Annual Kid's/Grandkid's University Choice Thread ...

[uhlerlion]

I usually start a threat on or around May 1st, as that is the deadline for accepting admittance offers for most universities. I'm a little late with this year's thread.

As always, the focus of the thread is on PSU.

If you have a child or grandchild that accepted an offer from PSU, let us know, and tell us what they plan to study at PSU.

If you have a child or grandchild that was offered admittance by PSU, but elected to accept an offer from another university, tell us where they are headed, and why they didn't accept PSU's offer.

If you have a child or grandchild that decided to not even apply to PSU, let us know why.

Wow what a roller coaster it has been. My DD wanted to stick to the Big Ten and the Patriot (BU. Lehigh Bucknell) She was admitted Illinois, Indiana, PSU (branch). Declined Maryalnd and Wisky. Declined BU admitted UCONN. As Tom you may know the documented story on the recruiting aspect for softball. The change at head coach at PSU forced her to re recruit all over again only to suffer an ACL a mere months after and miss her prime recruiting year this last summer. Seeing softball most likely was out of the picture the quality of school helped drive the descision, but she worked her a$$ off in rehab and in fact was wanted by Maryland and they did everything they could to get the admission changed, but alas to no avail. I guess the aspect of a non revenue generating sport doesnt get the same leeway as say football or basketball. Indiana specifically invited her to a camp, chose a healthy girl over her for the team.

I am more intrigued on how admissions seems to be more of a crapshoot for those that fall in the mid range of the accepted at these comparable Universities. You would have thought with our PSU lineage that PSU main was a lock, instead they may have taken if for granted. Conversely I wonder if the same held true for Indiana and Illinois. Going for out of state tuition dollars while shafting some alumni in-state kid.

My DD was quite offended about the prospect of going to a branch for two years and Indiana was the focus of the book "Paying for the Party". So ulitmately it is Illlinois and with an excellent chance to play softball a well, as Coach Sullivan and DiBiase understand the nature of the injury and the extreme progress she has made in her recovery. they will take the time to watch her play in colorado and California this summer and we go from there.

The prospect of going away and something not familair I think will go along way in my DD's growth. PSU was the easy choice and she chose to take the leap into the uknown. Illinois is just as good as PSU imho and I am saddened that my first will not don the Blue and White, but I have two more to get there.

She was admitted to all three into the colleges of Health and Human Development with pursuit of her DPT.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

...her younger sister is graduating from H.S. this year ...applied to South
Carolina, Miami and Pepperdine ...got accepted at each... has chosen to go to Pepperdine at Malibu...she loves Penn State but wanted to go to a "warm weather" school ...oh, well...

few love PSU as much as androcles. surprised that your granddaughter didn't apply to PSU, but Pepperdine is quite nice.

Proud to have our daughter as a member of Schreyer Honors College Class of 2019! Ag. College -- planning dual degree in Bio-medical sciences and agribusiness management. All it took was a few trips to September games beginning around grade 8, no further coaxing was necessary... From UVA, VT and Cornell she choose PSU!

Great stuff, NatLion! She had some excellent choices, and appears to have made a wise decision!

My daughter chose Delaware over PSU and UConn. She would have been the 4th generation at PSU after me (1981), my father (1950), and my father's uncle (1920). I would have tried harder to convince her to go to my alma mater but with the way the university has been burning through cash in fines and settlements, I did not have much desire to send more money in their direction. Her main reasons for Delaware were that is smaller and closer to home. She will be studying Bio-Chemical Engineering.

stories like this break my heart, Valuable81. I still don't think many of the trustees realize how much they have alienated many families to whom they should have no difficulty selling PSU. I'm sorry to read that she's broken the string. She picked a challenging major, so I wish her well.

My son will be a freshman at University Park come August!!! He will be majoring in Earth Science and Policy, in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Also, will be playing club water polo and if he finds the time working as a lifeguard.

great stuff, scottpsurules! PSU does have an excellent water polo club team. enjoy the 4 years that he's there.

