But here it is, I absolutely loved PSU. Just the drive through the campus to get to the hotel we were staying at was amazing. Kids were out and about, throwing footballs around, talking in large groups, basically what you can expect at a larger university. My mom and I spent the first day just milling around campus, and it has a really good feel to it. I remember having the biggest smile on my face and also, if we got lost or needed to find something, students wouldn’t hesitate to come up to us and ask if we needed directions.
The second day was in the college of engineering information session. The speaker did an amazing job at relaying how great of a program they offer at PSU, and had senior students from the engineering college talk about there experiences abroad or cool projects they got involved with at the university. Then we went out in tour groups to get a more in-depth tour of the campus. The tour guides were funny and shared a ton of awesome information. The kids in my tour group were really cool too, I made a few “close” friends and we are remaining in contact in case we decide to go to PSU so can get in touch again.
The best part of the day was when I got to tour their Formula SAE club which is where students build a race car from scratch and race it at a national tournament every year. The students in the club dropped everything to talk to us and I could tell they were just getting excited about sharing with me what they were working on. They were extremely passionate about what they were doing. That was the best part of the day.
I was worried about it being such a big university, but actually being there, it felt smaller than I thought. And if parties are what you’re looking for, there was no shortage of those either (or so I was told).
Best takeaways:
AMAZING engineering program
Plenty of opportunities to thrive and find your niche
great social and sports teams
Very happy place with a good vibe
Cons:
Reputation as a party school to some
Hope this helps! I will be putting out a video on Virginia Tech as well as a review on here soon!
@Amateurengineer thanks so much. I was so waiting for the reviews. Will wait for your Vtech review. My only concern with Penn State (other than being a college town) is the party culture.
Is your major Computer science in the College of engineering? How was that dept?
Is there a residence hall (new/ renovated ones) closer to CS department. Which residence hall do you recommend?
How is it to commute around - bus schedules?
Food
During cold weather do the kids find it difficult to walk around campus. I heard some colleges like Purdue have tunnels to walk around from residence hall to food courts - does Penn state have something similar?
Pennsylvania is not Minnesota or even Indiana… it’s not so cold that you need tunnels!
CS can be in Engineering or IST. Degree content is different.
If concerned about party culture, don’t join a frat (like 70-80% students); look for a wellness/substance free dorm/ quiet floor; honors dorm (don’t remember which name) has a quiet sound proof room and is a few minutes away from Engineering.
Thanks @MYOS1634. Good to know its not that cold. My letter says Engg.
Do you have any recommendations closest to CS for double room/suite?
. I am not admitted to honors so cannot go for the honors dorm.
My daughter recently graduated from PSU with an engineering degree. She had incredible internships starting with the summer after her freshman year. She was offered a job before her senior year even started. If your con is that it’s a “party school”, live in the engineering dorm. It’s in a prime campus location (across from the shrine) and is a really good option for those who want a bit more of a studious environment. She is not a partier and still made a lot of friends, had a good time and ended up with a terrific job. You have a lot of great options - good luck with your decision. Exciting times!
@ppxyz123 yes. It’s McKee Hall. And it’s on the west side of campus, not on top of, but not far from the engineering buildings. My daughter was a double major (in French and Francophone Studies) and she never complained about the distance to her classes. She’s a kind of shy, studious kid and we didn’t think PSU was the right fit and it turned out she knew herself well and thrived there.
Hey friend!
I’ll try my best to answer your questions!
My intended major is mechanical engineering, however at PSU, you don't get to declare your major right away, you have to take the entrance to major courses and maintain a 3.0-3.2 GPA to be able to declare your major.
The computer science dept is excellent, as well as all other types of engineering at PSU, they are amazing across the board!
If you choose to room in "E-House" (The engineering special living option) you will be closest to the engineering building where most of your upper-level classes will be held. I don't know exactly where E-House is placed on the campus, I just know it is super close to the engineering building. They have renovated rooms at East, West, and North Halls. However East is supposedly the "party hall". I would definitely recommend getting into E-House, very quiet and all the people living around you can help you and you can ask them questions!
The commute is quick and efficient. The buses are going 24/7, and a lot of students take pride in the bus system because it is really well put together on the campus. If you are going for CS, I can pretty much guarantee everything will be a hop skip and jump from the residence halls. Took me only 20 minutes tops to go from one end of campus to the other!
The food was AMAZING. I want to stress, I was expecting high school cafeteria food, I was instead eating something out of a Red Robin or Apple Beez it felt like. We went to one of the residence halls to eat, a very basic one that you get with the meal plan. I could get unlimited burgers and fries, and they have a ton of options, everything tasted great and the students I talked to love the food as well. A very strong point of the university I would say!
PSU gets cold I'm sure, I luckily wasn't there when it was cold. I can say however that due to the proximity of the buildings on campus, the wind is broken up really well so there was never super strong winds when we were walking around which is nice. They don't have tunnels on campus, or at least I didn't see any when I was there. I have a friend that graduated from PSU and she said that walking around was never a problem in the winter because it's usually strong wind that makes it feel really cold out, and wind generally isn't a problem. Sorry, I can't offer much personal info on the weather though!
Also as for party culture, that was a huge worry of mine too! In fact, back when I was a junior in hs, I never thought I would apply to PSU because of the party school stigma. However, after talking to specifically engineering students that were passionate and devoted to their studies, they told me that as an engineer, if you don’t want to go to parties and you live in a hall other than East, you will never really be too tempted to party. However, if you want to seek out parties they are not hard to find. By housing in E-House or West or North halls, the party scene is elsewhere on campus generally. As long as you don’t join a frat, you won’t be bothered by partying!
I will have a Virginia Tech review up soon! I’m going to post it along with my video I’m making for it. So probably tomorrow!
The question I had however is - do all freshmen take the same courses in first year
or for Mechanical engineering you have your own set of major courses and for CS I have my own set - which is ok to do and we maintain the GPA for these courses. Its also ok if there are a few general courses
However if both departments are taking same set of courses it means many will get weeded out from the major they want isnt it?
Purdue and TAMU and Vtech states clearly that first year is General engg where all freshmen take same courses right?
However Calpoly SLO - you are taking classes related to CS from Day 1.
I would like someone to confirm if at Penn State - all freshmen are taking same set of classes or the set of classes pertaining to their major with a few common ones. This is important for making my decision.
Look for ‘cs academic plan’ and compare to ‘electrical engineering academic plan’.
Email the college of engineering to ask
whether CS majors need to take Calculus for engineers or whether they take regular or honors Calculus (140E v. 140).
