<p>Hey guys, just until recently Penn State has been on my school list. This spring I visited and I liked the feel of the campus and everything looked real nice. However their size number never really hit me and I've been feeling that maybe I'll just become a number. PSU is close compared to the other two schools I've been looking into. If I could, I would love to attend U of Oregon, followed up by the U of Arizona. Oregon costs approx. 30k/per year, whereas Arizona costs in the range of $25k/year. I'm guessing this lower tuition by Arizona would cover travel expenses, but maybe I'm looking to far ahead. My question is, would I get any aid at Oregon or Arizona? Do you think it would be feasible to take PSU off my list and add Arizona/Oregon?</p>
<p>My stats:
Male from a competitive public school in NY state.
URM- Hispanic
Language spoken at home: Spanish (if it matters at all)
GPA- 89.something, so about a 3.5 uw?
SAT- 570 CR, 600 M, 670 W, 11 essay 1170/1600 1840/2400
AP- 3- English Lang
AP- 2- USH</p>
<p>Freshman and Sophomore years: 6 honors classes combined
Junior year classes:
- AP Humanities USH
- AP Humanities English
- IB Theory of Knowledge
Senior year classes:
- IB Theory of Knowledge
- IB Spanish
- IB English</p>
<p>SCHOOL ACTIVITIES:
JV Indoor Track
Freshman Baseball
JV Volleyball
Sports Challenge Club
Table Tennis Club
Gifted and Talented
Features Editor of School Newspaper
International Baccalaureate Program</p>
<p>HONORS AND AWARDS:
Olde English F Award
Spanish National Honor Society
Dimensions Literary Magazine</p>
<p>OUT-OF-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES:
Little League Baseball- 4 years
Guitar Lessons- 2 years
Writers & Books Camp
Camp College Prep
The Otetiana Council Rochester Red Wings Explorer Program
Traveled to Peru to work on the IB paper</p>
<p>VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE:
Work at Empire State Games
Rochester Red Wings game for the disabled</p>
<p>PAID WORK EXPERIENCE:
Little League Baseball Umpire</p>
<p>Schools applied/applying to:
UMCP
Elon
James Madison
Indiana U
SUNY Albany
PSU, UO, UA?</p>
<p>The three schools that you mention in your header are very, very different. Eugene is not anything like Tucson, and State College is different from both. Have you had a chance to visit U of O or UA to determine if you like their campuses?</p>
<p>As an out-of-state URM student, you might qualify for need-based aid at U of O. Specifically, you may want to take a look at the Diversity</a> Building Scholarship at U of O.</p>
<p>You definitely do not feel like a number at Penn State University Park. I go there now. It seems like that on the tour, but you immediately make friends the first week you get here and it's completely fine. ha I mean, we have Joe Paterno. What else needs to be said?</p>
<p>how on earth would "having joe paterno" make one feel like they are not a number?</p>
<p>i don't think the original poster was expressing concerns over whether or not they'd make friends but whether they'd receive a comprehensive, personal education and have professors willing to work with them and support their goals...which would seem quite difficult in a lecture hall of two-hundred students taught by an assistant, or in a school where a common problem is inability to complete your major on time due to 400-level classes filling up within about five minutes of the beginning of the add course period.</p>
<p>wow, relax. Take a deep breath. The joe paterno comment was a joke. Judging from your name "hopefullyLAC", I am sure you have no bias towards a Liberal Arts College education. HopefullyLAC, you must have an extensive knowledge of being in a big university...No? Just a high schooler? In all honesty, what would you know about what the classes are like? Did you sit in one time? Twice? I guess that makes you kind of an expert, huh? Actually, I am not even sure why you are posting on this thread, since none of his schools are small or LACs. Quickly refuting her logic, I've actually been to both. I started at a small top 40 (based on USNews) liberal arts college. The classes there were no more difficult than at Penn State, nor have I received any less attention as I received there. The professors have been wonderful and are always willing to meet. You are definitely not a number. It may be larger, but so are the resources with which to deal with the students. I have only ever had one class as large as she was talking about. Also, I haven't had any problems getting into any 400 level classes to complete my major. I hope that I have addressed some concerns that the poster has and that you will keep PSU on your list. If you get accepted, I hope you try to sit in on a class. Penn State is an amazing place.</p>
<p>Actually I already sent in my request to my guidance office to have transcripts, recs, etc., sent to Penn State, but ever since I did that I've been rethinking it. Like I said in my original post, I visited the PSU campus (no tour however) and I loved it. When walking around campus I could really see myself going to school there and it doesn't hurt that I'm a HUGE sports fan. My only concern about Penn State is that I would become a number. Oregon on the other hand is an ideal place for me to go, although it isn't a rational choice. If I could, I would live on the west coast and I believe that Oregon is a great spot. The U of O has a great journalism program, is mid-sized which I like, and is more liberal than anything (or so I've read). It would be a pain in the behind to travel home though and that's my biggest concern. Personally, I don't even know if I'll be accepted into Penn State. Maybe failing to apply early (August, September, even October) will hurt my chances. I think PSU is a reach/on-the-fence school for me. I view Oregon as more of a match than Penn State. Wow I'm confused...</p>
<p>If you're a sports fan and like to party, then PSU may be a great fit for you. I cannot stand sports and do not party, so I hate PSU.</p>
<p>I don't see what everyone means about trouble getting into PSU. Are you an in or out-of-stater? About thirty kids from my smallish HS got into main campus and they didn't have phenomenal stats of any sort. Just basic, average kids who played a sport or two, were members of French club for three years and took some honors classes (heck, some of the kids admitted didn't even take honors classes). You can form complete sentences and feel like main would be a good match for you. If your stats are decent and you're in-state, then you'll probably get in.</p>
<p>I'm an out-of-stater (NY) and I'm guessing about 20-30 people are applying to Penn State. hopefullyLAC, can you give me a quick rundown of things you like/dislike about Penn State?</p>
<p>Never visited psu. Been to both UA and OU. Of the two visited they are very different climate wise. UA is warm to very hot, dry except for monsoon season( late summer, I think) I liked the campus layout. Some nightlife next to campus. Going through a growth stage building wise and retrofiting. People were very nice. LOTS of CATUS, no really, lots....</p>
<p>Eugene.. green. Campus laid out OK, seems older than UA. Seasons. </p>
<p>I don't know what it's like where you're at but I would imagine green. UA is really different in that regard.. not a knock at the school it came in second in my D search. It lost to an oregon school. north of eugene. If you've grown up with seasons and trees... UA can be a bit of a shock...brown lost to green. </p>
<p>Personally I'd retire to Oregon before Az but that's me.. schedule a trip before you commit if you can..</p>
<p>sorry for the bump up, but is there a deadline for penn state??? I was reading another post and the OP thought that the application deadline had already passed. This is false, correct? Or else I was terribly misinformed</p>
<p>once again, sorry for the bump, but this is getting down to the wire and I' have decided not to apply to penn state. After thinking things over, I'd rather apply to a private school with the prospect of receiving at least a small scholarship/fin. aid/something (plus privates are a lot smaller than psu). So now I'm looking for private schools and I don't know where to start - I was thinking about Gonzaga, but after looking over their website it seems like they don't give out sufficient money (they say 3K-12K when the total cost is 35K)... </p>
<p>Which private schools have a good journalism program and cost under or around 25K?</p>
<p>You'll get into the U of A. The fact that you even bothered to take AP classes means you're serious about learning- tons of the kids that get into U of A don't take AP classes even when they're offered.</p>