UVA vs Penn State

[Anonymous]

Generally speaking, as a hiring manager, I have been much more impressed with UVA grads than Penn State grads. UVA kids tend to come across as much more sophisticated and polished than Penn State students.

[Anonymous]

Well clearly UVA is more selective. But Penn State is a perfectly fine school. Surprised VA Tech isn’t in the conversation for engineering.

Go with whatever school he likes the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is ranked higher than UVa for engineering. Better on-campus hiring. People are in a UVa bubble here

Oh, puhleeze. 32 and 35 by USNWR. Hardly a significant difference. And since 60 to 80 percent of all students change their majors at least once, wouldn't it be wiser to be in the better received school? My own aerospace engineering kid switched to poli sci at UVA and is now in law school. I am so glad he picked uva (so was our financial planner!).

Penn State to avoid blow hard parents like the above poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is ranked higher than UVa for engineering. Better on-campus hiring. People are in a UVa bubble here

Oh, puhleeze. 32 and 35 by USNWR. Hardly a significant difference. And since 60 to 80 percent of all students change their majors at least once, wouldn't it be wiser to be in the better received school? My own aerospace engineering kid switched to poli sci at UVA and is now in law school. I am so glad he picked uva (so was our financial planner!).

Undergrad engineering is Penn State 19, UVA 37.

Penn State has critical mass in Engineering. UVA doesn't cover all areas as comprehensively. Penn State engineering research is $386M per year vs $66M at UVA. Electrical Engineering R&D, for instance, is 11X higher at Penn State.

If the question is engineering, then Penn State. That's an easy call. In addition to more engineering majors and far more funding, its alumni are much more cohesive and loyal than UVA (notwithstanding the UVA boosters that go nuts in this little dcurbanmom bubble). In the real world, Penn State is up there with Michigan in alums who would give their left but to help out any other alum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is ranked higher than UVa for engineering. Better on-campus hiring. People are in a UVa bubble here

Oh, puhleeze. 32 and 35 by USNWR. Hardly a significant difference. And since 60 to 80 percent of all students change their majors at least once, wouldn't it be wiser to be in the better received school? My own aerospace engineering kid switched to poli sci at UVA and is now in law school. I am so glad he picked uva (so was our financial planner!).

Undergrad engineering is Penn State 19, UVA 37.

Penn State has critical mass in Engineering. UVA doesn't cover all areas as comprehensively. Penn State engineering research is $386M per year vs $66M at UVA. Electrical Engineering R&D, for instance, is 11X higher at Penn State.

If the question is engineering, then Penn State. That's an easy call. In addition to more engineering majors and far more funding, its alumni are much more cohesive and loyal than UVA (notwithstanding the UVA boosters that go nuts in this little dcurbanmom bubble). In the real world, Penn State is up there with Michigan in alums who would give their left but to help out any other alum.

* left nut.

[Anonymous]

Knew a girl (not engineering) who didn’t get in UVA so went to Penn State. Got a 4.0 first year and transferred successful to UVA, where her GPA was much lower, harder school for sure. Much happier at UVA.

Penn state is fine, fine. But it’s massive and it’s not going to have the same population that UVA has in terms of academic chops and intellectual ability. Does that matter? I dunno, it did to my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Knew a girl (not engineering) who didn’t get in UVA so went to Penn State. Got a 4.0 first year and transferred successful to UVA, where her GPA was much lower, harder school for sure. Much happier at UVA.

Penn state is fine, fine. But it’s massive and it’s not going to have the same population that UVA has in terms of academic chops and intellectual ability. Does that matter? I dunno, it did to my kid.

Wait, I am confused. Is your kid the girl (not engineering) who went and then transferred to UVA after a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Knew a girl (not engineering) who didn’t get in UVA so went to Penn State. Got a 4.0 first year and transferred successful to UVA, where her GPA was much lower, harder school for sure. Much happier at UVA.

Penn state is fine, fine. But it’s massive and it’s not going to have the same population that UVA has in terms of academic chops and intellectual ability. Does that matter? I dunno, it did to my kid.

So is she your kid or not?

Lol. I guess it's hard to keep your story straight when you're making stuff up.