I brainwashed my son on PSU sports right out of the womb. PSU was his first choice and he was accepted at UP, but he is unable to attend due to getting zero financial aid. He even tried to get an ROTC scholarship, but it didn't work out. He is going to Mizzou ... He's happy with his choice, but it was initially very disappointing that he couldn't go where he wanted to go due to finances.

Sorry to read about this. As I mentioned in a prior response, the number 1 complaint I hear about PSU from parents is how little financial aid it offers.

My son was accepted to PSU college of engineering. To be honest I was surprised he even considered Penn State as he was adamant about going to a smaller school where he could play soccer. He wanted to play soccer in college but did not want d1 due to the huge commitment for little return. ... All the while he had this West Point idea in his head and was going through the arduous process of applying. Low and behold he was offered at West Point and will be a cadet there in a few months. The soccer stuff is still being sorted though he was admitted to the academy in merit outside of soccer. The boy had some great options including PSU where his old man in an alum. But you know...I couldn't be prouder.

Wow, hard to argue with this. You have a lot to be proud of, Little J.

My daughter is going to PSU! She had better financial offers at other schools (PSU basically gave her nothing while other schools were pretty aggressive with scholarships for out of state) - but at the end of the day she felt more comfortable at Penn State so she pulled the trigger. As a life long Penn State fan, I am extremely happy for her and our family. Can't wait to get up to Penn State more often - especially on Saturdays in the fall! She will study Biotech and can't wait to get on campus.

Also - thanks to Tom and others on the board that gave me (and her) some great advice and information regarding PSU. It helped a great deal.

GoNavy, happy to have helped. Sounds like she's got a bright future. Have fun visiting with her, and attending football games, over the coming years!

Wow what a roller coaster it has been. My DD wanted to stick to the Big Ten and the Patriot (BU. Lehigh Bucknell) She was admitted Illinois, Indiana, PSU (branch). Declined Maryalnd and Wisky. Declined BU admitted UCONN. As Tom you may know the documented story on the recruiting aspect for softball. ...

The change at head coach at PSU forced her to re recruit all over again only to suffer an ACL a mere months after and miss her prime recruiting year this last summer. Seeing softball most likely was out of the picture the quality of school helped drive the descision, but she worked her a$$ off in rehab and in fact was wanted by Maryland and they did everything they could to get the admission changed, but alas to no avail. I guess the aspect of a non revenue generating sport doesnt get the same leeway as say football or basketball. Indiana specifically invited her to a camp, chose a healthy girl over her for the team.

...

The prospect of going away and something not familair I think will go along way in my DD's growth. PSU was the easy choice and she chose to take the leap into the uknown. Illinois is just as good as PSU imho and I am saddened that my first will not don the Blue and White, but I have two more to get there.

She was admitted to all three into the colleges of Health and Human Development with pursuit of her DPT.

uhlerlion, thanks for the update. A few weeks ago I was wondering what happened with your daughter, PSU, and softball. So sorry to read about the ACL injury. There's never a good time for an ACL injury, but she does seem to have suffered it at an especially bad time for her in terms of trying to play softball in college.

Illinois is a great university. Their engineering school is top notch. Best of luck to her, and here's hoping that your younger daughters have better luck with PSU!

 

[BoilerBulldog]

Not kid or grandkid (I still have about 17 more years before my daughter will have to make her selection!) but my colleague's daughter, a budding engineer, just chose Purdue over Penn State (UP), Illinois, VT, and Maryland. My colleague and his wife are both Penn State grads with engineering degrees. She's a good athlete and has a chance to play a sport at Purdue, and in the end I think that's what put them over the top.

Working on my daughter's list though...

1. Sorbonne
2. Oxford
Safety = Harvard

Boiler Up! I lived in PA for 3 years before moving just recently to New England. PSU Engineers are top notch. But so are Purdue engineers. I believe, after recruiting engineers for the last 20 years, as long as you recruit within the top 10, you'll be fine. I've hired probably 10 PSU engineers in my career and I haven't missed yet.

 

[G in Omaha]

Daughter finishing up Soph year of Chem E. Packed up her dorm yesterday and taking her last final this morning, then we make the 15 hour trek back to Omaha.
She'll be home for about 2 weeks then she's headed to Africa with other PSU engineer students for a month. Scheduled to graduate in 3 semesters but will co-op for one and graduate spring 2017.
Last 2 years have gone by quickly.

