<p>For people who have applied or already enrolled - why did you pick PSU?</p>
<p>(Background - We are in-state and my kid is trying to whittle down her list of colleges and is looking to maximize merit aid/minimize debt. Her major would be Engineering-Undecided, second choice Math (applied). She probably has the stats to be considered for Schreyers. We visited University Park and while it was pleasant, there wasn't anything that particularly grabbed her. So I'm just wondering if there is something we are overlooking.)</p>
<p>I wanted to go to a giant, out of state school where people had a lot of pride in their school and it was an integral part of the surrounding area. I have a tuition grant to make the costs very affordable and i’ve always had family in Pennsylvania, so I started to look at PSU and the first time I visited campus I instantly knew “this is where I want to go to school” - In fact, PSU was the only school I even took an official tour of. In hindsight putting all of my eggs in one basket was a bad choice but I made out well! The campus is beautiful, the people are very friendly, the area is very safe, the schools got a great reputation and alumni network, I could go on. </p>
<p>So it was love at first campus visit? Ok, I can understand that.</p>
<p>Well, I was against Penn State as a Mother from the beginning. I thought the school was too big, that my child would not fit in or be able to make friends easily. I never even saw the school. These thoughts along with others were just what I thought it would be like.
Well, we visited and I completely changed my mind because while yes it is big, it really wasn’t what I thought it was like. I loved the campus feel. I ended up liking the feel. I could see my child there. We know many alumni from there.</p>
<p>We did visit many other campuses for ENG. while my DD did get accepted to other schools with some offering scholarships we ended up choosing PSU. It had a good ENG dept with a good reputation. Around our parts, people thought PSU grads were hired the most at their companies. They felt it was the better choice.</p>
<p>We are full pay and did not get any aid from PSU. Even with scholarships from other schools, PSU was still the most affordable option for us. Still hurts big time, but better than the debt we would have from the others.</p>