<p>I'm considering Penn State University Park, but whenever I say it, people perceive it as a party school with low academics. It does provide a good education though right, not all partying and sports? And how close distance wise are PSU and Penn?</p>
<p>definetly a party school, but definetly not low academics. penn state is one of the best public schools in the country and has expecially great business and engineering schools. like i said its definetly a party school and sports are HUGE… but if youre not into that im sure you would be able to find your niche in a school with over 40k kids. however, its not close to Penn at all, i would say at least 3 hours.</p>
<p>i’m really not into partying at all but penn state is my number one choice, because there are so many other aspects to the school than that! don’t knock it down right away because of it’s reputation.</p>
<p>ehhh i live 45 minutes from penn and penn state is about 3.5 hours from me, so you’re looking at a good 4+ hours in between the two schools. </p>
<p>psu is a great school academically and there is nothing shabby about a degree from there. partying and sports are obviously huge there because…you’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere and you have to find entertainment where you can.</p>
<p>I think it’s really what you choose to make of it. If you want to party and not go to class, you can, but if you want a good education then you’ll get it.</p>
<p>PSU is a great school with amazing academic programs. PSU has amazing oppurtunities to start undergrad research as early as your freshmen year, something that not many schools can claim to have, at least not until your last 1 or 2 years as an undergrad. If you are a science or related major, such an oppurtunity will look great on applications to grad and med schools. </p>
<p>It does have the party school atmosphere on some nights, esp Fri and Sat but you DONT have to participate in that if you do not want to. There are many other activities the university puts on to promote substance free fun.</p>
<p>That all sounds awesome. How is the town?</p>
<p>downtown state college is nice. Gets a little old though after a while, but its a good place to kill time. You can pretty much get whatever you need there.</p>
<p>Penn State has great academics and a wonderful social scene. State College is the quintessential college town. You should definitely take a visit.</p>
<p>Joewii - Penn State is definitely a party school, and the downside is that its reputation can scare away kids who are more ino the academic aspects (or just aren’t into the party scene). However, as others have said, there’s a lot more to PSU than just parties, and the academic offerings are top-notch. My S isn’t into the party scene, but he really likes it at PSU. </p>
<p>Judging from your user name, I’m guessing you’re into video games, and I can tell you there are a lot of gamers at UPark, so you won’t have any trouble finding people with similar interests. For example, there are Wii tournaments and Rock Band get-togethers.</p>