I can not decide which college I should go to. I visited Auburn and really liked it. Then I visited Penn St and loved it! I am really having a hard time deciding which one I should attend. Yes I like Penn St more, but Auburn is way more practical. Penn St is about $5,000 a year more expensive. Auburn is also about a 6 hour drive from home, so if I wanted to come home for a long weekend I could. Penn St I am stuck there except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and summer. I am also a little worried about the winter at Penn St. I have lived in Florida my whole life. Whenever I go north I love the cold weather and snow. But I am unsure how I will like it for 4 months straight. Are the winters really that bad? Are there still things to do there during the winter? Lastly, Penn St is definitely academically stronger than Auburn. I want to major in Mechanical Engineer. So I understand that it is going to be hard anywhere I go. But since Penn St has 40,000 students and Auburn has 20,000, is Penn St that much more competitive and difficult?
So to summarize everything… I LOVE Penn St and like Auburn. But I have concerns about Penn St and I am unsure if it is worth the risk to go there, when I could go to Auburn and probably be fine. I dont want to end up going to Auburn though and always wish that I had gone to Penn St.
Are you sure that PSU is only $5k more expensive? Don’t you qualify for any merit from Auburn?? What are your stats? Isn’t PSU over $50k per year OOS?
What are your parents saying? Will they pay all costs?
First, check with your parents: can they afford to pay for both?
Penn State has more students, but they’re not all in Engineering - there are 12 colleges (plus a med school, a law school, a graduate school… ) with about 30,000 undergrads and 20,000 grad students.
Auburn has fewer students - roughly 20,000 undergrads and 5,000 grads- so that’s a big difference. However I don’t think that translates into Engineering being less competitive - Auburn is well-known for its excellent Engineering programs.
How many students there are won’t affect how difficult the program will be so don’t make that a criterion.
Cold and snow: well obviously Pennsylvania’s going to be colder. But people don’t spend 4 months tweedling their thumbs and looking at the fireplace hoping for the ice to melt :D. Sidewalks are cleared (some have steamtunnels to keep them ice free), people wear boots and coats and mittens, they go to the movies, concerts, football games… They don’t let snow stop them - and some activities are snow-based, such as skiing :). So if you want to discover a more “Northern” area of the country it’s a good opportunity but don’t expect people to stay cooped up inside as soon as it gets below 50 degrees :D.
Most importantly though: costs.
What did you love about Penn State? They seem like fairly similar schools on the surface.
For only a 5k difference a year, at their prices, that is not a huge deal. They are both pretty bad about giving scholarships. I personally think that penn state has a more reputable engineering program, and you loved it there. If you think you can handle being away from home, I’d pick there. It’s definitely hard to go that far away from your family even if you don’t mind the distance.