We heard last week, my son has been accepted to PSU Univ. Park in the fall

[bhill29]

I've been lurking here for a few years and really enjoy this board, great source for all Penn State news and just about anything else. I don't know how many times I have learned of breaking news on this board.

I'd also like to add that we (my son and I) took our official tour of PSU this weekend. I have to admit, the admissions office does great job. The admissions presentation was OK but the Student ambassadors giving the tour were absolutely great. They were by far the best of any other school tour we had gone on. This includes schools like Penn, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins etc. They were very knowledgeable and personable, both spoke very well.. Really enjoyed it and made me proud to be a PSU alum. (Kinda like when a PSU athlete gives a coherent, understandable interview, if you know what I mean.)

Not sure yet where he will ultimately go to school but PSU certainly helped its cause after the tour.

 

[scottpsurules]

I've been lurking here for a few years and really enjoy this board, great source for all Penn State news and just about anything else. I don't know how many times I have learned of breaking news on this board.

I'd also like to add that we (my son and I) took our official tour of PSU this weekend. I have to admit, the admissions office does great job. The admissions presentation was OK but the Student ambassadors giving the tour were absolutely great. They were by far the best of any other school tour we had gone on. This includes schools like Penn, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins etc. They were very knowledgeable and personable, both spoke very well.. Really enjoyed it and made me proud to be a PSU alum. (Kinda like when a PSU athlete gives a coherent, understandable interview, if you know what I mean.)

Not sure yet where he will ultimately go to school but PSU certainly helped its cause after the tour.

Good luck with decision, that is quite an impressive list you are working from. My son is a frosh at University Park and is absolutely loving it, both academically(OK maybe not loving chem) and socially. Over Tgiving break asked him, if he made the right choice. His face lit up and got a big yes. Could not have made my wife and I happier.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Congratulations.

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

Congratulations.

Please be sure to post whatever questions you (or he) may have about PSU. We'll all be glad to help answer them.

 

[JBott]

Congratulations!
We are patiently waiting to receive word from PSU!
If you don't mind me asking, when did your son apply?

Good Luck!

 

[Nitwit]

There are a lot of good decisions your son can make. If he chooses Penn State he will get a great education and have a wonderful college experience. I love the place I graduated from 45 years ago.

 

[NJLions]

bhill,

As you know, it is the best place................

 

[fairgambit]

I've been lurking here for a few years and really enjoy this board, great source for all Penn State news and just about anything else. I don't know how many times I have learned of breaking news on this board.

I'd also like to add that we (my son and I) took our official tour of PSU this weekend. I have to admit, the admissions office does great job. The admissions presentation was OK but the Student ambassadors giving the tour were absolutely great. They were by far the best of any other school tour we had gone on. This includes schools like Penn, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins etc. They were very knowledgeable and personable, both spoke very well.. Really enjoyed it and made me proud to be a PSU alum. (Kinda like when a PSU athlete gives a coherent, understandable interview, if you know what I mean.)

Not sure yet where he will ultimately go to school but PSU certainly helped its cause after the tour.

Congrats to you and your son. It's always nice to have good options and it appears he has them in abundance. I hope he makes a wise choice.

 

[Michael.Felli]

I've been lurking here for a few years and really enjoy this board, great source for all Penn State news and just about anything else. I don't know how many times I have learned of breaking news on this board.

I'd also like to add that we (my son and I) took our official tour of PSU this weekend. I have to admit, the admissions office does great job. The admissions presentation was OK but the Student ambassadors giving the tour were absolutely great. They were by far the best of any other school tour we had gone on. This includes schools like Penn, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins etc. They were very knowledgeable and personable, both spoke very well.. Really enjoyed it and made me proud to be a PSU alum. (Kinda like when a PSU athlete gives a coherent, understandable interview, if you know what I mean.)

Not sure yet where he will ultimately go to school but PSU certainly helped its cause after the tour.

West Halls. Have him live in West Halls. 162 Hamilton, for yours truly. I believe they still have a plaque in my honor, there.

 

[Class of 67]

I've been lurking here for a few years and really enjoy this board, great source for all Penn State news and just about anything else. I don't know how many times I have learned of breaking news on this board.

I'd also like to add that we (my son and I) took our official tour of PSU this weekend. I have to admit, the admissions office does great job. The admissions presentation was OK but the Student ambassadors giving the tour were absolutely great. They were by far the best of any other school tour we had gone on. This includes schools like Penn, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins etc. They were very knowledgeable and personable, both spoke very well.. Really enjoyed it and made me proud to be a PSU alum. (Kinda like when a PSU athlete gives a coherent, understandable interview, if you know what I mean.)

Not sure yet where he will ultimately go to school but PSU certainly helped its cause after the tour.

