than NYC. </p>
<ol>
<li>[Only apply if you have taken AP courses in HS]. How does the rigor of UP courses compare to the rigor of AP courses?</li>
</ol>
<p>I am a business major and i pulled a 3.44 first semester. I pledged a frat and it took up 40+ hours a week. The classes arent too bad for business students, use ratemyprofessor.com to help find the better professors. The engineering kids do have it much tougher than most of us. However, if you can handle AP classes, you can handle PSU. </p>
<ol>
<li>I am an international student and will be going to PSU this spring as a transfer (I will be staying in one of those supplemental rooms), so I would appreciate if you could tell me about how the atmosphere for international students is and what goes on in supp rooms--like, is too crowded/chaotic?</li>
</ol>
<p>The supplemental for my floor is right next to my room and the kids love it. They refuse to move out and they all seem to get along well. It can be annoying if you need perfect silence to sleep. Also, i recommend using the study halls to do work. Many of the international kids tend to socialize with others from the same country. However, i have a good friend from south america and he only hangs out with americans.
Also, how are the lectures in general? Have you been impressed or disappointed with the quality/number of people in lectures and how is the campus?</p>
<p>Also, how are the lectures in general? Have you been impressed or disappointed with the quality/number of people in lectures and how is the campus?</p>
<p>I walked into my first psu class with 700 kids. I sat in the front row and i asked the professor at least one question every lecture. Make use of their office hours and you will be fine. I like the big hall atmosphere because it motivates me to do well. Many of the students skip classes but i wont let myself do that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answers, ericg. I am an out of state/int'l student and this will be my first semester at PSU. I plan to finish my freshman year there and hopefully apply to schereyer on my sophomore year( I was told this was possible and hopefully I will have a high enough gpa by then--as of now my gpa is 3.9). If I don't get into the honors college, I will brobably transfer out of psu at the end of soph year since the full OOS tuition is just too high for regular classes. </p>
<p>SO, what can you tell us about the campus? Like, is it well taken care of? What about the atmosphere with so many students--does it get to chaotic and dirty?</p>
<p>One more thing, What hall/area did you stay in and how was your experience there?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>The campus is beautiful and well taken care of. PSU has huge school spirit and students respect the campus. I never saw one piece of litter on the ground. Also, the university employs a huge ground crew to keep campus tidy. I believe Princeton Review rated us in the top 20 nicest campuses either this year or last yr. The only thing that is ever crowded is the bus system. But i enjoy to work. I am also trying to get into the honors program. I believe you need a 3.7</p>
<p>A scholar assistant for the SHC once told us that if you're making the Dean's List, you likely have the GPA portion of the "requirements" taken care of for junior gate/sophomore petitioning.</p>
<p>As for the campus, it really is clean. I only saw some litter on weekends (Sat night-Sun morning), and those were usually football weekends. Every day else is litter free.</p>
<p>thanks, i got to nj, what school did you go to?</p>
<p>Thanks again ericg, it is good to know. That's the great thing about "current student" theads, you get a single take from someone that has been at the school and is able to report, unlike question threads where you are likely to get vastly contradictory opinions form people that may not even attend the school, which then causes a string of arguments to ensue and so forth.</p>
<p>yes, you need a 3.7 and probably some teacher recs. Do you think your current stats will make you a competitive applicant and when do you intend on applying ?</p>
<p>I'm also a freshman at psu (Business Major) and i've had a decent first semester. I was pretty happy with a 3.91 gpa with 18 credits scheduled.</p>
<p>I had a 2010 SAT (1310 Math and Verbal combined) and a 3.85 GPA in a top NJ public school.</p>
<p>If you can handle AP's in high school, you should be able to handle PSU work.</p>
<p>Nick, my stats were a tad higher than yours and I did well on AP(4's) classes. Do you think it will be easy for me to get a 3.9 or more at psu for biochemistry? And are you thinking of applying to honors as well?</p>
<p>With due respect, that's a ridiculous question and any answer would be more so.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Nick, my stats were a tad higher than yours and I did well on AP(4's) classes. Do you think it will be easy for me to get a 3.9 or more at psu for biochemistry? And are you thinking of applying to honors as well?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Because of your major, i think it might be harder to get more than 3.9. But, you never know. It all depends what courses you take. I took Seminar in Business, Management Info systems, intro to sociology (easy material but tests were tricky), business statistics, meteorology (hard class!!), and french 3. Usually, chem/physics/bio classes are harder than any of the classes i took. </p>
<p>At the moment i'm thinking of transfering to Michigan or UVA for sophomore year. If I dont get in there, i'll try for the honors college, although I think it will be difficult as they only take 75 kids who have a gpa of 3.7 or more. Yeah i do have a 3.91 first semester, but i'm not sure if i can maintain it next semester with some harder classes like english 30 and accounting 211.</p>
<p>Is honors calculus hard? Is it heavy on proofs?</p>
<p>if you're a good student, you should be able to handle it.</p>
<p>its not so hard.</p>
<p>Isn't it too early in the game since you just finished your first semester at PSU? Now I remember that you posted somewhere that you didn't like the campus because it was isolated and surrounded by cows, but why the hasty tranfer? And why didn't you apply to those schools in the first place? I always thought that applying for transfer as a freshman would be too much of a hassle since one might not be able to get rec's from professors(huge intro classes) and so forth.</p>
<p>Summary: I am bamboozled.</p>
<p>Are PSU's lectures anything like MIT's OCW courses? I can only understand most if not all of it, specifically the science/math courses.</p>