<p>With all the concern of reputation and what everyone thinks of a school, I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were on Penn State (other than the football team :) University Park of course. Good school or just another STATE school without much to offer?</p>
<p>Very, very good school.</p>
<p>It really depends on the area of study. Some departments at Penn State are exceptional ( engineering, agriculture, education, musical theatre ) and others are not going to be as stellar. Penn State does provide a well rounded liberal arts education but classes for general education courses can be huge. They also offer a fine program for high achieving students: Schreyers Honors program. There are lots of perks, help with tuition as well as many opportunities for travel.</p>
<p>Most put it in the group of the Big 10/11--around 5th or 6th.</p>
<p>...Penn State, not UPenn.</p>
<p>Penn State is a solid state university that has consistently been ranked between 40 and 50 for quite some time. Like many large state universities, one needs to take the initiative if interested in becoming involved in research.
Beautiful campus, lots to do, large frat scene, but plenty of options.
Certain departments are highly regarded.
Be prepared for large intro lectures.
I believe they have the largest alumni association in US</p>
<p>Despite UPenn continually leeching off its reputation, it does very well.</p>
<p>The Pennsylvania State Univeristy, located in prestigious State College Pennsylvania, affectionately known as "Happy Valley," offers its students a vide array of academic and extracurricular activities. Penn State has, and deservidly so, the reputation as <em>the best</em> public university in the nation. Why you may ask. Well, Penn State is home to the second winningest college football coach in Joesph H. Paterno the 3rd, and the second largest collegiate football stadium in the United States, Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions may come in close seconds with their athletics, but they are second to nobody in the classroom. Penn State football players have the highest graduation rate of any Division 1A football program, even with the early NFL departures. Penn State graduates are a diverse and proud group of highly talented individuals, the median ACT score is over 8 points higher then the national average! 1 out of every 22 college graduates in the United States are Penn State alumni, and 1 in 4 meteorologists attened school in Happy Valley. They comprise the largest dues paying alumni association, totaling over 100,000 members all of whom willingly help graduates and their families find employment in anypart of the country and all over the world. There are many reason to be happpy about attending school in "Happy Valley."</p>
<p>Ditto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>
[quote]
The Pennsylvania State Univeristy, located in prestigious State College Pennsylvania, affectionately known as "Happy Valley," offers its students a vide array of academic and extracurricular activities. Penn State has, and deservidly so, the reputation as <em>the best</em> public university in the nation. Why you may ask. Well, Penn State is home to the second winningest college football coach in Joesph H. Paterno the 3rd, and the second largest collegiate football stadium in the United States, Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions may come in close seconds with their athletics, but they are second to nobody in the classroom. Penn State football players have the highest graduation rate of any Division 1A football program, even with the early NFL departures. Penn State graduates are a diverse and proud group of highly talented individuals, the median ACT score is over 8 points higher then the national average! 1 out of every 22 college graduates in the United States are Penn State alumni, and 1 in 4 meteorologists attened school in Happy Valley. They comprise the largest dues paying alumni association, totaling over 100,000 members all of whom willingly help graduates and their families find employment in anypart of the country and all over the world. There are many reason to be happpy about attending school in "Happy Valley."
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</p>
<p>A+/1600/180/45</p>
<p>Penn State is compromised of twenty semi-independent campuses/schools located in twenty different cities and towns spread almost evenly throughout the large state of Pennsylvania. The "University Park campus/school at is rated as being "top notch", and on par with the best schools in the country. The rest run between very good to good.</p>
<p>"...compromised of..." Ahem?</p>
<p>The thing is, you can start out almost any major at any onf of the other 23 locations and go to University Park after 2 years. There is no seperate appliction required, just simply a campus transfer request form.</p>
<p>I live in State College, and have all my life. PSU is a fairly solid school. If it's science or engineering you're looking at, most departments are excellent. Research opportunities are ample (heck, I even have done research and I'm still in hs). If you've applied to the honors college, there are soooooo many opportunities available to you, it's ridiculous. A cousin of mine is in there now, and they're building a plane. It's definitely a big campus, and classes with 500 people aren't for everyone. If you're willing to work a little bit harder, you can enroll in honors courses which usually have no more than 30 people in them. When I say 500 person courses, those are mostly for introductory science classes, and not so one-on-one classes like history. By the time you're done with your first year or two you shouldn't have any more massive classes (you'll probably only have several of those in total, I would think). If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, because I should be able to answer almost any one you come up with. I practically live on campus.</p>
<p>I think its as good or better then any large public school. Last year we had 12 kids go to PennState but it seems like almost everyone submits an application there. For me, its too big and too impersonal but some kids say that that means more opportunities.</p>
<p>It is a top school. And people sure do know it:</p>
<p>"Penn State one of top five universities in Gallup Poll list</p>
<p>Penn State is ranked fifth with Yale, Notre Dame, Duke and the UCLA as the best university in the United States, according to a new Gallup Poll. Penn State is second only to Harvard as the best university in the United States, according to respondents living in the eastern United States. "</p>
<p><a href="http://www.psu.edu/ur/archives/intercom_1999/Sept16/gallup.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.psu.edu/ur/archives/intercom_1999/Sept16/gallup.html</a> </p>
<p>I just picked up a copy of the US New World rankings report. The peer assesment score is the largest factor when calculating the rankings and I noticed Penn State had a rating of a 3.9. I was quite surprised because this surpassed elite top 20 schools like Notre Dame as well as other great schools like Tufts, Wake Forest, USC, the College of William and Mary, Brandeis, NYU, Boston College, Tulane, George Washington and Boston University.</p>
<p>There really is more to this school than just a great price, excellent sports, a great social atmosphere, a "beautiful campus" (according to the Kaplan: Insider Guide to Colleges) and a well-known name.</p>
<p>DanielJ said:</p>
<p>
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"...compromised of..." Ahem?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Er. Sorry, sip of the tongue. ;-)</p>
<p>Fairly solid but not elite. Take out the sports-related stuff and the superfluous adjectives from the posted long description and you don't have much left. Best West Coast comparable I can think of would be U/Washington. In the next cluster of public U's after Berkeley, UCLA, UVA, U/Michigan, U/NC-CH, U/T-Austin. </p>
<p>And no, I'm not anti-PSU. My mom is a Nittany Lion.</p>
<p>Btw, what the blazes a Gallup poll says about a college has even less relevance than the [deservedly maligned] USNews ratings.</p>
<p>"In the next cluster of public U's after Berkeley, UCLA, UVA, U/Michigan, U/NC-CH, U/T-Austin"
And Wisconsin. Actually Washington is somewhat better than PSU and could make a good case for being in the top group.</p>
<p>Barrons, my subjective takes would put Wisconsin ahead of PSU. However, the whole rankings thing on this board is overdone to death and I wrote with a broader brush in mind. Also, I think U/Washington <em>is</em> the best West Coast comparable. Just checked two of many indicators: PSU's SAT scores are about 20-30 points higher--a small gap--and by small percentages have higher percentages of matriculated applicants in the top 10 percent and top 25 percent of their hs class.</p>