I love the rolling admittance policy at State (I assume that's still true). My son got accepted by early fall in 2004. State was his first choice.Takes the pressure off early. Many/most of his peers had to wait for the traditional letter in the spring. Judging by your son's list, he will be fine regardless of his destination.

 

[manatree]

If your son does decide on Penn State, have him look at getting a minor. They are very easy to complete provided you plan ahead and schedule the proper GenEds and per-requisites. If there's a minor to his liking, he should let his adviser know the first time they meet as well as the folks that assist him with scheduling his first semester of classes.

http://bulletins.psu.edu/undergrad/programs/minors/

 

[tboyer]

Wait till you get the financial aid packages. PSU's tuition is high and financial aid is all but nonexistent for middle class families (Schreyer comes with a scholarship but it's very small). You don't want a kid borrowing more than $25-$30k but unfortunately a lot of kids at PSU are graduating owing 50-70k. To be it's the biggest problem with the place. They'll raise billions to put up luxe buildings with people's names on them, but they can't seem to (or don't want to) raise money for financial aid.

 

[bhill29]

Good luck with decision, that is quite an impressive list you are working from. My son is a frosh at University Park and is absolutely loving it, both academically(OK maybe not loving chem) and socially. Over Tgiving break asked him, if he made the right choice. His face lit up and got a big yes. Could not have made my wife and I happier.

Thanks for the insight and glad to here your son is enjoying his freshman year.

 

[bhill29]

Congratulations!
We are patiently waiting to receive word from PSU!
If you don't mind me asking, when did your son apply?

Good Luck!

Thanks, he applied the weekend before thanksgiving. In the admission presentation, the counselor indicated that one could expect to here by the end of January. Not sure why we heard so quickly.

 

[Blueblood4eva]

One of the better days in my life when my daughter said yes to four years at U.P. Graduated in four years in '09, with a minor, and today is more thrilled than ever with her decision. Good luck to your son.

 

[bhill29]

If your son does decide on Penn State, have him look at getting a minor. They are very easy to complete provided you plan ahead and schedule the proper GenEds and per-requisites. If there's a minor to his liking, he should let his adviser know the first time they meet as well as the folks that assist him with scheduling his first semester of classes.

http://bulletins.psu.edu/undergrad/programs/minors/

Thanks for the tip. I would not have considered doing this that early in the process. He will be entering with a AP credits so a minor would be very attainable for him.

 

[bison13]

Good luck with decision, that is quite an impressive list you are working from. My son is a frosh at University Park and is absolutely loving it, both academically(OK maybe not loving chem) and socially. Over Tgiving break asked him, if he made the right choice. His face lit up and got a big yes. Could not have made my wife and I happier.

Haha about Chem, sounds exactly like me 20 years ago

 

[bhill29]

Wait till you get the financial aid packages. PSU's tuition is high and financial aid is all but nonexistent for middle class families (Schreyer comes with a scholarship but it's very small). You don't want a kid borrowing more than $25-$30k but unfortunately a lot of kids at PSU are graduating owing 50-70k. To be it's the biggest problem with the place. They'll raise billions to put up luxe buildings with people's names on them, but they can't seem to (or don't want to) raise money for financial aid.

Not looking forward to the bill. Funny thing is that during the admissions presentation, I could have sworn the counselor said that ~$500,000,000 was donated by alumni annually toward funding student scholarships (I must be off by a zero). That would translate into ~$10,000 for every student at U Park, which I find hard to believe.

 

[scottpsurules]

Not looking forward to the bill. Funny thing is that during the admissions presentation, I could have sworn the counselor said that ~$500,000,000 was donated by alumni annually toward funding student scholarships (I must be off by a zero). That would translate into ~$10,000 for every student at U Park, which I find hard to believe.

Yeah don't know where that is coming from. My son got a few private schols, but not one cent form PSU. Fortunately we have been saving(529) since he was a baby, so am in pretty good shape. Younger son is a high school junior, so hopefully will be paying PSU 2x in a couple of years. I asked at the NSO if there was a discount for having multiple students in school at once, got a big negative......
That being said, as indicated in earlier post my son loves UP, we are quite confident in the education he is receiving and that he will be marketable upon graduation, so the higher cost vs some other options is fortunately well worth it in the long run. to our family.

 

[NICNEM_PSU80]

My son is working on his second masters online right now. A couple of years ago he told me going to PSU was the best decision of his life. My daughter is graduating this spring. She would not consider any other school. Both survived the tough years. We are on the up-swing and getting slowly back to the years when their old man was on campus.

We Are Penn State.....and the BoT isn't.

 

[tboyer]

Not looking forward to the bill. Funny thing is that during the admissions presentation, I could have sworn the counselor said that ~$500,000,000 was donated by alumni annually toward funding student scholarships (I must be off by a zero). That would translate into ~$10,000 for every student at U Park, which I find hard to believe.

