My son got accepted to Penn State but in the 2+2 program. What is the best commonwealth branch for business and
still has a college feel. We are OOS so he would be living there. Given PEnn States price tag we are wondering if
any branch is worth it and how is the transition to University Park. Any advice would be appreciated.
This is a question that can get lots of different answers from lots of different opinions. If your child is doing the 2+2 then it doesn’t really matter which school is a good branch for business. Any of the commonwealth campuses can handle the first two years of any business major. Some will tell you not to go to ANY commonwealth from OOS. I don’t agree. My son is at Altoona and loves it and MOST of his friends there are from OOS. Altoona is a beautiful campus and is the closest to UP and has about 5000 students and a traditional college feel with dorms, clubs etc…plus lots of kids go to UP often for football games and events etc…
Harrisburg is the next closest commonwealth to UP that has a college feel. Very pretty campus, nice dorms. Behrend (or Erie) commonwealth campus is the biggest commonwealth that is the most like a typical college campus but it’s very far from UP. I think you can’t go wrong as an OOS student at either of these three campuses. That being said, there are those who will disagree with me because OOS is so costly and they don’t think any commonwealth is worth it OOS. The transition to UP is seamless from any commonwealth. Just complete your degree requirements and be in good standing and you go up your junior year. No applying to go up or anything like that.
I have one at UP that started there and another at Altoona who is transitioning to UP so if you have any other questions, let me know.
The three listed above are indeed the best and most residential, but I’m among those who think OOS costs are too high for a branch campus. A student should have better choices for that price range if they made a reasonable college list, in many cases flagships.
The one positive aspect is that Smeal is very difficult to get into* and it’s easier to get the requisite grades and GPA at a branch campus. The classes are smaller and the students overall less competitive so it can be a good choice if the student wants Smeal and isn’t in the top 10-20% admitted students.
I still think the post costs at branches campuses are too high, as many students should have a better value among their acceptances.
- It's selective but not competitive : the students need to get the grades in all the pre-reqs but if they get them, there's no competition between all students, all students with the grades get in.
Thank you both for your responses. We are having a hard time with the price tag and are waiting to see the rest of his acceptance packages. In the meantime I’m just trying to get some information. Thanks again!