 

[kgilbert78]

Boiler Up! I lived in PA for 3 years before moving just recently to New England. PSU Engineers are top notch. But so are Purdue engineers. I believe, after recruiting engineers for the last 20 years, as long as you recruit within the top 10, you'll be fine. I've hired probably 10 PSU engineers in my career and I haven't missed yet.

I remember being at Purdue for the game where Cortney pick-6'ed Drew Breez. At halftime their band formed a space shuttle and they brought out a bunch of their grads who had been astronauts--including, in a rare appearance, Neil Armstrong. I was very impressed to say the least.

 

[TCFA-Nit]

daughter going to UGA on Zell Miller scholarship (full tuition coverage) Thank God for the folks who play the lottery!! (Son goes to Ga Tech also on Zell Miller I posted last year in this thread). Daughter accepted to Ga Tech as sophomore if she wants to transfer there from UGA next year.

Georgia is an extremely back ward state educationally but the Hope Scholarship/ Zell Miller Scholarship program is really awesome.....

What a great program for Georgia and its residents. It would be a great idea for Pennsylvania to follow suit but it doesn't seem the folks who run this state care the least about the quality of higher ed available here.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

What a great program for Georgia and its residents. It would be a great idea for Pennsylvania to follow suit but it doesn't seem the folks who run this state care the least about the quality of higher ed available here.

The Zell Miller program in GA is awesome for GA residents.

As for PA, you have to go back to the history of the lottery. Many people forget (or just don't know) how controversial the idea of the Commonwealth conducting an lottery was in 1971. It took a lot of effort to get a viable proposal through the PA legislature. Part of what swung things in favor of passage was that the proceeds were guaranteed to be used for senior citizens. I believe when the legislature passed the lottery bill they required that at least 27% of the proceeds be used for senior citizens programs.

Is funding college education more important than funding senior citizens programs? There really isn't a right or wrong answer.

Since the lottery proceeds are guaranteed to senior citizens programs, it would be a huge problem for the legislature to change the law and steer the funds toward education. You'd have a vested interest fighting for their guaranteed funds, and they'd be pitted against parents and students. I doubt there is any legislator that wants to be put in the middle of a situation like that.

PA actually does spend quite a bit on higher education. However, there is no guaranteed funding source within PA for education, so every year during the budged process education is pitted against all the other interests that are funded by the Commonwealth.

 

[kgilbert78]

The Zell Miller program in GA is awesome for GA residents.

As for PA, you have to go back to the history of the lottery. Many people forget (or just don't know) how controversial the idea of the Commonwealth conducting an lottery was in 1971. It took a lot of effort to get a viable proposal through the PA legislature. Part of what swung things in favor of passage was that the proceeds were guaranteed to be used for senior citizens. I believe when the legislature passed the lottery bill they required that at least 27% of the proceeds be used for senior citizens programs.

Is funding college education more important than funding senior citizens programs? There really isn't a right or wrong answer.

Since the lottery proceeds are guaranteed to senior citizens programs, it would be a huge problem for the legislature to change the law and steer the funds toward education. You'd have a vested interest fighting for their guaranteed funds, and they'd be pitted against parents and students. I doubt there is any legislator that wants to be put in the middle of a situation like that.

PA actually does spend quite a bit on higher education. However, there is no guaranteed funding source within PA for education, so every year during the budged process education is pitted against all the other interests that are funded by the Commonwealth.

Ohio has the lottery "for education"--but what seems to have happened is that the moneys that the lottery provide *do* go to education, but they are not in addition to but replace budgeted moneys for education. In other words, education doesn't get a "bump" from lottery funds. The lottery funds just replace tax dollars which the state can then use for something else. There many be exceptions, but by and large this is how it works. It also allows the state to tell people that they are "reducing the dependence on property taxes".

I do like Georgia's idea of a designated scholarship fund coming out of lottery money. I expect my nephew will get to take advantage of that some day (lives in an ATL suburb).