That's PSU's dirty little secret -- financial aid is abysmal for such an expensive school. I don't know that $500m figure but maybe it is their total figure for financial aid including loans (in which case it would be 95% loans). Or maybe it is the endowment set aside for financial aid, which sounds impressive but it would only bring in about $20 million in annual income, which is more like $500 per student. What you'll get from PSU, assuming you're not around the poverty line, is $7000 a year in Stafford loans. Really no grants to speak of other than Schreyer which is around $3k as I recall.

Given that PSU is costing $30k/year, that is not much help. They will happily push all the PLUS (i.e. private bank loans) that they can sell you, but people should avoid those like poison. Lower income kids can get PHEAA grants for another couple thousand, plus work study eligibility. Plus you will get a federal tax credit of about $2500 a year. Make sure your kid knows they need to work hard every summer.

If your kid gets to CMU or Penn, you may find that the actual cost after grants is lower than Penn State. For one of our kids it was considerably less expensive to go to Penn than PSU, because Penn will meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need with grants.

The one thing I would not do under any circumstances is let my kid borrow more than their minimum estimated first year salary. I would send kids to community college before I'd let them rack up excessive debt.

 

[bkmtnittany1]

Tell him to go to PSU! It'll be the best 7 years of his life!!!!!!

 

[erie lion]

Congrats.
My daughter received her acceptance in November to the Eberly College of Science @ University Park w/ intended major of pre- medicine. Despite my prodding to PSU - she is waiting to hear from both Vanderbilt and Boston University before making any decisions.

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

Congrats.
My daughter received her acceptance in November to the Eberly College of Science @ University Park w/ intended major of pre- medicine. Despite my prodding to PSU - she is waiting to hear from both Vanderbilt and Boston University before making any decisions.

Just a bit of a tip: Pre-med at PSU prepares students to take the MCAT.

In case other options pop up down the line, your daughter is likely better off majoring in one of Eberly's other majors (biology, biochemistry, etc.) and then studying to take the MCAT.

 

[yero]

West Halls. Have him live in West Halls. 162 Hamilton, for yours truly. I believe they still have a plaque in my honor, there.

Tell him to eat at West Halls... gotta live in East as a Freshman to truly understand the Penn State experience IMO...

 

[massimoManca II]

West Halls. Have him live in West Halls. 162 Hamilton, for yours truly. I believe they still have a plaque in my honor, there.

Christ, i need to check my records - but i believe i was in 164 Hamilton back in Spring 86

 

[bhill29]

That's PSU's dirty little secret -- financial aid is abysmal for such an expensive school. I don't know that $500m figure but maybe it is their total figure for financial aid including loans (in which case it would be 95% loans). Or maybe it is the endowment set aside for financial aid, which sounds impressive but it would only bring in about $20 million in annual income, which is more like $500 per student. What you'll get from PSU, assuming you're not around the poverty line, is $7000 a year in Stafford loans. Really no grants to speak of other than Schreyer which is around $3k as I recall.

Given that PSU is costing $30k/year, that is not much help. They will happily push all the PLUS (i.e. private bank loans) that they can sell you, but people should avoid those like poison. Lower income kids can get PHEAA grants for another couple thousand, plus work study eligibility. Plus you will get a federal tax credit of about $2500 a year. Make sure your kid knows they need to work hard every summer.

If your kid gets to CMU or Penn, you may find that the actual cost after grants is lower than Penn State. For one of our kids it was considerably less expensive to go to Penn than PSU, because Penn will meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need with grants.

The one thing I would not do under any circumstances is let my kid borrow more than their minimum estimated first year salary. I would send kids to community college before I'd let them rack up excessive debt.

The need based aid at most of the Ivies and some other well endowed schools can be amazing. Those schools can be very affordable to lower income families. I think Penn was essentially free (tuition, room and board included) for families with incomes under 50K. I just looked at the literature given out by PSU and it claims 1 of 5 students receive scholarship money. I'm guessing my definition of scholarhip money is different than theirs since my recollection is that very few people had scholarships at PSU.

 

[Michael.Felli]

Christ, i need to check my records - but i believe i was in 164 Hamilton back in Spring 86

Someone in 164 Hamilton let me borrow their cassette tape of Divine Sounds. Was that you?

 

[Michael.Felli]

Just a bit of a tip: Pre-med at PSU prepares students to take the MCAT.

In case other options pop up down the line, your daughter is likely better off majoring in one of Eberly's other majors (biology, biochemistry, etc.) and then studying to take the MCAT.

You can go to med school majoring in music. You still have to take certain courses, yes, for the MCAT, etc. But, one does not need to major in science to go to med school.

