<p>I am planning on studying Petroleum and Natural Gas engineering at one of these two schools. I've been accepted to both and I have visited both. I really like both and that is making my decision much harder.</p>
<p>I got into the honors college at WVU and I also received $70,000 in scholarships (i'm oos). Needless to say I am very happy about both of these things. I'm only worried about the fact that I will need to maintain a 3.5 GPA to stay in the honors college and to retain one of the scholarships that I received, how hard is it to get a 3.5 at WVU? Also, another big things for me is the idea that people think more highly of WVU for whatever reason. I have heard from people in the industry that both schools have great programs and that where you went to undergrad doesn't matter but I am sort of worried about going to a school like WVU if the general opinion about it (outside of the industry) is really that bad. Things I liked about WVU were all of the new buildings that are going up, Morgantown/the campus, the dorms, the perks of the honors college like study abroad, honors hall, and priority registration, and the fact that i'd be at the top of the heap there.</p>
<p>Now to PSU. PSU is instate for me and I love the campus and the town of State College. What I don't love is that I have been shoved into summer session (after seeing people with stats far below me getting fall) and that the dorms look terrible. At PSU I like that PNGE is in the college of earth and mineral sciences which is very highly ranked (everything about psu is more highly ranked than wvu) as well as the fact that it is closer to home.</p>
<p>Both schools have admissions requirements for PNGE. At WVU you need to be one of the top 75GPAs applying for PNGE after sophomore year, and at PSU you need to have a 3.0 (maybe going to 3.3) GPA to get in. I'm worried about the competition at WVU vs just needing to get certain grades at PSU (how hard is it to get a 3.3 at PSU with all of the weeder courses?)</p>
<p>So does anybody have general opinions about the schools, info on some of my concerns, or past experience to share? I'd appreciate any input.</p>
<p>Rather than giving us the scholarship amounts, can you tell us how much each will cost out of pocket (without loans, etc)?
Be aware that at a 3.5 in college is not that easy to maintain (it’s good internship-/PHD-recruitment- level – although for top programs you’d need 3.75+).
What kind of preparation have you had (Honors/AP)? How many of your courses at WVU will be Honors?</p>
<p>Even the top PE phD programs gladly take 3.5 GPA. Compared to other fields, there just isn’t that much competition for spots. A 3.5 is tough to maintain, and at my school one PE course has a 40% failure rate and maybe 5 people get As (and these were the students who survived Differential Equations, structural geology, and physics!). If PSU is affordable, I’d go there. It’s the better school, has more industry connections outside of oil (considering the number of PEs that change every year, this should be an important factor), and doesn’t carry the risk of loosing the scholarship. </p>
<p>It can be very hard to maintain a high GPA in eng’g. What are your stats? (what is SAT breakdown, ACT breakdown)</p>
<p>How strong a student are you? Have you taken AP Cal? what grade did you get? what score did you get if you’ve already tested.</p>
<p>I know that you said some with higher stats got in at Fall. However, that suggests that maybe your stats aren’t that high or that maybe your math section isnt’ that high. You may have a higher total score/composite, but maybe the individual sections are a problem…or your math grades are weaker.</p>
<p>Edited to add:
"SAT: CR:750 M:680 W:620
SAT IIs:
GPA: 3.8
Rank: Top 20%
Other stats:</p>
<p>Subjective:
Essays: none (wish i’d written one, hoping this won’t bite me in the butt even though they supposedly don’t even read essays)
Teacher Recs: none
Counselor Rec: none
Hook (if any): middle-class white male from in-state"</p>
<p>Your Math score is sub 700 and you’re not in the top 10%. That may be why you were a summer admit.</p>
<p>@myo
My parents are paying for it all and that’s why i’m super paranoid about losing the scholarships/messing something up at WVU. PSU would be about 130k and WVU would be about 50k. I’ve taken all honors and APs</p>
<p>@when
I believe I need 30credit hours to graduate as a presidential scholar. Most of the engineering core classes have an honors version so getting the hours would not be a problem.</p>
<p>@mom2
I’m taking AP Calc BC and Physics B+C. Have A’s in all of those. Also, I would not think that Penn State was that super competitive that i’d need to be in the top 10%. My school is pretty high-class and the class rankings show it, but I still got a 3.8UW plus a decent SAT. I didn’t even apply to COE where the math SAT should be an issue and it is still a higher score than some people who got in for fall. I guess i’m just flustered because of the whole reputation that summer session at PSU has at my school.</p>
<p>They may prefer to have students starting in STEM majors to start in the summer. Based on your stats, it’s indeed strange they would request you start in the summer, so the only reason I can see if your future major (because COE students, etc, may take 2 summer classes with their “pride” then.) Overall though summer classes and the “pride” group are great. You’ll pad your GPA, have fun, know the campus before everyone else, so that when the Fall starts you’ll be comfortable and, in fact, ahead of many students. Honestly, if you didn’t plan on working this summer, I’d say the offer makes you come out ahead of others. But if that’s a problem, call them, state your stats, highlight your current curriculum (BC+ Physics C = really rigorous => they have so little to time to go over applications that this may have been missed), etc.</p>