I like too that she's much happier, even with her much lower gpa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Knew a girl (not engineering) who didn’t get in UVA so went to Penn State. Got a 4.0 first year and transferred successful to UVA, where her GPA was much lower, harder school for sure. Much happier at UVA.

Penn state is fine, fine. But it’s massive and it’s not going to have the same population that UVA has in terms of academic chops and intellectual ability. Does that matter? I dunno, it did to my kid.

Wait, I am confused. Is your kid the girl (not engineering) who went and then transferred to UVA after a year?

nope not my DD, her friend. My DD got in ED and went. The friend wanted to go but didn't get in, so went to Penn State and transferred. Yep is happier at UVA in all ways. Penn State was a joke she said as far as academics and socially it was a train wreck. very shallow girls, vapid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Knew a girl (not engineering) who didn’t get in UVA so went to Penn State. Got a 4.0 first year and transferred successful to UVA, where her GPA was much lower, harder school for sure. Much happier at UVA.

Penn state is fine, fine. But it’s massive and it’s not going to have the same population that UVA has in terms of academic chops and intellectual ability. Does that matter? I dunno, it did to my kid.

The lower GPA could've been because classes generally get harder the following year. I take it she wasn't taking the exact same classes at UVA that she took at Penn STate.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What the hell is UVA? I grew up in California and and live in the Northeast. No one at my kid's private ever talks about this school. Why is this a thread?

Some people out west know about UVA, but I don't think it's all that highly regarded by most Californians, not like it is in the DC area, which is fine. It makes sense that a state school is more highly regarded in the region than outside of it. Only schools like Cal, UCLA and Michigan probably have a high national profile.

-40 yr CA resident

Outside the DC bubble, people don’t know Cal on the East Coast.

Whatever your petty squabble…that’s just not true. Now most know it as Berkeley.

How do you know this? Plenty of people know UVa and hasn’t heard of Cal. They’re provincial, just like folks that don’t know UVa

I mean hard to really know, but here's a couple of lists:

https://poetsandquants.com/2023/10/18/ranking-the-worlds-most-popular-colleges-universities/

Berkeley #7
Penn State #13
UVA N/a


https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140812131005-5832895-ranking-colleges-as-brands-using-big-data-textual-analysis

Berkeley #3
UVA #19

https://www.bestcollegereviews.org/features/the-30-most-influential-colleges-and-universities-of-the-past-century/

Berkeley #5
UVA: N/a

You don’t get it. Outside of your college obsessed bubble, people don’t look at lists like this.

I don't really care about such a list, either. But, I was responding to the poster who claims outside of the east coast, most people have never heard of Cal.

And when California posters stated that they either haven't heard of or disregard UVA, the UVA booster claimed the Californians to be "provincial".

I guess people all over the world, outside the east coast, are provincial, and only those who know about UVA are sophisticated.

How can you be sophisticated if you don’t know UVa?

Right? Like USNWR 2022/23 global list of best universities has UVA below T100, Penn State within T100.

Note: 2022/23 is the year before USNWR made changes to how they rank.

The global list is based on reputation and research. They don't have one for 2023/2024 year.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings

UVA #119
Penn State #84

(btw UMD #57)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generally speaking, as a hiring manager, I have been much more impressed with UVA grads than Penn State grads. UVA kids tend to come across as much more sophisticated and polished than Penn State students.

Like a finishing school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally speaking, as a hiring manager, I have been much more impressed with UVA grads than Penn State grads. UVA kids tend to come across as much more sophisticated and polished than Penn State students.

Like a finishing school?

Kinda

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's say your kid wants to go into sports medicine. Which would you pick?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally speaking, as a hiring manager, I have been much more impressed with UVA grads than Penn State grads. UVA kids tend to come across as much more sophisticated and polished than Penn State students.

Like a finishing school?

The UVA kids are probably just a wealthier cohort to begin with. Probably entered college that way.

I went to PSU (undecided, liberal arts) for one year then transferred. The classes and professors were fine but the student body didn't seem very academically-oriented. Socially, it was a disappointment. I can find it believable that a recruiter would be able to pick up differences. When I describe my year at PSU, I sometimes say it was like camp for middle-class suburbanites. People actively craved freedom from parents so they could celebrate watching football and getting wasted. Pretty limited view of the possibilities.