UVA vs Penn State

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is more well known than UVA. My west coast friends dont really care too much about UVA - for them - its just a state school

I’m from the Northeast and would not have known the difference between Penn State and UVA. Both are good state schools. I only learned recently that Wisconsin is also a good state school.

Most people know Berkeley, UCLA and UMich.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC got into UVa ( in state) and Penn State ( safety) with merit - so tuition is roughly the same.

For STEM major - which school is better? DC’s school counsellor is recommending we seriously consider Penn State.

Any first hand experience at Penn State?

Exactly what major? Other than engineering, UVa STEM is very strong.

[Anonymous]

This is entertaining.

[Anonymous]

Either of them is capable of providing ANY student with an excellent education. If there are other factors that are important to a student, it seems perfectly fine to me to use them in making a decision.

[Anonymous]

For people who are not in the current admissions orbit--including hiring manager--I think the difference is negligible. For them, UVA is the law school that you pretend you wanted to go to the whole time after you got rejected from Harvard Law (like RFK and RFK, Jr.). Penn State is the respectable blue and white, Joe Paterno talking about working hard, local kids made good.

Bottom line is that no one in your kid's future is ever going to care about it as much as you care about it right now. You are experiencing this at it's absolute peak of perceived importance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is more well known than UVA. My west coast friends dont really care too much about UVA - for them - its just a state school

Nice try.

I'm originally from CA, and I agree with ^^.

-dp

[Anonymous]

The campus vibe is very different. I would expect kids to love one or the other for different reasons.

Let the kid pick.

[Anonymous]

Penn State Engineering is much larger and comprehensive than UVA engineering. But unless there is an area specified, I can't see paying OOS costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is more well known than UVA. My west coast friends dont really care too much about UVA - for them - its just a state school

Nice try.

NP but this is true. UVA is just another state school to almost everyone who doesn’t live in the mid Atlantic region. I know that is hard for NoVa people to understand but it is true.

-former west coaster

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is more well known than UVA. My west coast friends dont really care too much about UVA - for them - its just a state school

Nice try.

NP but this is true. UVA is just another state school to almost everyone who doesn’t live in the mid Atlantic region. I know that is hard for NoVa people to understand but it is true.

-former west coaster

DP- This just isn’t true. Anyone that doesn’t know UVA is provincial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is more well known than UVA. My west coast friends dont really care too much about UVA - for them - its just a state school

I am a VT alum, but this is just not true. Come on.

I don’t think people in CA are thinking about UVA. I went to school in Boston and was not familiar with UVA until I moved here. DH went to Yale and there was one girl from UVA who was at Yale for grad school. I think she was the first person I met from UVA. I thought nothing of UVA meaning she should have said she went to Iowa or Kentucky and I would also have thought nothing of it.

We live in NOVA and realize it is a state gem and well loved. I also know you need a 4.5 gpa to get in. That doesn’t mean people in CA or MA feel the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is more well known than UVA. My west coast friends dont really care too much about UVA - for them - its just a state school

Nice try.

NP but this is true. UVA is just another state school to almost everyone who doesn’t live in the mid Atlantic region. I know that is hard for NoVa people to understand but it is true.

-former west coaster

DP- This just isn’t true. Anyone that doesn’t know UVA is provincial.

Yep. It’s ranked 21-24 nationally. Come on, now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is more well known than UVA. My west coast friends dont really care too much about UVA - for them - its just a state school

I am a VT alum, but this is just not true. Come on.

I don’t think people in CA are thinking about UVA. I went to school in Boston and was not familiar with UVA until I moved here. DH went to Yale and there was one girl from UVA who was at Yale for grad school. I think she was the first person I met from UVA. I thought nothing of UVA meaning she should have said she went to Iowa or Kentucky and I would also have thought nothing of it.

We live in NOVA and realize it is a state gem and well loved. I also know you need a 4.5 gpa to get in. That doesn’t mean people in CA or MA feel the same.

And you are, what, 50 years old? Much has changed.

They won the basketball NCAA championship in 2019. It’s one of the hot school for my nieces and nephews at private schools in Boston & Connecticut. And the whole Reddit thing— I think Cali has heard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is more well known than UVA. My west coast friends dont really care too much about UVA - for them - its just a state school

Nice try.

NP but this is true. UVA is just another state school to almost everyone who doesn’t live in the mid Atlantic region. I know that is hard for NoVa people to understand but it is true.

-former west coaster

Same with Pomona on the East Coast. Touché. My kid has to explain all the time what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is more well known than UVA. My west coast friends dont really care too much about UVA - for them - its just a state school

Nice try.

NP but this is true. UVA is just another state school to almost everyone who doesn’t live in the mid Atlantic region. I know that is hard for NoVa people to understand but it is true.

-former west coaster

DP- This just isn’t true. Anyone that doesn’t know UVA is provincial.

+1
I grew up in a small city of blue collar workers in the middle of "flyover country" in the late 1970s where most of my peers, if they even went to college, only attended the local community college and even I knew UVA. I lived in San Francisco in the 1990s and several of my friends from those days took their HS kids on tours of UVA and W&M.