<p>Hello everybody.</p>
<p>I got accepted to Penn State Erie - Software Engineering program and Purdue University West Lafeyette - Computer Science program.</p>
<p>Which one would you recommend me?</p>
<p>Which one is better (Considering Penn State Erie campus isn't the main one), which town is cooler (both of them are small as far as I know), etc.</p>
<p>I am Ecuadorian so I'd prefer a diverse campus.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot,</p>
<p>I need to make a decision ASAP.</p>
<p>I think you would prefer Purdue. The Erie campus would be more of a commuter campus and have fewer international and OOS students. Purdue is a flagship school of sorts and has far more amenities and the school itself will have a program that has no cap in how far it goes in complexity as Purdue also has graduate departments.</p>
<p>I was told that both Erie and West Lafayette are small cities… so what do you mean by commuter campus?</p>
<p>Commuter campus refers to a campus where a large percentage of students commute from their established homes (either traditional students commuting from their parents’ houses, or older students commuting from where they have chosen to live for work/family/etc. reasons). The social life around the campus tends to be less than at a campus where more students are living on or near campus for the purpose of going to school there.</p>
<p>Oh that’s nice… thank you.</p>
<p>And about Erie vs WL, which city is better? I like to live in a place I find comfortable …</p>
<p>Penn State Erie is not the main Penn State, which is in College Park. Everything you may have heard about Penn State is about the main Penn State. </p>
<p>If you were comparing Penn State-College Park with Purdue, you would have a real decision on your hands. But given that you are comparing with Erie, this doesn’t seem like much of a decision to me, with a clear benefit to Purdue. Purdue has a strong reputation and draws students nationally and internationally. The branch campuses of Penn State (which is what Erie is) probably draw almost exclusively from a small local area of the state. </p>
<p>While rankings aren’t everything, they do give some perspective. US News ranks Purdue as the #65 national university, and the #10 graduate engineering school. I couldn’t find Penn State Erie as being ranked by US News at all. The schools just aren’t in the same league at all.</p>
<p>Purdue is the better school in just about every way. Unless there is a big money differential, the choice is an easy one.</p>
<p>Penn State Erie has a larger population of students who are commuting to go there, that is, they live at home with family and go to school for the classes and go back home regularly, rather than live in the dorms. Also a large percentage of the students who go there have lived in the area, within an hour of the school for a goodly part of their lives, and their parents still live there. </p>
<p>Purdue, as well as any school, has such students in the population, but far less than Erie. Purdue has more of a national draw. For example, I know several kids from my area, which is not in the states of PA or IN, going to Purdue. Don’t know a single one from here who went to Erie. Those such students who might have had it on their lists find it more pragmatic to go to a school like that locally rather than being one of the few Out of State, even Out of area students. There is a lot more geographic diversity at Purdue. A lot more people from many places in the US as well as internationally go to Purdue. Erie is not at all well known outside of its locaity. </p>
<p>But if you have a good financial reason to go to Erie, that is is a whole other thing. Purdue is not, say $100k, over 4 years more than Erie. Paying back that kind of money if your family or you have to borrow it can have a lot of long term ramifications. </p>
<p>But all things equal, it’s an easy decision. Purdue.</p>
<p>'Purdue is the better school in just about every way. Unless there is a big money differential, the choice is an easy one."</p>
<p>Agreed. What are the costs going to be?</p>
<p>Just to clear up any confusion if the OP talks to others, the main campus of Penn State is in State College, PA. (U of Maryland is in College Park.)</p>
<p>And I agree that I would take four years at the main campus of Purdue over a 2+2 situation at Penn State.</p>
<p>Oops, SanSerif is right of course - I messed up the name of the location of the main Penn State campus. </p>
<p>One more thing to add: I’m an engineering manager and hire EE and CS grads. When I see a resume with a degree from Purdue on it, I know what that means. I never heard of Penn State-Erie before, so that resume would get less attention. (If the final degree came from the flagship Penn State, that would definitely look better than coming from one of the branch campuses.)</p>
<p>My son was accepted to both Purdue, west Lafayette and penn state, state college, pa. We’ve visited both and coming from NY, although both campuses seem like they’re in the middle of nowhere to us, state college, pa had a more northeast feel and more dynamic local environment and my son is therefore leaning toward penn state. But since Purdue outranks penn state in the engineering rankings in us news, this makes it a very difficult decision. To further confuse matters, penn state is ranked much higher than Purdue in terms of overall university ranking in us news. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Definitely choose Purdue. Congratulations on your acceptance. Penn State Erie campus would be an inferior experience compared to Penn State main campus. Like someone said upthread, if you were comparing main campus to Purdue, it would be a more difficult decision, but since you’re not, Purdue is a great option.</p>
<p>Report back and let us know what you decide.</p>