Questions from an International Schreyer Freshman 2022

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
1

I am an international student accepted into Schreyer and to the Eberly Physics major. I have a lot of questions. Appreciate any pointers from folks with knowledge/experience in any of these.

  1. Is it common in other universities to hold NSO during the summer and use that time for new student advising and fall registration? (I haven’t come across it so far.)
  2. Looks like Schreyer’s NSO is in late-May and other NSOs may follow soon after. It just will not be possible for me to travel for this. The earliest I can get to PSU will be like late-July or early-August to meet an advisor face-to-face. Will all registrations be done and most classes be full by then?
  3. I am scheduled to take a few AP exams this May and the results will be out only in July. Any idea if I will be able to have these potential AP credits considered before committing to fall classes?
  4. What does the 2-day agenda for NSO look like? Does anyone think/know if it is possible to get any of the advising/registration done remotely, i.e., through Skype for advising etc.
  5. Though I applied for a Physics major, I am currently leaning towards the Energy Engineering major and if schedule permits possibly a physics minor or a double-major. Would I be able to schedule fall (and subsequent) classes based on my current intended major? Or will there be any rigidity in the scheduling system that my Physics admission status brings in or because of the different colleges the programs are in?
  6. How do the General ED requirements work for Schreyer students? E.g., SHC students are required to take CAS 137/138 series for 6 credits. Do they also need to take 3 more credits to meet the 9 GWS credits requirement? In general, is the Schreyer requirements (xx number of honors classes, honors research, etc) in addition to all the University requirements including General ED requirements?
  7. What has been the experience in case students with AP credits awarded for MATH 140-141 want to move on to MATH 231? Is there a lot of push back to have people start with MATH 140-141? It seems ALEKS scores can also point one to MATH 140 at best.
  8. What is the “Leadership Jumpstart”? Is it offered in Fall and Spring and can I take it in either term? When I try to apply for it from the SHC page, it throws out a message saying the deadline has passed. Would that be for the Fall 2018 session?
  9. Is there a separate First Year Seminar requirement for SHC? If my intended major also has a FYS requirement, would I choose that over the SHC’s?
2
  1. I believe in the past there has been a separate international student orientation later in the summer, like August. I do not know if they hold spots for international students in popular classes, or what -- you could call or email the office to ask about it.
  2. This is common with domestic students. If you don't get your results back before NSO, the advisor will tell you how to do it (whether they want you to schedule as if you'll get the credits or as if you won't). Then you just update your class schedule if it comes out the other way.
  3. Here's the page for international student orientation: https://global.psu.edu/taxonomy/term/245 Fall 2018 isn't up yet but you could get an idea about specifics from the Fall 2017 one. I do not think you can do it remotely.
  4. Because one major is in Eberly and one major is in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, you might run into problems at some point if you try to enter one major from the opposite college (Entrance to Major usually happens 3rd or 4th semester, after you have completed a certain set of classes, sometimes with a certain GPA requirement -- more about Entrance to Major here https://advising.psu.edu/entrance-major-requirements). Talk to an advisor when you come for orientation. They may have you go Eberly > DUS > EMS (I know Smeal has some requirement that only people in DUS and Smeal can apply for Smeal majors, but I'm not sure about other colleges). Or maybe they'll just have you stay in Eberly and it'll be fine. Advisors deal with that kind of thing all the time so they'll know for sure.
  5. You still have to fulfill all of the normal gen ed requirements, but if any of your honors classes are listed as gen eds of any type they will count both as honors and the gen ed. For example I've taken Criminology 012H, which counted as social sciences and honors. Honors requirements are, in general, in addition to the main requirements.
  6. No push-back at all. ALEKS only gives you the minimum math class to take; if you qualify for MATH 140 and have credits to get out of it, you can just use them and start at MATH 141 or whatever.
  7. When I took it, CAS 138 counted for my FYS requirement. I believe it is fairly unique in that way.
3

Your NSO will be right before Schreyer, in August. Class places are held for those students.
Schreyer requirements cover Gen Ed requirements.
Leadership Jumpstart is by application only (there are only 24 spots I think) - you have to apply in August.

