Gonna CRAZY!! UIUC vs PSU vs UTA vs Drexel vs OSU!! HELP!!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
1

<p>Since May 1st is coming and I haven’t got my final decision, I turn to CC for help~PLZ!
PLZ help me to select the best-fit school!</p>

<p>I wanna know more about these schools from people who are studying in/graduadated from these schools, only then I can fully know the pros and cons of them, instead of browsing the schools’ pages, u know, only good things flourish.</p>

<p>I picked up these schools after full consideration:</p>

<p>---->University of Illinois at Urbarna-Champaign
---->Penn State University
---->University of Texas at Austin
---->Ohio State University ($6600 Scholarship + Honor Program)
---->Drexel University ($20000 Scholarship)</p>

<p>Waitlist:
---->Washington University in St.Louis (Accept the WL or not??)
---->University of Michigan ( I like it except the weather, terrible)</p>

<hr>

<p>And below come with some of my requirements of schools (huh…)</p>

<li><p>FAMOUS
I’m an international student. well.
So I want my school to be very famous, at least nationwide.</p></li>
<li><p>LOCATION
big city will be the best choice, but it doesn’t matter if the surroundings are convenient, well-accommodated, entertaining etc.
I come from a city with millions of people. :)</p></li>
<li><p>MAJOR
I love business-related majors, such as Finance, Actuarial Science, management
and I am also interested in social sciences and engineering.
So my school had better be well-rounded. ( and I can LEARN in its business school besides its fame)</p></li>
<li><p>CLASS
I hate classes with hundreds of people, or even thousands of people.
and I hate classes which usually the TAs teach instead of professors.</p></li>
<li><p>TRANSFER
Weird/Hard Transfer Policy? I hope not, I plan to transfer to California/Boston after my freshman year. So I expect the freshman year won’t be EXTREMELY hard for me to get a satisfying GPA</p></li>
<li><p>SCHOOL
Racial Discrimination?
Unhelpful Faculty?
Unfriendly Student?
lol…nobody likes it</p></li>
</ol>

<hr>

<p>I like UIUC for it being famous nationwide esp the engineering, but its location and business quality are what matters ( hundreds of people crowd in one class, TA </p>

<p>I like PSU for my uncle, who lives in Pennsylvania right now, strongly recommends it to me, but I hear that it is a party school…student unfriendly and likes drinking, not so good for study?)</p>

<p>I like UTA the most for its great location (intern opportunities? ) and its great business school ( I am not admitted to the business honor program, sigh, could I apply for it after enrollment?) , but discrimination…well</p>

<p>I like OSU, the scholarship and the honor program</p>

<p>I like Drexel, mainly for the scholarship ( does Drexel have the policy that share credits with Upenn?)</p>

<hr>

<p>To choose a school is pretty hard.
Both have their own pros and cons. and I don’t know too much about schools except what they have offered in their web pages. So I really really needs your help.</p>

<p>THANKS A LOT!!!</p>

2

<p>I know my Questions are little bit too much.
Anything you can provide is welcome!!!
Thanks again!!!</p>

3

<p>OSU. Michigan+WashU waitlist=rejection. You didn’t know this? lol</p>

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<p>I can only comment on Penn State, since I have no experience with the others on your list.</p>

<p>Penn State does have good programs in the fields you mentioned, and they have some top-notch faculty and resources. </p>

<p>On the down side, it is a party school. There are lots of students who aren’t into partying, of course, but you might have to work a little to find them. And the campus, especially certain dorm areas, does get noisy, especially on weekends.</p>

<p>Also, many of the classes are very large. When you select your classes, you can see how many seats are allotted for that class, so you can try to steer clear of classes that are too big.</p>

<p>Lastly, Penn State is not in or near a big city. It is basically it’s own town. It has everything most kids want - shopping, places to eat, bars, woodsy areas for bike-riding and other outdoor activities. But if you want a metropolitan big-city environment, this probably isn’t what you have in mind.</p>

5

<p>I can speak to Drexel from living in Philadelphia and having been to the campus many many times. Drexel fits your need to live in a big city. Philadelphia is a great city. There’s plenty to do and it has a great bus/train system that makes it easy to get around. Drexel is across the street (literally) from University of Pennsylvania and they allow students from each school to share facilities and resources such as the libraries. While Drexel has large classes for certain subjects I can’t believe they would be as large as lecture halls at Penn State or Ohio State. Drexel like just about every other school I’ve been to has a very diverse student population. </p>

