<p>My son has been admitted as an undergraduate to the college of engineering at both Penn State and Purdue. What do you think would be the best choice?
PS He is an international student coming from Europe.</p>
<p>Psu,</p>
<p>Purdue…</p>
<p>I would have him scour the websites to see what kind of research they are doing. See if anything really looks exciting to him. Both programs are comparable.</p>
<p>Lots and lots of research at PSU. My s graduated in 2010 with an EE degree.</p>
<p>I would look at the other things. Transportation and whether he can stay in the dorms over breaks if he is not going home. PSU has flights that go to Phila International airport and buses (3 1/2 hr ride)</p>
<p>My son visited both campuses and chose PSU. </p>
<p>In the end, it boiled down to the specific program he wanted. PSU’s Arch Engr program is very well established and is one of the top programs in the US. Purdue’s program (not even a full degree, just an option within Civil Engr) is so new it has yet to graduate it’s first cohort. </p>
<p>Has your son had a chance to visit the campuses? It’s so hard to make a decision without visiting.</p>
<p>Can’t go wrong with either school! Purdue is well known for its engineering programs. There are many international students there studying engineering. As someone mentioned above, maybe the tiebreaker is the specific program you want to major in and you can gather information about course requirements/descriptions and professors from the websites and contact the universities if a visit is not possible. Both are big universities with great school spirit located in small towns. Both have similar weather. Congratulations to your son on two great options!</p>
<p>Thank you for your answers. Actually my son is generally oriented to aerospace engineering but he is not stack to it. I mean he is open (as ra freshman should be…) to everything and his intention is to chose a university that will offer him a variety of majors connected to engineering. He also tries to find out the college with the best ties with the market. Actually, I feel he is closer to PSU, but he is strongly considering Purdue too.
I would aprecciate more answers/views, taking into account all the above.</p>
<p>PS. He has also been admitted by Embry Riddle, Fl and University of Arizona.</p>
<p>In terms of rankings (for whatever they are worth), Purdue is higher than PSU in Engineering, but PSU is ranked higher overall. But I believe Purdue is considered stronger in Aerospace Engr. </p>
<p>Both schools are top draws for recruiters, as shown by this article last fall.
[penn-state-tops-recruiter-rankings:</a> Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/110656/penn-state-tops-recruiter-rankings?mod=edu-collegeprep]penn-state-tops-recruiter-rankings:”>http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/110656/penn-state-tops-recruiter-rankings?mod=edu-collegeprep)</p>
<p>Purdue is a little better situated in terms of ease of getting to a major airport (only 90 minutes from Indianapolis). PSU is about a 3 hour drive to both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. We have opted to have DS fly out of State College rather than take the buses to Pitt or Philly. More expensive, but overall so much easier. </p>
<p>PSU is close to places like Wash DC and NYC, and Purdue is not too far from Chicago.</p>
<p>Both have great school spirit and great school rivalries within the Big 10. DS loves being part of the PSU Blue Band and walking into Beaver Stadium to the cheering home crowd.</p>
<p>Now a more personal observation -
While both are located in small towns, DS liked the set up of PSU better. For him, Purdue seemed a little removed. (Note: I didn’t go on the Purdue visit, but this was DH’s feeling as well)</p>
<p>Thank you Grcxx3. Do you find NYC too far away with bus? You see NYC has direct flights to Athens,Greece (From Philadelphia you have at least one stop over in Europe to Athens). But after all this is not the most important for our family. Our son will visit us once or twice a year at the most.</p>
<p>greekdad - sorry, don’t know how far it is by bus or what the logistics are. But I would imagine it is at least a 4-5 hour bus ride and I don’t think the buses take you directly to the airport. So a cab to the airport might be needed.</p>
<p>There are no direct flights from State College to JFK, but you can connect thru Wash DC. To me, that’s just so much better than sitting on bus for several hours!!!</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, even tho there would be an extra stop in Europe, using Wash-Dulles as your main in/out point has it’s advantages. I haven’t flown internationally thru JFK in decades, but Wash-Dulles was our “airport of choice” when we lived overseas. It was just so much easier to deal with than Chicago or Atlanta.</p>
<p>Thank you Grcxx3. Do you have anything else to mention about your son’s experience from PSU? Is this his first year there?</p>
<p>greekdad - Yes, he’s in his first year and is loving it.</p>
<p>But I will qualify this a bit. Some kids are really good at getting out and meeting people, making friends, and getting involved in activities and groups - but my son isn’t one of those. PSU is a BIG school (a little bigger than Purdue), and with a school that size, he knew that it would be critical for him to be “part” of something from the start. Being in the honors college is a help, but the thing that made the most difference was making the Blue Band. Band Camp started several days before everyone else arrived, so getting settled into his dorm room, starting to get familiar with the campus, and meeting both new freshmen and upperclassmen were really important.</p>
<p>Greekdad…You may want to look at the college forums for each school under “P” and post a question there. It looks like there are some current students posting there that might be able to give you some additional info about both schools.</p>
<p>Good point Mini Van!!! Wasn’t thinking - should have suggested that!</p>
<p>Thank you guys!!</p>
<p>Also consider the overall college experience. Don’t count on him visiting big cities away from campus on weekends- save that for breaks he doesn’t return home for. Check with the international students association for each school for their take on campus life. Use the overall feel for the campus and not only the academics- he has to live there as well as attend classes.</p>
<p>Thanks wis75. I agree with your points…</p>