<p>Recently i have been looking into Penn State, and i like almost everything about school. I do, however, feel a tad bit intimidated about the diversity in the university... and i have some questions in regards to that...</p>
<p>Is there any or a lot of racism on campus?
Is it hard for minorities to fit in?
Is it hard for minorities to get into frats?</p>
<p>Penn State is located in central PA, a rural and conservative part of the state. The school attracts a significant number of students from semi-rural to rural areas as well as suburban. The schools rep I would say is "moderate." It is not a liberal atmosphere; but it isn't Ole Miss or a service academy. Diversity could be a lot better at Penn State. I think the school's location makes it more difficult to recruit diversity than say Ann Arbor, Michigan or California. Put it this way. You'll find a lot more farm boys who have never gone to school with minorities at PSU than you'll ever find at Cal-Berkeley. However, that alone doesn't make it a bad place.</p>
<p>Ahhh fck it lol...</p>
<p>thanks for the response Plainsman... </p>
<p>and my search for a college continues...</p>
<p>Now raiderfan, i wouldn't make up your decision about Penn State so quickly without even bothering to visit! </p>
<p>Now Penn State is located in a rural part of PA but the college campus and town itself is very nice, and in my opinion is becoming more and more diverse and liberal as the years pass as a result of Penn State's recruitment and student program efforts. </p>
<p>Give PSU a chance.</p>
<p>"You'll find a lot more farm boys who have never gone to school with minorities at PSU than you'll ever find at Cal-Berkeley. However, that alone doesn't make it a bad place."</p>
<p>I think that's a little bit of an extreme comparison, as Berkeley is famous for its extreme diversity. I don't think there are many schools with the diversity level of berkeley. </p>
<p>I recently graduated from Penn State University Park. I am sure plainsman meant well, but I am not sure about all those "farm boys" that he talked about everywhere. They people going to Penn State UP all from all over the Northeast. There are people from small PA towns, but many come from Philly and Pittsburgh. They are very familiar with the diversity of a large city and they love Penn State UP.</p>
<p>Addressing your questions:
Is there any or a lot of racism on campus? I doubt many people would come out and tell you "yes" here, unless we were talking alabama or Ole Miss, but I never found racism at Penn State. I guess it's really hard to convince someone of this, but just go and visit the campus. Honestly, you can just stop students, minority and not, and ask them about their experience. The students and always really friendly and will tell you about how they like it.
Is it hard for minorities to fit in? Penn State UP has 40,000 people. Honestly, it is not hard to fit in at all. There is so much to do on campus, not even including the 500 clubs, that if you don't fit in you are probably trying not to.
Is it hard for minorities to get into frats? No way. I was in greek life. There are 58 fraternities and there are many of minorities in all of them. I hate referring to minorities as often as I am in this post. It really just wasn't an issue that ever can up. If you were a good guy, lots of houses would want you to pledge. If you were an *******, people didn't want you, regardless of color.</p>
<p>Honestly, I would just go and take a visit to the campus. I think the campus and the people will sell itself. I would recommend greek life, as a lot of people from out of state do get involved with it. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>let me tell you this: i visited this summer and i ate lunch in the cafeteria in the hub and saw that all of the black kids sat at one table, all of the asians at another, etc. it was really awkward if you ask me. my tour guides were two sorority girls with dolce and gabbana sunglasses bigger than their faces.
i'm from pennsylvania and i can tell you that the same kinds of people attend psu: white, pennsylvanian, conservative fraternity/sorority girls/guys. not saying this is a bad thing, but i don't exactly fit that mold and i felt uncomfortable there and i am a white, pennsylvanian, liberal girl.</p>
<p>cocacolaaa, I surprised you saw anything from that pedastool you seem to have put yourself up on. You should have told those sorority girls just how stupid you really think they are and how you obviously have a lot more depth as a person. I am sorry that walking through one lunch time you didn't enjoy the seating arrangements in one building on the campus of 40,000 people. I find your stereotype of the Penn State University Park campus to be a little close minded. The entire student body does not fit neatly into your three categories of people. The student body is white, but that that does mean they are all conservative frat guy and sorority girls. I am not sure why you were looking around to see how everyone was sitting at lunch in one building. You got a very small slice of Penn State, which cannot be applied to an entire campus. Anyway cocacolaaa, it sounds like your personality is better suited for some small LAC. I am sorry that you were uncomfortable.</p>
<p>I went to penn state for a year and now go to a state school in NY that is the most diverse school in the country. </p>
<p>Personally, I really like penn state's diversity. Granted, the majority of the population is from semi-rural to rural or suburban areas in PA like scranton, king of prussia, etc. This means the campus is moderate and one faceted for the most part, which can kind of suck if you are not too fond of this type of environment. The thing that I really like is that the small groups of minority that exist there are really close and there are clubs for almost every nationality. That means if you are from india, you will probably get to know all the indians on campus and hang out with them on a regular basis.</p>
<p>As a minority myself, I did feel like it was very tough assimilating with the rest of the campus because I wasn't into partying and had different interests. However, the students are very friendly and as an international student, I think having both sides is great: the close group of people from your country and a very homogeneous student body, even though you will feel left out of the latter most of the time. </p>
<p>However, if you are a white person yourself and want to interact with new cultures and have more diversity, then penn state is not for you.Like cocacola said, ethnic groups stick together and the few individuals that don't were born here and are americanized in the first place.</p>
<p>interesting... thanks for the responses guys, its really appreciated.... </p>
<p>bump....</p>
<p>All honest perspectives for you, Raiderfan4eva. It seems most posters agreed with my statement that the political environment on campus is sort of middle of the road--not hard conservative but definitely not hard liberal. Barack Obama visited during the presidential campaign and drew a huge mostly adoring crowd, if that tells you anything. </p>
<p>Penn State is a jock school (according to some college guides). Jock schools tend not to be all that liberal. It's a moderate, middle of the road environment where you'll find all kinds of people. Out of 40,000 students there are bound to be a few radical left wing liberals and a couple of knuckle-scraping racists too, but my take is that 95% of the people on campus are live and let live, and there aren't any serious problems that you need to worry about. </p>
<p>The self segregated lunch room table thing exists EVERYWHERE. When you're far from home in an unfamiliar place, and don't know anyone, the natural inclination is to drift toward people with whom you think you may have something in common. It's human. It's only racist when you make it a point to exclude someone who is different from joining your group. That's my opinion.</p>