<p>My daughter has been to both PSU and Drexel and she’s in love with PSU. I can’t speak to your other schools, but Penn State Main and Drexel could not be more different. PSU is much larger, Drexel is urban while PSU is out in the countryside. It seems (and please get this from PSU students and not me) that PSU is very self contained. Meaning there’s lots to do on and around campus. It is my opinion that the students at PSU are extremely friendly and helpful, while the students at Drexel, like those in many other large cities, tend to keep to themselves. </p>

<p>As far as the $20k from Drexel, it’s my experience from friends who have had children apply there that Drexel throws at least that much on the table to just about everyone (as least those I know got at least that much as an opening offer). They supposedly have a huge endowment. You might be able to negotiate with them for even more. </p>

<p>I think you’ll find partying at just about any school. It’s up to you to maintain your priorities. I’ve been to the Penn State campus on several occasions with my daughter and with a friend and her child and thought it was a great campus. We felt very safe there. While I’m sure there was partying going on we didn’t see anyone walking around drunk or anything. The campus was one of the most beautiful I’ve seen. </p>

<p>Good luck in your search. </p>

<p>phillyareamom</p>

6

<p>to painholic :</p>

<p>well there is hope anyway,right?</p>

7

<p>thanks momwriter !
my relatives in philly speak highly of PSU except its drinking and party ‘customs’.
I may need intern opportunitie while in America, for I can’t work after graduation. And I wanna major in business-related, which seems that UTA and UIUC are better in rank and UTA, Drexel are better in location.
How do you think of PSU’ business program??</p>

<p>by the way</p>

<p>Could anybody share something about PSU’s professors and alumni ( ppl told me alumni is very important while choosing a school, they may be helpful in future career, I’m not sure about it)</p>

<p>Thanks again for all!</p>

8

<p>I would say there is no hope for WashU. WashU is notorious for making huge list of waitlist. Maybe little hope for Michigan but don’t expect too much because tons of people are waitlisted this year.</p>

9

<p>Drexel is known for its coop program. It’s a great school for those looking to make connections and live in the Philly area. Beyond that, it is definitely the weakest of your options. The others are all large state schools (three in the same athletic conference) and are similar in many ways. All have strong engineering programs and their other programs are at least respectable. You will have some large lecture courses at any of them for your first year or two. When you get into the upper level classes the class size will be more what you’re hoping for. The biggest difference is probably in the size and focus of the surrounding area. Both PSU (where I live) and UIUC (where I went to school) are in “college towns”, where there is not a lot else going on. There are many things to do, but the the restaurants, museums and night life are not what you would find in a city. It is, however, possible to have a life that is not into the serious partying scene. Both schools have a reasonable number of international students, especially at the grad level, who plan events which will make it easier to meet people from your area. OSU and UTA are both in state capitals, so there is more going on “off campus”, but neither would be considered a major city. UTA is the one school with a different climate; you might want to look at that if it’s a consideration.</p>

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<p>I just realized you said that you want to transfer out after freshman year. (?!)</p>

11

<p>To cbd :
well I want to but I’m not sure about it. I love California and my mom says Boston is the great place to study, and have fun as well. The climate of Texas is very similar to the city where I’m now living in :slight_smile: so I may adjust to the life in Texas very soon.
But my relatives in philly speak highly of PSU for its great performance in Academics.</p>

<p>So could anybody share something about PSU’s academics??
Would it focus on grad edu and its undergrad program becomes less competitive?
(I check some websites and find there is the same comment about UTA in this aspect)</p>

<p>maybe this is common for public schools?</p>

12

<p>To 1moremom
what do you think of PSU and UIUC then?
I’m really eager to know how a Real student feels about these 2 schools
the 3 : PSU UIUC and UTA are too similar!</p>

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<p>The schools are comparable in many ways. Each has several very highly regarded programs. Illinois is probably a little better known and higher in the rankings. (Just checked-- #10 vs. #15 for PSU in public U’s according to USNWR.) I think a student who could be happy at one could be happy at another. I have a son in the College of Engineering and he seems very happy. Not into the partying or football scene, but has a great group of friends. He is also working very hard. I think UTA is the outlier here. The city of Austin is very vibrant (especially the music scene) and the climate is much milder. They are tied with PSU in the rankings but, once you get out of the states, the rankings mean little beyond the top few. Have you spent some time on each school’s website, trying to get a feel for each place? You would probably get answers from current students if you’d post more specific questions.</p>