<p>My daughter is having major hard time deciding between IU Bloomington vs Penn State University Park.
I really want her to choose Penn State since it seems to have better reputation and higher ranking and such, but IU has a prettier campus and all her friends are going there. She is thinking majoring business/art minor in future but entering school as undecided major.
Which school do you think she should choose? She likes IU atmosphere better but thinks that she should go to Penn State -- basically really doesn't know which she should choose.
I will appreciate if you could give us some opinions.</p>
<p>Well I dont think you should pick a college based on where your friends are going because it is very easy to make new friends while keeping in touch with old friends through fb, twitter, e-mail etc…Idk if you guy’s are in-state/out of state for these because that would make a big difference as well…</p>
<p>Are there any financial considerations?</p>
<p>It sounds like you are in-state for IU. Is that right? The in-state total cost is $20,097.</p>
<p>The out of state cost of attendance for **Penn State is $39,510 <a href=“for%20the%20current%20year%20-%20next%20year%20will%20be%20higher%20and%20so%20forth”>/B</a>.</p>
<p>If you can afford the $40k per year for Penn State, then it might be a better choice. However, if your D wants IU, then you’ll probably not be able to change her mind.</p>
<p>Will your D join a sorority? Will she want to do a study abroad semester? If so, will those be affordable if she goes to a pricier school?</p>
<p>I don’t think Penn St is worth twice the cost, if you’re in-state for IU. JMO</p>
<p>I think IU offers a tremendous college experience (football not nearly as good as PSU, of course) in a great town. If you are instate, there is no reason to pick PSU over IU. IU has an excellent reputation, especially in business and music. I do not see Penn State as significantly better in reputation. PA is a little stronger in academic rankings BELOW college level than IN, which in my view is the only reason Penn State edges out IU in the rankings.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the good advises. I really appreciate them!</p>
<p>CL1020, I know what you mean, begging of the senior year all my D wanted was going to college where almost no one else from her HS would go so that she could have a whole new chapter/adventure. Even though we are out-of sate, her HS send about 60 kids to IU each year and only 1 or two to PSU. PSU has been her 1st choice but she seems sort of freaks out about going so so far away all alone at this state of making her final decesion. </p>
<p>We are in IL so money is not an issue though.</p>
<p>Mom2collegekids, yes my D wants to join sorority. I heard that PSU sorority girls live in dorm (is that true?). I wonder that will make it cheaper that IU’s. </p>
<p>MonofWildChild, I think I am a sucker of “ranking & selectivity” and know that is not that good thing. I tend to force my daughter to think “harder to get in = better school”. That why those advises from others/prospects are really wonderful for both myself and my D. I believe that PSU and IU are equally excellent schools, and maybe that is why it is so hard to see what really are pros and cons between them.</p>
<p>When it comes to business, IU is one of the best ranked programs in the nation.</p>
<p>IU Business School ranked from 11-23 in 4 out of 5 sources in the following link. I did not see Penn State being ahead of IU from any one of the sources. Actually Purdue is pretty good. Business/Art would most likely put IU ahead of PSU and Purdue (both have excellent engineering programs).</p>
<p>[Top</a> Business Schools | BSchool.com Business Schools Directory](<a href=“Online MBA Program Rankings | Find the Best Business School”>Online MBA Program Rankings | Find the Best Business School)</p>
<p>1st you can’t be wrong here, both are fine and about equal in most areas. PSU has some things not at IU like engineering. IU is better in the arts. PSU business is good too. IU does better at advertising their B school. In practice not much difference.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advices! Maxellie and ace550, yes, Kelly is no question about being one of the best undergrad business schools. My D was even considering of direct admission to Kelly; however, after hearing from her friends who are in it saying that she would need to sacrifice many of her social life and prepare for demanding/stressful courses, she decided that she would just wait and not jump into it – which sort of indicated that my D is not ready to commit to business major. Barrons, I agree, like you said PSU and IU are pretty much equal and since my D is not really sure what she wants to major ( if she wanted study such as music or engineering it would have be really easy you know…), it makes harder for her to determine "why she should choose PSU/IU over IU/PSU. She likes IU’s rather hip and fashionable student body, beautiful campus, and the assurance of not being alone from the start . On the other hand, she likes PSU’s amazing school spirit and the huge opportunity to challenge herself socially/mentally at the unfamiliar place.</p>
<p>I don’t think direct admission to Kelley is any more demanding than later admission. It just means you are IN! Also, I would not call IU’s student body hip and fashionable. It is a large midwestern university with all types of students, but the majority will not be particularly “hip”- at least not any more than those at Penn State.</p>
