I’m having a very difficult time choosing between the two as my opinion seems to sway every other day.
I feel like Temple is a safe option, but Penn State (Abington and Main) is more of a risk.
I’ll probably pursue a science major as my long-term career goals are to land a job in Drug Design or something of that nature.
Which school provides better education in the science/healthcare department?
Both schools would end up costing around the same amount, both leaving me roughly 15-20k in debt.
A big aspect of college for me is to develop a sense of independence. I feel I can not get this with temple as I’d be forced to commute all 4 years and live at home. Penn State, on the other hand would give me two years of freedom.
Although both are very good schools, I don’t want to end up regretting anything…I appreciate all the help I get.
Abington’s stats are quite low. It’s probably different for tem classes for engineers or math majors, but your first two years at Temple would have more rigor anyway. Then for the last two years it switches.
Do you have AP credit? How many AP exams did you take?
Since you’re commuting both for Abington and Temple, why is commuting to Temple worse?
I think the OP means that he/she could live at Main campus for the last 2 years, so he/she would at least get 2 years of dorm life.
I’m not sure how to answer as I am not familiar with that field. Did you apply to any other PSU branch campuses? Abington will be commuter but many others have dorms. I think you should go by how you feel about each school in general, as they are quite different with one being a city, urban campus and the other a huge school.
^Yeah exactly. I imagine the first two years at temple would be more fun too even with commuting.
“I’ll probably pursue a science major as my long-term career goals are to land a job in Drug Design or something of that nature.”
To work at that level in the pharmaceutical industry, you will need a PhD. So, what you want for the undergrad years is a place where you can get a solid undergrad degree in some type of bio or chem science, and where you can have some type of lab internship that will take you beyond what you do in class. I don’t know the current state of the bio-tech industry in the Philly area, but it used to be relatively strong. Take a look at research that is ongoing at Temple and Temple Med. Penn State Main should have any number of research groups that are working in human nutrition and various types of animal science research as well as your basic bio and chem options. However, you would have at most two years there to get some experience and begin to define what you’d like to do in grad school. Take a look at what is going on there as well.
Is this for cost reasons? I.e. your cost assumptions are based on commuting to Temple all four years, and commuting to PSU Abington two years then living in the dorm at PSU University Park?
It won’t be possible as a transfer to live in the forms at University Park, as far as I know (unless Abington has Schreyer Scholars and you’re admitted to those, then automatically when you move up to Main Campus you have a spot in the Honors Dorms.)
Is there a way for you to switch to a branch campus with dorms, such as Harrisburgh or Erie? Or even Greater Allegheny, which has a dorm but isn’t better than Abington in terms of academic preparation of most students (SAT scores in the 400s, etc.) and is basically open-enrollment like Abington? Or is there a way for you to live on campus at Temple for your first year, even if you commute afterwards?
Berks also has dorms and is probably the closest to Abington.
Even though you probably wouldn’t want to hear this, I think Temple would give you more opportunities to get into something pharmaceutical/drug design related. Philly has more opportunities since it’s a city. Commuting won’t be so bad–in the long run it’ll save you money. Being in and going around Philly for college will cancel out the fact that you are a commuter.
If affordable, living on-campus at Temple in frosh year may be beneficial in various ways, even if you commute from home in subsequent years.
Temple is predominantly residential (77% of frosh in the dorms). PSU Abington is presumably a mainly commuter school; it does not have dorms at all.
If can reassign from all campuses to university park after two years.
I’m pretty sure that goes for anybody.
I am inclined to agree with the posts that say Temple is your best bet. A non-selective Penn State branch campus is not likely to have the same rigor in their courses, and transferring to the main campus for upper division courses would be big jump in expectations. That is, you will be in the junior year courses with students who started in Penn State Main campus since freshman year. In math and sciences, it may not be easy to bridge the gap.
Can you afford dorming at Temple for, maybe, your freshman year?
My aunt did the penn state 2+2 (Erie campus) and said she loves the way she did it and would do it the exact same way again