<p>Our daughter was accepted to Penn State Engineering. We are OOS. She also was accepted to Virginia Teach but for University Studies with option to apply to engineering after certain classes met. She is currently dual enrollment at community college and high school with calculus at the high school (which will be granted college credit through the community college), has taken Chem 1, and Chem Lab, English and an ITS course. Currently takikng 2nd English, Psych and Sociology at the college while completing her 2nd semester of calc at the high school. She likes Penn but a little worried about the size (she has a few friends attending). Tech is smaller and she has more friends there. Our gut feeling is Penn State for her...although the cost would be quite a bit more. Anyone in a similar situation? Or anyone that can help alleviate worries about the size. We visited in June and the campus is beautiful but big. Seems to us Penn State has great name recognition and an excellent engineering program but we hear that Tech is good, too. For any of you OOS attending Penn, we welcome your input. We are from Maryland.</p>
<p>We have a daughter in PSU engineering; I can’t recommend highly enough. PSU has just fantastic resources to support young women in science and engineering. The coursework is brutal but our daughter has found faculty and staff to be highly supportive at every turn. They WANT the students to succeed but it is a hard, hard mountain to climb.</p>
<p>If your daughter chooses PSU I’d strongly recommend taking LEAP over the summer – getting the early jump in coursework pays all kinds of dividends down the line. Now, is PSU out of state a better choice than Va. Tech in state? That’s a tough question. If the money is not an issue, maybe? Tech’s a great great school too. Some PSU departments will be better and some Tech departments will be better. The “university studies” thing may not be a problem. A lot of PSU engineering options don’t really admit you till you’ve passed the first two years of courses anyway – it’s passing those courses, the upper level calculus, the organic chem, physics etc. that is really the hard part. </p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter what major you want to call yourself, you don’t get through engineering if you can’t pass those courses. I’d ask Tech and PSU for statistics on how many women make it through after starting out. I know the number for PSU is quite good. You can get info through the WEPO and WISE offices at Penn State.</p>
<p>My daughter is also a freshman in Engineering and it has been a great first year! She originally wanted a smaller school, but now cannot see herself anywhere else. The courses are hard, but she gets a lot of support. Also has good advising. Choose a Special Living Option (Wise House, E House) to make the school seem smaller and find friends with similar interests.</p>
<p>A clarification, you are not admitted to any specific majors until your sophomore (architectural engineering) or (more usually) your junior year. (This may be different for students in the SHC.) Also, I don’t know which departments would require organic chem, maybe bioengineering; none of the ones I am familiar with do. There is a general chem requirement (110). (My son was able to test out of it having just taken one year of (non-AP) high school chem his junior year; your D should have a good chance of that. That was the only chem requirement in his major). You can look at the coursework required for the different disciplines here-- [Undergraduate</a> Degree Programs: Engineering](<a href=“http://bulletins.psu.edu/bulletins/bluebook/college_campus_details.cfm?id=27]Undergraduate”>http://bulletins.psu.edu/bulletins/bluebook/college_campus_details.cfm?id=27). anatomypap, does your D have any idea yet what area she might be interested in?</p>
<p>Penn State has so many various research projects going on that she will have no problem finding something that really excites her. There is so much she can choose from!</p>
<p>My son AP’d out of the chem and was happy to do so since he was not going forward in chem. Do not skip Physics 1 or calc 1. Start fresh and use the good grades to help keep up the GPA.</p>
<p>PSU gets smaller the more time you spend there.</p>
<p>My DS did the same thing with calc and physics.</p>
<p>“PSU gets smaller the more time you spend there.” That is so true. As students get into their disciplines and take most of their classes together they become a very tight-knit group. At a recent graduation brunch for one department there was a “slide show” running throughout and it was easy to see the camaraderie and friendship among classmates as they worked on projects together, traveled to competitions, played ultimate frisbee . . .</p>
<p>We are OOS for both VT and PSU…daughterr accepted to PSU and is very happy (her initial 1st choice)…she is interested in aerospace.</p>
