Anyone out there applying to University of Delaware? Its my daughters first choice. She was accepted already to Penn State University Park, and Pitt. But she loves Delaware. Any comments about University of Delaware, the dorms, food, admissions?
<p>I applied to UD and Penn State, plus others, and ended up at Penn State. I know people who love UD, however. Heard the food was ok, freshman dorms are FAAAAAR away unless you are in the honors program, and from my experience if you have good greads, they will probably give you money. At least a little bit of it :)</p>
<p>Personally, my impressions were that it wasn't a totally cohesive campus, the central part of it was beautiful, though. Personally thought Penn State was a just a better choice, especially because of the alumni network and vast resources.</p>
<p>We have a student at the University of Delaware (out of state). So far the experience has been quite good. Our student is in the honors program and highly recommends it for the personal attention, advising, and honors living. Honors dorm is typically 60% honors students and 40% non-honors. Seems to be a good mix. Class size has been positive except for typical Biology 101 type. Most honors classes are between 18 and 30? Food is no better or worse than typical college fare. Kids, especially freshmen, enjoy the close proximity to Main St. Not a bubbling city of course but a nice break from the campus with coffee shops. CVS, bookstore etc. As with most public schools we definitely subsidize the instate population but ours did receive a $4000 /year merit scholarship. Except for the 40 or so DuPont scholars who get a full ride + the poicy seems to be to give a little bit of money to lots of students. Overall campus is really quite appealing; enough red brick and white columns to please most. Continuous building going on. Latest is tearing down an old dorm complex (Pencader) and builidng new one in its place. Admission spots for out of state kids is getting increasingly difficult. Certainly not the likes of UVA or UNC but I believe they turn down very few instate students. Overall acceptance rate is in the 40 -50 % range now I think. If you are instate for PA I think it would be a hard sell to go to Delaware. Just too similar and if you're looking for some geographic diversity from PA you will find many students from PA at Delaware.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response. Yes it is getting very selective for an out of stater to get into Delaware, because of the limited spots after the Delaware residents are admitted. My daughter feels that Penn State is too large, and a large amount of students from her high school end up going to Penn State. How does you son like living in the honors dorm? What would he suggest for an non honors student? My feeling visiting the campus, was that for a non honors student, even though the Rodney and Dickinson dorms are far away, you would have the chance of meeting more freshman. But definitely where the honors dorm is located, is mush nicer and more centralized. Also does you son find alot of drinking going on? My daughter does not drink or smoke, and I worry there will be enough things to do. How about the meal plans? Does he eat most of his meals in the dining halls?</p>
<p>Lowermorelandmom,
I think your daughter and mine are very similar - PA residents, accepted to Penn State University Park, but feels it may be too large and a common top pick in her high school.<br>
I found it odd that the U of D tour didn't take you to the regular dining halls (just the Food Court areas in the student center) or anywhere near the Rodney & Dickinson halls. I saw something a couple of weeks ago that U of D had already treated > 30 students for alcohol poisoning - but that may be common given the # of students.</p>
<p>Hi. We actually went on two tours at Delaware. The first tour last year, only took us to the food courts in both student centers. We just went on another tour a few weeks ago, there were only a few of us on the tour. So the guide (who knew a cashier), took us into a regular dining hall. It was very nice. Both tours that we went on were so different, it actually felt like two different schools. But we equally liked both. I know what you mean about Rodney and Dickinson. So after we left, we drove past them. You can't really see anything from the street. because the kids have to go under a tunnel thing to get to them. But I called someone I know who has a son that goes there now, and he is in Rodney and loves it. And the mother said it was nice. We also walked on main street and had lunch, and I just thought that would be a nice place to hang out with friends on the weekends. About the alcohol poisoning, I hear that every school is bad. Where else did your daughter apply? Besides Delaware we visited Syracuse, Ithaca, daughter went to American and Pitt with a friend, Arcadia, Univ of Maryland, Muhlenberg and Towson. I loved Muhlenberg, but my daughter thought is was too small.</p>
<p>i think that i might apply to the udel honors program. anyone know anything about this?</p>
<p>also, do i have a shot at it? my SAT is a 1370, gpa is 3.91...</p>
<p>another question-would i get good scholarships? becsause my parents dont want to pay more than like 11k a year for out of state publics....</p>
<p>Neelesh - According to U of Delaware, the middle 50% of the honor program students had SATs between 1310 and 1410 and GPAs between 3.8 and 3.99 (on a 4.0 scale). So I think you have a great chance!
Lowermorelandmom - My daughter also applied to St. Joe's, Northeastern (& Penn State). She's considering Ithaca and Pitt as well - if she spent as much time thinking about college as does IMing friends, she would be further along. NYU is her dream school - but since they don't offer much in the way of merit scholarships compared to other schools, she's not applying there. (I think she thinks that St. Joe's is too small but likes the idea of being a short train ride away from things in the city.) She's "undecided" about a major. She's afraid that Penn State Main Campus is in the middle of nowhere (besides being too big) - we're finally taking a trip there this week.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that the regular dining halls are nice.</p>
<p>Also the schools have two completely different atmosphere...
UD is a big party from school from what I hear
Penn State has those parties, but is not as bad</p>
<p>UD is also a lot smaller
Penn State is one of the biggest publics</p>
<p>UD is ranked a little less than PSU (but not everyone cares about that)</p>
<p>Dodiefae,
My concern with choosing Penn State was similar - I thought if I went to UD it would mean I could get to the city on the weekends, where as I was left wondering just what I could do at Penn State, being that I saw it as being the middle of nowhere (I spent my high school years about 20 mins from DC and spent many weekends in Georgetown). I didn't get into any of the urban schools I was interested in, so I was trying to get as close as possible to a city.</p>
<p>Well, definitely haven't been at a loss of things to do in State College. The town is the quintessential college town, but I love it. Lots of places to eat, even places to shop. I definitely haven't found myself bored yet. Just an overall great atmosphere. In terms of PSU being so big, it doesn't feel as big as the numbers say it is. I came from a tiny private high school (300 kids in all 4 grades), and at first it was overwhelming, but now I'm used to it. Its kind of crazy that in a school of 40,000, you run into someone you know walking to class at least once a day. </p>
<p>If you have any other questions, since it seems like your daughter has concerns similar to mine last year, feel free to e-mail me (<a href="mailto:jhg140@psu.edu">jhg140@psu.edu</a>)</p>