4

Thank you @bodangles and @MYOS1634. Both the replies helped clarify a lot of the questions I had.

So, re. the admitted major vs intended, my plan is to discuss with advisors when I get the chance and then schedule and take classes based on my current plan for the first 2 semesters and then apply for change of major. Is this ok or is there a need or an opportunity to request a change to the admitted major now (with PSU admissions) prior to NSO?

5

Will you have AP credit or equivalent?
You can look at the 4-year plans for both majors of interest. To find those type “PSU rap”+ name of major. You’ll likely see common classes. Substitute 137-138 for English 15/cas100 and try to mix the pre-requisites. It’s not uncommon for Schreyer students to have a major and and minor, double major, double minor…

6

I hope to have credits for beginning Calculus, Chemistry and Physics (E&M) which should ease the schedule a bit. Yes, I did check the RAPs and at least a Energy major - Physics (Nanoscience) minor seems possible. The gen ed requirements - GS/GH/GA + the integrative/inter-domain - bits are a bit confusing and look daunting to fit in.

7

Starting to hear about online/web classes. How prevalent are these at Penn State? Are they mostly lower-level or upper-level? I can see how they can be convenient for professors and students, not having to worry about classrooms and schedules. However, is there a downside to not having the rigor and the interaction that comes with a classroom setting? Is the cost of tuition lower for online courses?

8

I looked at the lion schedule thingy…These are an option (they’re like an extra section) not an obligation, except in the summer when fewer classes are offered and some are only offered online. They require a lot of self discipline.

9

I’ve never taken a fully online class, and have only ever taken one or two “integrated” classes where there was a class day and a video lecture day.

10

For example, I was looking at Prof Serguei Lvov’s teaching profile in the Energy & Mineral Eng dept. Out of the 6 400 - 500 level courses, 4 are listed as web (only) and 2 are hybrid (which must be same as “integrated” that @bodangles mentions).

When I check the course desc for egee 420, it shows up at the e-education site and states that “No traditional class meetings are scheduled in this web course. All class communications will be via the Internet and by emails”. Looks like this format makes it easy for other PSU campuses to make use of as well.

However, it looks to me like too many are going the online way, at least from this set of courses.

11

The same egee 420 on the lionpath does not seem to mention anything about web or traditional. I could have not looked at the right place, though.

12

Where are you seeing this? When I search that professor on LionPATH I don’t get that many courses.

13

The EME Dept website, under Faculty. For egee 320 course description, I just googled and the e-education link is the first one that comes up.

14

Okay, I found it. And is there any reason you’re looking at a particular professor instead of the department as a whole? Might be possible that that professor just doesn’t teach much anymore or prefers web classes or whatever.

For what it’s worth, I’ve taken one low-level EGEE course and one upper-level ENVSE course and neither was online. You could call the department to ask about how often online classes are the only type offered for a given course.

15

Just started to look into the main courses from this Dept, when I came across a few of the higher level courses I was interested in this list.

I did also come across some online only courses scheduled during the summer as well as some hybrid courses of other faculty. But, this is not a broad enough sample. So, wanted to get a perspective from folks on the ground. Thanks for the inputs.

16

Also I just wanted to note – 500-level courses are graduate courses, so upper-level undergraduate courses will usually be in the 300s and 400s.

For Fall 2018, LionPATH is showing me the following:

EGEE 302
EGEE 411W
EGEE 430
EGEE 441 - online
EGEE 451
EGEE 497

Of those, all have locations listed except 441, which says “Web.”

This spring they offered:

EGEE 304
EGEE 411
EGEE 420 - online
EGEE 430
EGEE 436 - online
EGEE 437
EGEE 438
EGEE 439 - online
EGEE 464
EGEE 470
EGEE 497

With 420, 436, and 439 listed as “Web.”

Have you checked out the recommended academic plan? https://rap.psu.edu/node/1206

17

Yes, I have checked out the recommended plans. Thanks for looking into this.