<p>She will be geting college credit for Calc 1 as she is a dual enrollment student at her high school and local community college but plans on retaking the Calc 1 at PSU as engineering is so math heavy. She has completed Chem 1 at the local community college.</p>
<p>We are definitely impressed with all of the opportunities for women engineers at PSU. She is planning on attending the Women in Engineering Program Orientation which sounds like a fantastic opportunity to get aquainted with the campus/engineering program and to meet other students prior to the masses coming for fall semester. (My husband and I feel this is a great opportunity as well…and alleviates our concerns of her being overwhelmed initially by the size.) She won’t be doing LEAP as she already has the opportunity to work as an engineering intern this summer.</p>
<p>PSU is more expensive than VT but it is all relative…all OOS is expensive. The alumni factor at PSU itself is a great benefit and we feel the Women in Engineering Program is a big plus as well.</p>
<p>She has already taken her online tests and now we are just waiting for her FTCAP day. Any idea how long that notification might take?</p>
<p>She is actually going with a friend to visit another friend on campus this weekend and get a personal tour and some “insider” points this weekend.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your input and advice. It is much appreciated. (I have to add I hope we get the chance as parents to attend a football game…I am sure there is nothing like it!)</p>
<p>Parents Weekend is not a football weekend. The hotels are usually fully booked for football; throwing in the parents would just make things worse. Unless you are real fans, I would suggest looking for tickets for one of the earlier, non-conference games. They are usually available for reasonable prices and the weather is nicer. The schedule is available here-- [Football</a> - Penn State University Official Athletic Site](<a href=“http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-footbl/psu-m-footbl-body.html]Football”>http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-footbl/psu-m-footbl-body.html) and there is probably ticket information as well.</p>
<p>Thanks for the football info…we just want to get to at least one football game while our daughter is at PSU…I’m sure between the students and alumni conference game tickets are difficult to come by.</p>
<p>We are finding out hotels book fast…something must be going on this weekend…my husband had a difficult time finding a hotel nearby for our daugther’s visit this weekend.</p>
<p>There’s always something. This weekend is the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Regional at Rec Hall and Drake at the BJC.</p>
<p>according to <code>Academic Ranking of World Universities in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences - 2009</code> penn state is placed as the 10th university in the world for engineering, do you think this is an accurate list? I got accepted from the college of engineering aswell and i would like to know how prestigious this university is</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.arwu.org/FieldENG2009.jsp[/url]”>http://www.arwu.org/FieldENG2009.jsp</a></p>
<p>An engineering degree from Penn State is very respectable. But do not pick a college based on lists. Look at the whole picture and figure out what it is you want from the college experience. Classes are only half of college, the other half is who you become as a person based on what you get involved in, who you hang out with, and what opportunities you take advantage of at the college of your choice. Penn State is what you make of it. No one is going to huddle around you and nuture you. You will have to be willing to go out and get what you want. It will teach you to be independent. It is an amazing place to go to school.</p>
<p>1moremom - when your son tested out of Chem 110, did he have to take another Chem class to make up those hours? </p>
<p>We’re actually having a hard time finding classes for DS to take because of the credits he is bringing in. But no matter what he scores on the AP exams, he will be taking Calc 1 and Physics!</p>
<p>No, that was it for chemistry. (I believe he got the credits.) You might send an email to the advising center ([Advising</a> Center Home](<a href=“http://www.engr.psu.edu/AdvisingCenter/]Advising”>http://www.engr.psu.edu/AdvisingCenter/)) and see what they suggest. If that doesn’t help I’d go to the department. Perhaps if they know he is coming to PSU specifically for Arch E they would let him take one of the second year courses.</p>
<p>I would make the first semester light. The ee dept actually has a list of courses you could take each semester to keep you on track. Take a gym class or get that pesky english or communications class out of the way. Fall semester equals football, getting to know your way around, parties, fitting in.</p>