This is just one reason I wish I had the Internet when I was a student. Majoring in Biochem/ROTC and working burned me out.

In hindsight, in high school, I would've become an EMT. And, at PSU I would've majored in Theatre and minored in chemistry while working as an EMT and went to med school.

I would've enjoyed the journey better. You don't NEED a plethora of sciences for med school.

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

You can go to med school majoring in music. You still have to take certain courses, yes, for the MCAT, etc. But, one does not need to major in science to go to med school.

This is just one reason I wish I had the Internet when I was a student. Majoring in Biochem/ROTC and working burned me out.

In hindsight, in high school, I would've become an EMT. And, at PSU I would've majored in Theatre and minored in chemistry while working as an EMT and went to med school.

I would've enjoyed the journey better. You don't NEED a plethora of sciences for med school.

That was my point.

Pre-Med doesn't get you very far other than MCAT.

If you're interested in science, by majoring in biology, biochemistry, etc., you open yourself up to other things.

But, you're correct.......the MCATs are like LSATs. You can be pre-med and pass the LSAT just like you can be pre-law (or music) and pass the MCAT.

 

[bhill29]

You can go to med school majoring in music. You still have to take certain courses, yes, for the MCAT, etc. But, one does not need to major in science to go to med school.

This is just one reason I wish I had the Internet when I was a student. Majoring in Biochem/ROTC and working burned me out.

In hindsight, in high school, I would've become an EMT. And, at PSU I would've majored in Theatre and minored in chemistry while working as an EMT and went to med school.

I would've enjoyed the journey better. You don't NEED a plethora of sciences for med school.

I was a biochem major in the mid 80's. We may have crossed paths. Graduated in '88.

 

[joeparules]

Congratulations!
We are patiently waiting to receive word from PSU!
If you don't mind me asking, when did your son apply?

Good Luck!

We are (not so patiently) waiting to receive word from PSU for our daughter. Older daughter did the 2+2 at Altoona (graduated last Spring) and, even though she really enjoyed it, talked the younger one out of doing the branch campus. So this one is all or nothing for UP. She has already been accepted to eight other schools (for some reason she applied to 13) so she has options, but PSU main is her first choice. I would love four more years of excuses to attend as many football games/tailgates as possible!

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

We are (not so patiently) waiting to receive word from PSU for our daughter. Older daughter did the 2+2 at Altoona (graduated last Spring) and, even though she really enjoyed it, talked the younger one out of doing the branch campus. So this one is all or nothing for UP. She has already been accepted to eight other schools (for some reason she applied to 13) so she has options, but PSU main is her first choice. I would love four more years of excuses to attend as many football games/tailgates as possible!

Did she apply for the LEAP program or summer session?

Both will greatly improve one's chances of getting into UP directly, and are also a fantastic experience for those who go through it.

 

[Michael.Felli]

I was a biochem major in the mid 80's. We may have crossed paths. Graduated in '88.

1990, for me.

Enjoyed the major; learned a lot. But, like most things in life, in retrospect, I would've done things differently.

Youth is wasted on the young. ;-)

 

[bkmtnittany1]

My wife and I were saying last nite how much WE miss our daughter being at PSU. Not only football Saturdays...but man...we never had a bad time being in that place. I loved it when she would say that, "We have to go to State College on Sunday. You know who needs a new sweater."

 

[joeparules]

Did she apply for the LEAP program or summer session?

Both will greatly improve one's chances of getting into UP directly, and are also a fantastic experience for those who go through it.

Yeah, my older daughter was a Lion Scout and worked in the admissions office after graduating and knows all the "tricks" of increasing your chances. I started in the summer and after telling my younger daughter about it being the best term/semester I ever had she is all for LEAP. My best man roomed with a guy I went to high school with that summer of 81.

Fingers are crossed!

 

[bison13]

PSU's scholarship/financial aid is abysmal. I teach kids that get into Hopkins, Ivies, UNC, Duke, UVA, UMD, etc and everyone of them that has also applied to PSU said the smallest financial aid package was easily from PSU.

 

[joeparules]

????? Summer of '81?????

I started Summer of '81. The day after I graduated from HS....MAN was I hung over!

I was actually at UP for two weeks before going home to attend graduation. Probably the best summer of my life!

 

[JBott]

The wait is over! My daughter has been accepted into the College Of Engineering at PSU, University Park Campus!
I have been a PSU fan for 30 years (best friends brother played LB and we traveled up to State College quite often to watch him play), so she grew up PSU!
It is her first choice, I could not be happier for her and I! LOL! This is a great Christmas present!
WE ARE!

 

[psuro]

West Halls. Have him live in West Halls. 162 Hamilton, for yours truly. I believe they still have a plaque in my honor, there.

Voted "most likely to orbit the earth without a space capsule".