<p>Good point mom2collegekids. Does anyone really need to be told that Penn State doesn’t accept everyone?</p>
<p>I don’t have any way to spin a good take on what the rep told you. “Well, we turn people away who want to go here, so we don’t feel the need to do anything to convince people to come.” (These were her exact words.)</p>
<p>Maybe instead of “What Not To Wear” we need a new TV show, “What Not to Say”.</p>
<p>rtor: one more thought. There’s a helpful student who posts on the PSU cc boards…she ( I think it’s a she but I’m not sure) really seems to know her stuff and might even have some admin and professor connections.
Maybe you could have your son send him/her a private email to ask some advice. And also tell her about the awful experience cause she might actually send it up the chain!</p>
<p>Wild. Even schools with much lower admit rates than PSU (I’m thinking Stanford here, which is in the single digits) treat each applicant more politely than this up to the time of decision.</p>
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<p>Cool, out of a graduating class of 15k (or 12k, I don’t really feel like looking it up), some people were successful. Shocker. If you’re intending to say that Penn State has many driven and intelligent students, then that cannot suffice in proving the worth of the entire graduating class. Since you’re going to use data that is insufficient to prove a conclusion, I might as well too. My school essentially sends the middle 50% of its students to Penn State and, based on the people I know who go there, they’re all complete morons that aren’t intellectually driven or even remotely intelligent whatsoever. I got the same impression when I visited (why did I apply there, I still wonder), but, I’m sure there are some exceptions. The probability of there being exceptionally brilliant students goes up with the fact that there are an insane amount of people there.</p>
<p>However, I wasn’t commenting on the quality of the student body (though, as you already know my sentiments, I don’t view them highly). As well, just look at how they advertise themselves (since I was accepted, they put up this pathetic youtube video of why this one guy went to Penn State and every time I watch it, it makes me want to make sure I never go there in my life). Every academic that I’ve talked to has concurred with my opinion that Penn State does not have that strong of a faculty and is not held in high regards academically (with the exception of a few fields, but, even in those, they’re not the strongest). Simply looking through the CV’s of various faculty at Penn State and talking to some of them has shown to me, at the very least, that they aren’t very impressive or intelligent. Granted, this is merely my opinion and I have no objective data to back up my claims, but, well, I don’t know. I just wanted to say my opinion.</p>
<p>The logical fallacies embedded in that statement are so obvious it makes me laugh!!</p>
<p>So you turn people away who want to go to Penn State… well, what if the people that you admit don’t want to go to Penn State? Where would that leave you? Even the best schools have events for admitted students to convince them to attend.</p>
<p>^^^^So does Penn State. The OP states that her son is attending an admitted student event at Penn State.</p>
<p>Actually, that can be a tough day to schedule a one on one meeting with a faculty member due to all the admitted students visiting on the same day. But if the student were to email a faculty member or department to see who may be available to meet or what class may be observed or what students in the department might be willing to share, that may be possible to do on a separate occasion. Some main office is not the place to start. And truthfully, this is the role for the student to take on, not the parent. Parents can line up logistics like travel plans but the student is the one who should be making contact with faculty at the colleges.</p>
<p>There response received from the DUS was completely unprofessional. If they didn’t want to meet with your son, they could at least say that they didn’t think it was beneficial for him to meet with somebody from that department. It’s difficult to decide what faculty to contact as your son is undecided, but have him contact a few departments and see who he can get a meeting/class visit with. It is really easy to be just a number in large schools, but you can counteract that by meeting lots of people and making good impressions.</p>
<p>hey motion, if you want to base your opinion on limited exposure without really understanding the environment, that’s your right. Thankfully most will go deeper than that. For example, just because a certain school has drunk lacrosse players who hire strippers and get in trouble doesn’t reflect on the whole school, although I know some parents who steered their kids away due to this limited view. Even before all the facts were known. </p>
<p>PSU is far from perfect…it’s big and has it’s share of flaws, including, apparently rude admissions people. But to insult the PSU faculty (some of whom are top-flight) based on a few discussions you have with snooty academics reveals YOUR deficiencies as a person more than anything else. Enough said…</p>
<p>I’ve been to campus multiple times (stayed overnight with someone I know there too), I know many morons that have ended up attending there, I see their facebook photos from there, etc. I don’t see how much more exposure I could get as a high school senior but, through some means, some go deeper than that with their extensive exposure to the school.</p>
<p>Yes, those damn academics who are much more respected in their fields than many (if not all) PSU professors will ever be telling me that PSU is of lower quality must inherently be wrong and snooty precisely because Penn State is so awesome. I’ve read a lot of the papers published by PSU professors, seen their past accomplishments, and talked with some of them and came to the conclusion that they’re not that impressive. Apparently I didn’t go deep enough because, according to most Penn State graduates, Penn State is the greatest thing on the face of the Earth. Another reason why I decided not to go there… I know you pointed out that it has flaws but I feel like I can skew what you said because either you lack the reading comprehension capabilities to understand my previous post (particularly the faculty part) or you just felt like skewing what I said.</p>
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<p>Who says? Of course it does! It doesn’t completely bathe everything connected with the school in its weird, fetid light, but it certainly reflects a bit! It takes a whole campus to nurture an obnoxious culture like that, especially if its members have high local social standing.</p>
