Hello everyone, I’d really like some insight. I recently was accepted to Penn State’s 2+2 program at Berks as well as the Science and Arts Honors College at CU Boulder. I live out of state for both colleges and was looking for which school is better academically since I already know that CU will be a bit more pricey on average.
I plan to study Clinical Psychology so both schools are ranked similarly for that subject by USNews. I have yet to visit Berks in person but have visited Boulder as well as the university campus (I feel that Boulder might be safer)so I was wondering if being in an honors college at a less academically sound university was better than going to a top school like Penn.
I’d appreciated anyone’s insight!
I think CU’s Honors College would be a lot better than 2+2 at Penn State Berks, especially for an out of state student. Can your family afford both schools without loans? Did you apply to any instate universities? Clinical psychology will require a graduate degree, so it would be best to keep costs low for undergraduate school.
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Thank you for your reply! I would have to take out private loans either way and I’m still waiting to hear back from CU regarding financial aid (Penn offered me the bare minimum). I live in Las Vegas so I applied to UNLV but it isn’t an academically sound school and only recently got medically accredited, plus I can’t live here longer for personal health reasons.
You can only take out $5500 in Direct loans freshman year on your own. You can’t take out private loans without a cosigner, and it would be a very bad idea to take out substantial loans for an undergraduate degree when you are anticipating graduate school in the future. How much can your family afford to pay per year without loans? UNLV would be fine for an undergraduate psychology major. You could go to a more highly rated school for graduate work. I don’t know why you can’t stay in Nevada for the next four years but if you need or just want to go out of state, please research schools that are less expensive than CU and Penn State, both of which are expensive and neither of which are known to offer significant financial aid to out of state students (don’t know about CU, but Penn State doesn’t offer much to instate students either). There are many schools still accepting applications, and in early May NACAC will be publishing a list of schools that still have openings. If you list your stats, knowledgeable people here on College Confidential may be able to give you suggestions of schools that might be affordable.
See below for a link to scholarships at the University of New Mexico. This would be much cheaper than Penn State or Colorado and would still be away from Nevada. Note that you should apply by April 1.
https://admissions.unm.edu/costs-financial-aid/affordability.html
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Alright, thank you for the info!
Colorado Boulder Honors >>>>> PSU Berks! Not even on the same planet.
That being said, if you need private loans for both, they’re not affordable.
University of New Mexico is still taking applications. Cool campus, OOS with good scholarships. Cheaper than either CU or Psu, Better than UNLV (I agree, it’s totally underfunded and there has to be a better choice for a kid who got into CU Honors).
What are your stats?
Do your parents have a budget (what they can pay out of pocket, from income and savings).
You shouldn’t be considering Penn state… especially at OOS costs and for a 2-year branch campus! If you really want to have PSU as an alternative, email penn state and say that since you live in Nevada, you can’t really attend PSU Berks.
(Berks is like a community college.) Ask to be re evaluated for another major. The trick is picking one that isn’t full yet. Beside Psychology, what are you interested in?
Did you apply for Psychology BA or BS? Would you be interested in SODA or Biological Anthropology?
All in all Psu Berks is a very bad deal.
Boulder is definitely the better option!! The Penn State branch campuses do not give the full college experience, they have more of a community college feel. I am a PA resident and applied to Penn State this year and initially received an offer to a branch campus. I reached out to an admissions officer and explained my situation and how I felt I was a competitive applicant… I ended up getting in 3 days later. A lot of my qualified friends were accepted to branch campuses (likely due to the fact they opted out of summer session). So if you are considering Penn State I would suggest appealing to your branch campus acceptance. Personally, I believe that Boulder is a better school for college life and holds great value especially with the honors college. Therefore, if you decide not to appeal your Penn State decision and Boulder is comfortable financial… go to Boulder!
I’m not really comfortable talking about finances on the internet, but as for my stats, I have an unweighted GPA of 3.75 and a weighted 4.7 (AP classes are a godsend for multiple reasons haha). I only took the ACT due to lack of testing options for the SAT this year and my composite was 29 (I got 30+ in english and reading but am not the best in math).
Thank you for the advice on Penn and reaching out; I heard people on a Reddit thread were able to contact the school and swap to the main campus however because this year they’re prioritizing spreading students across campuses for health reasons, I don’t know how it would go.
I am interested in a major in Psych and a minor in some form of creative arts such as drawing, etc. I have applied for a BA due to the niche I want to join which is adolescent clinical/counseling psychology.
I really appreciate your personal insight regarding Penn. I totally get the community feel after seeing virtual tours of the campus. That’s cool that you were able to contact the office and they responded almost immediately; I heard of a few people having the same experience on Reddit but the uni is spreading out students so their policies might be a bit different this year–still doesn’t hurt to try though. Thank you so much for your opinion again!
Penn State re-evaluates applicants if they 1) are willing to start in the summer and thus check “summer session” and/or 2) switch majors (try BioBehavioral Health or Human Health&Development and Family Studies or Health&Human Development/Undecided – those majors sound really to what you’re interested in.)