<p>If you can afford the OOS costs of both schools, I’m wondering why you’re not considering some privates?</p>
<p>MomofWildChild, haha true, average IU students are probably not as hip as NYU students, but somehow the weekend visit shortly before “Little 500” left us the impression of IU as “the attractive students’ school”. The magically gorgeous spring at Bloomington did something to us I think. On the other hand, our first visit at Penn State during winter did opposite to us (we basically saw students under 10 layers of clothing…). Happy Valley’s winter left the impression that “there would be more challenges beside being a totally new kid on the block” on my D. We should have gone in spring or fall.<br>
Direct admission to Kelly will be great idea for later admission sounds like harder. The thing is, my D wants to explore and have fun during her freshman year. Kelly is an excellent business school and thus tough – some of her friends stressed out and had to give up parties during their freshman year – worthwhile IMO.</p>
<p>mom2collegekid, my D really wants to go to the large state school for some reasons. We even visited beautiful LACs in CA. Private schools tuition such as Tulane and American (my D applied to them) will be additional $20,000, and that beyond our financial capability unless she get scholarships (most unlikely she will get them). </p>
<p>Thanks again for your opinions!</p>
<p>Ahhh… I understand the attraction of a big state school…lots to do, sports to watch, big Greek systems, etc.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Would Penn St be “tooooo big”???</p>
<p>Haha…no. In her book “the bigger the better”!</p>
<p>chi777 - You are right that it is easy to get sucked into the rankings games, but really just ignore them! They mean nothing for the individual student where there are a million variables at play. It is just a silly game that too many people have gotten sucked into. For these two schools in particular, there is not a huge difference in nearly any aspect.</p>
<p>As far as high school friends being at the same school, goodness! These are huge student bodies. You could easily go all four years and never run into someone from your high school. And even if you do, so what? The odds of having the same classes or even being in the same section of a dorm are very small, and thus you won’t interact with them that much anyway. If they join the same sorority or are in the same club, then OK they will see them but they will also be making tons of new friends. This factor should be completely ignored.</p>
<p>The real factors should be money and/or any intangible that makes one school preferable. Newer dorms? Distance from home? Looks better in red/blue? Because academically she won’t notice a difference at the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>My point is that I don’t think you take much different freshman year courses whether or not you are in Kelley. I have never heard of freshman year at IU (Kelley or otherwise) being so tough that kids gave up parties. (in the interest of full disclosure- I am an IU grad and know lots of recent grads/students)</p>
<p>Thanks fallenchemist. You sort of thumb up what I was trying to answer to myself. We put deposit into both schools for now, so my D has some more time to thought through. It is good to know though that both schools are almost equally good, and now I feel more happy/comfortable about whichever school she will end up going.</p>
<p>*As far as high school friends being at the same school, goodness! These are huge student bodies. You could easily go all four years and never run into someone from your high school. And even if you do, so what? The odds of having the same classes or even being in the same section of a dorm are very small, and thus you won’t interact with them that much anyway. If they join the same sorority or are in the same club, then OK they will see them but they will also be making tons of new friends. This factor should be completely ignored.
*</p>
<p>I think that when going to a big college, it can be pleasant to occasionally run into someone from high school. Yes, you can rarely run into an old school chum, or you can purposely arrange to do things with some.</p>
<p>While I would never recommend choosing a school based on where a BF or GF is going, I could see choosing a school based on knowing that there will be some familiar faces there - if the student is the type to have a harder time making new friends. </p>
<p>Some kids have NO problems making new friends. Some do. Some need to have some current friends around to help make the transition more pleasant.</p>
<p>Every fall we see posts from parents (or students) who “hate” their new school, because that student is not a “joiner” or doesn’t make new friends easily. Often, those kids end up transferring back to a school where their friends are.</p>
<p>So, it can depend on the student and his/her personality.</p>
@chi777 so finally where did your D go ?
@MrAccountant You’re not supposed to post on OLD THREADS. And if you had clicked on the @chi777 profile, you would see that she hasn’t been on CC for over FIVE YEARS…so the chances of her seeing your question is likely zero.