<p>Same deal with PSU and “State Patty’s Day”. [Battle</a> brewing in State College over ‘State Patty’s Day’ | - PennLive.com](<a href=“http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/02/battle_brewing_in_state_colleg.html]Battle”>Battle brewing in State College over 'State Patty's Day' - pennlive.com) It’s not the only relevant thing about Penn State, or the most relevant thing, but it IS a relevant thing.</p>
<p>I don’t know JHS, I tend to look at these things without assigning TOO much weight. I don’t think every
incident you read about is reflective of the whole school. I remember a few of years ago…a big story about Penn and a naked couple making out against the window of one of the dorm rooms. Made headline news around here…they even had pics…but really…who cares? </p>
<p>State Patties day is crazy and I really do think PSU has some issues with students and drinking. I’m glad they’re working on this issue… </p>
<p>And motion, good thing you’re NOT going to PSU…I wouldn’t want to run into your type on one of my visits. Insufferable really. Anyway, I would agree that some professors at PSU might not be all that impressive. This may be particularly true in certain areas that are not their strength…perhaps philosophy for example. It’s certainly not true across the board and I regularly read about impt research findings from PSU professors. One finding I remember in particular is the discovery of “High T” types…are you perhaps one of those? Just kidding…really. I wish you luck wherever you go…but then I’m not the type to bash places just cause they’re not a good fit. Nor do I think PSU is “awesome”…although I DO think it’s a fine school for many kids.</p>
<p>motion…I must ask this…why did you even apply to PSU if you dislike it so???</p>
<p>Ah, nice to see that the old rivalry between Pitt and Penn State is still alive and well, motion12345!</p>
<p>Thanks for the input all. I really just wanted to get the incident off my chest, and as a bonus, if someone in Penn State admissions read it, then I’ve also gotten my point across.</p>
<p>motion…sadly, your comments, which are so full of anger at every aspect of Penn State, actually make me less likely to have my children consider Pitt in the future. (My son, by the way, was also accepted to Pitt, and my impression based on our Naviance data is that it’s far easier to be accepted there than to Penn State.) There are several Pitt students and parents on the board who have some sort of weird, somewhat misplaced anger at Penn State as an institution. I don’t see it going in the reverse direction! I’m sure Penn State turns out some quality students in many majors, and my disappointment with the attitude of the DUS office doesn’t affect that, although may be an indication of how much one might feel “like a number” there.</p>
<p>RtoR: Good luck to you and your son. I, too, hope someone from PSU admin sees this and takes some corrective action. Their response was not only inappropriate…it was offensive. Perhaps some customer service training is in order!</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind as you evaluate PSU and other big schools. It can be a bad fit for some kids…especially those who tend to be passive or shy. But the positive side is that, if they can adapt, they get LOTS of experience with independence and figuring out how to get things done. This can serve them well when they get out into the world.</p>
<p>I went to a big school myself, and it’s important to join groups, reach out and find your own niche…early. Then it feels smaller. And it works. </p>
<p>Again, good luck and let us know how it all turns out!</p>
<p>RTR - wow! I’m sorry you had that experience. I do hope someone from the DUS and the admissions office takes note.</p>
<p>We visited last summer - before my son even applied - and had a great day. He had contacted the 2 departments he was interested in and we ended up with one-on-one meetings with professors from each and each professor spent well over an hour with us - taking the time to get to know my son and answer all our questions about the programs. The admin folks in both departments were wonderful - helping us find our way and getting us any information we needed. The band staff - who we just dropped in on - was fabulous. One of the directors took us on a full tour of the facility, asked lots of questions about my son’s experience, and gave us lots of brochures and info. It was an incredibly positive experience.</p>
<p>On the other hand - my husband’s and son’s recent visit to Purdue (an admitted student’s event) was a disaster when it came to meeting with the advisor/faculty member of the department.</p>
<p>motion12345 - glad to know you won’t be at PSU. Frankly, you come across as an arrogant know-it-all.</p>
<p>This will maybe sound strange, but why all the advice to contact people at the school? What do you hope to accomplish? </p>
<p>Do you really love this school so much that you are going to waste your time providing them with feedback so they can be better? I guess I just don’t see the point in going out of my way to help a school that I do not belong to (especially if they annoyed me this much-- I would find this annoying). It might feel good to vent, but really, why give them the benefit? </p>
<p>Having said all that, I would not hold it against a large school. It’s not a single entity, not even remotely close. Too many departments, levels, types of managers in charge: an experience in one department on one dimension tells you very little about the whole. It would be like judging a whole country based on meeting a rude person from that country. </p>
<p>What I would do with this experience is look for data that supports what your worry will be from this particular one-off experience: are students very frustrated with administration in general? does it treat students poorly? etc. etc.</p>
<p>starbright…good point…I would not rule out a school that fit me in many respects due to the interaction with a person or two. It doesn’t necessarily speak for the whole experience and whether I’d be happy there. </p>
<p>That said, one has to weigh if going to a big school is the right fit for what they want. I have a kid who went to a big school (NYU) and my niece went to PSU. Both were very happy. It is not for all people.</p>
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<p>no, you dont. even as someone on record (on this board) as not being a big fan of penn state for an undergraduate education, the one basis on which i simply cannot imagine criticizing the school is the research strength of its faculty.</p>
<p>frankly, i cant imagine more than a handful of academics across the country concurring with the the opinion of those with whom you have purportedly conversed. its that absurd a statement.</p>
<p>by the way, heres some objective data on the strength of that ‘not that strong of a’ faculty:
[NRC</a> Rankings](<a href=“NRC Rankings”>NRC Rankings)</p>