However, because you’re OOS and the full cost is already above what you can afford, adding 8K would make things even worse!
There’s no identifying information here, only a screen handle - and on a website called collegeconfidential “university109” will not make us guess who you really are 
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Having an idea of your budget and net costs is customary so we can give you the most useful advice - it will not be linked to you in any way (we don’t know who you are).
Your unweighted is very good and your weighted indicates lots of AP’s, so that should help.
Thanks for the info regarding Penn, I might look more into that but yeah going to the main campus adds more money.
I understand the whole anonymity it’s just something I’m personally uncomfortable with discussing.
Will you be willing to look at other universities (either still taking apps or, more likely, from the list of colleges that miscalculated yield) and send them an app in case they offer enough scholarship money?
The issue with PSU is that 1° you really should go to Main Campus if you’re going to spend all that money as an OOS student (also, BBH or HHD really sounds like that’s what you want to study)
and
2° Berks is really not where you want to go regardless (did you put it as your 2nd choice or did they place you there randomly or because they didn’t have space at Harrisburg/Erie/Altoona, the 3 “4-year” colleges)?
I guess you can always try to reach out and ask for a reevaluation with change of major to BBH or HHD (no summer session), and if that fails, see whether you’d be able to afford Altoona/Erie/Harrisburg, although by that time I would imagine you’d have more satisfactory admissions.
BTW I’m trying to help you get the PSU admission you deserve (because Berks is NOT what you want) but hopefully Colorado Boulder Honors is less expensive, because it’s not significantly better academically, Boulder is a great college town, and you got Honors to boot.
So the main issue is… cost.
You’re only allowed a loan for 5.5K, so finding a university within budget and comparing net costs is pretty essential, but without the data we can’t help. If you change your mind or feel more comfortable, we’ll add that criterion to the suggestion made, in the meantime I really hope you get into another college that will be less expensive than these two.
As for your first question, yes; I have applied to over 10 universities multiple of which have given me scholarships (the best being DU with over 25k a year and Uni of Portland at 24k a year).
For the second question, I placed Altoona and then Berks. Thank you for thinking I deserve more out of Penn, that means a lot to me!
Cost wise, the 2+2 program at Penn costs me less overall, however, I haven’t received financial aid and scholarship info from CU yet, plus they accept over 20 of my AP credits which also helps cost.
I still have yet to receive many college decisions as well as academic info which may change my opinion though. Thank you again for your comments!
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@university109 I work as a complex trauma therapist and I urge you NOT to take on debt for this career. Not only is there graduate school to get through, but roles are often not highly paid, especially when you start out. You may also have less time to work a well paid job in the summers etc if you need lower paid internships and experience.
Do YOU know what your budget is without taking on loans over $5.5k? Even if you don’t say it here, you need to know what your parents can afford from savings + income. This plus the small student loan of $5.5k is your budget. I urge you not to exceed it. It doesn’t matter if Portland gives you $24k in aid if the net price still exceeds this budget.
I understand that UNLV may not be desirable. In which case look at New Mexico and also the list of schools on the NACAC list which comes out early May.
Another option is to take a gap year and work or volunteer and re-apply for schools that will be affordable.
People on here can help you
One thing you’ll learn when you have your adolescent clients is how much young people discount the future. They focus solely on ‘now’ rather than their future selves. Don’t be that person when you can have other options.
Good luck.
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I hate to burst your bubble, but CU honors really isn’t all that – there’s nothing particularly guaranteed about it. It’s not an honors college, just a program.
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Honors housing (HRAP) isn’t guaranteed and kids, especially in-state, have already been depositing for months in order to get it. Going forward you don’t get any priority either.
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You can take one class a semester with 17 or fewer students, but what you want may not be available. There is no priority registration for honors.
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There are special speakers, programs, etc., but you have to take the initiative and attend.
CU is not known to give much aid to OOS students – they want the tuition money. It’s not really worth it.
Wondering if you applied to UNR, as an inexpensive in-state alternative since you nixed UNLV., especially with your career goals.
Good luck!
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Mom1720 is correct. First off UNLV is fine - but you can’t stay so then UNR. If you have strong grades, you need to apply to Arizona - it’s open til May 3rd.
This is a lesson in knowing how to pick the right schools. DU, for example, is great, but you near maxed out their merit - so you’re still at 50K a year. Boulder gives only $6250 to most - and it’s $50K a year - and then people move 15 mins off campus when they move off as it’s pricey. Arizona or if the weather is no good - Norther Arizona, New Mexico - these are schools that give good aid.
Penn State and Colorado are fine - but they are not Harvard. They are state schools, no different than UNLV or UNR. People put way too much stock in the rankings.
My son is going to Alabama for engineering - pays $3K a year after his $28.5K scholarship. He’s interning this Summer at a major automotive manufacturer with a Ga Tech (top of the top) and U of Houston (unranked).
Get a good education - DON’T take on loans - or your post college experience will become a nightmare.
Good luck.
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