<p>Probably everybody has been to Penn State -- but we hadn't! So here is my report:</p>
<p>Husband, son #2 (a junior) and I (mom) headed out for the Engineering Open House at Penn State University Park late Friday night and stayed overnight in a Comfort Suites. In the morning when we arrived on campus, parking was well signed. The advance materials we had received were a little confusing, so we opted to head to the reception place to try to get a better idea of what was going on. We took a funny shuttle bus that was very crowded, and then got in a little traffic jam; turned out it would have been a very short walk. The reception place was staffed mostly with alumni - they were approachable and had good information. They had booths on coops and other information.</p>
<p>The Engineering Open House began at 9:30 with a First Year Experience session. It was done by one freshman and one senior engineering student. It was fairly informative, with a power point display and a long question and answer session. (Why do we always have the most questions???) A lot of their information was...what should I say... fairly typical admission's spin - minus any "hard sell" that you sometimes feel at private schools. </p>
<p>We chose to do two sessions: Electrical Engineering and Comp Science/Comp Engineering (combo).</p>
<p>The Electrical Engineering session met in a confusingly mobbed lounge and then we were herded upstairs into a classroom. This session was actually quite good. After a short, but very good, introduction to EE (where I was disappointed to learn the EE is NOT fixing a washing machine), they took us to four different classrooms to demo actual classes: first level class (circuitry); second (microcontrollers/computer interface); and senior level EE class (capstone projects). Humorously, the fourth session (an elective) was taught by a prof who was VERY difficult to understand (English second language) and the project he was demonstrating either wasn't working or I just didn't understand it (either is certainly a possibility). Perhaps that wasn't the best choice for the open house. Overall, it was actually pretty clear how the sequence would feel for an EE major, and these sessions where held by the actual profs who teach them. The EE building is horrible. A 70's monstrosity that no doubt NEVER looked good. </p>
<p>At this point I realized that, oddly enough, the schedule had left NO time for a lunch break. (WHY???) Since we had eaten breakfast early and would be busy until after 3:00 this was sort of annoying. So we ducked out of EE, RAN to the union, grabbed something to eat, and then RAN to our second session which we were just a tad late for.</p>
<p>Our second session was Comp Sci/Comp Engineering. This was held in the lovely new IST Building, in a huge high-tech lecture hall. Prof explained what these disciplines are (I was disappointed to learn they have nothing to do with computer games, web surfing, or MS Word) and what classes would be taken for each major. It was simple and informative. After that there was ample time for question and answers and then student-lead tours of a couple of the labs. </p>
<p>Oddly, the fourth part of the day, the Walking Campus Tour, was scheduled to start before the end of the third part. (Who planned this thing anyway??) So we left early and RAN to the tour, which we met on the way. One tour guide and over 40 people! Impossible to hear or see anything. He tried to herd us through the Engineering dorm (where it is evidently nearly impossible to get a room...) but there were just too many people. We were glad when the tour was over and we could walk around alone.</p>
<p>We talked to some kids on the street (one boy had started as an engeering major and was now majoring in nutrition...) who loved it at Penn State and were helpful in directing us to the Creamery. Unfortunately, there was a really long line there for ice cream and I have a severe problem about waiting in lines (it's really like a phobia - I've tried about 4 times to wait in line to climb the Eiffel Tour and can't even manage that). By this time it was about 4:00 and we were beat and we had a 4 1/2 hour drive home.</p>
<p>We took a quick swing through State College, which was really cute and busy and looked like great fun, and headed home. Hit snow and obnoxious weather just about at the state line.</p>
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<p>Overall, the Open House was a bit of a mob scene (as someone on here warned me it might be), but my son seemed very engaged and interested. The scheduling snafus were sort of odd, as I suspect they run this program a couple times a year, but perhaps it was geared more towards people who live closer and weren't trying to do everything in one day.</p>
<p>Penn State campus was LOVELY. The trees are AMAZING. The rows of American Elms!!!-- simply heavenly. I was surprised at how much I liked the campus. Very, very nice indeed. </p>
<p>The Ra-Ra factor: Very high, and my family sort of lacks the ra-ra gene, so whatever. Boy, is that stadium big. Yikes.</p>
<p>My son's concerns: getting to play in an orchestra, or participate in stage crew at a school this big. My concerns: what appear to be over-enrollment issues on this campus (classrooms seemed jammed; housing a potential problem, with no guarantees for sophmores and a fair number of kids living in lounges etc.; enrollment caps in certain majors) and the seemingly less collaboratvie learning environment and academic support for engineering students that we felt at the only other school we've toured with him so far (Rensselaer).</p>
<p>Well, there's our trip to Penn State! Hope it will be helpful to somebody.</p>