How cliquey are schools like Penn State?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the cult at JoePa's house.

it's chilling.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQAzlp5VJzg

Its horrifying that that dumb culty weirdness was going on at the same time as the slapping noises in the team showers. Those poor children trapped with nobody to help them within miles.

[Anonymous]

Yeah it's a cult school...because people freakin' LOVE it.

[Anonymous]

It's a sick school.

[Anonymous]

I'm from PA. Many of the more mediocre students from my high school went to Penn State, and I visited one of them for a long weekend once. That weekend was a blur of drunken partying with students similar to my friend (average student whose main interests were partying). HOWEVER, the most brilliant person I've ever met also went to Penn State for her Ph d in Electrical Engineering, and she had a large friend group of serious-minded, intelligent friends. I think the student body is very diverse, but I wouldn't send my child there because of the location (tiny cultural-wasteland town in the middle of nowhere). I really had the impression that the more intellectual students who ended up at Penn State were there for financial reasons, not because Penn State or its location is anything special.

[Anonymous]

As a Pennsylvania native and alum, I can say PPP has it exactly right. There are are smart people at Penn State, but it is fundamentally an unserious place with a party atmosphere there. The smart kids tend to be there because they couldn't afford better or underachieved in high school. The enthusiasm among alumni is largely from folks who have not been exposed to much else. It is not the sort of place that kids with truly good options -- eg, Maryland, let alone Michigan or Wisconsin or one of the good SLACs in P or Ohio -- should want to attend, at least for the right reasons, except for engineering or the like. A bit of a sad place at some level, in a town that does not have a whole lot to offer and is not particularly pleasant, even in a quaint sort of way.

[Anonymous]

It's definitely a social school for social people. There is a niche for everyone. If your desire is to be in the books 100% of the time, it's probably not for you. I had an amazing college experience and got a good education. I would say I had a better college experience than most of my friends who received a similar level of education elsewhere. Yup I partied a lot and attended most of the football games.

[Anonymous]

VERY large football and Greek life culture. Ohio State has the same amount of football enthusiasm if not more because the Buckeyes are a better team, but much less emphasis on the greek system due to the fact that it's an urban campus. Pitt is into football, not as much as Penn State or Ohio State, but again, urban campus and Greek isn't as big of a thing. Miami University in Ohio has more emphasis on Greek Life than Penn State but not as much emphasis on football. Pitt is probably the most diverse out of the schools.

[Anonymous]

I also would say it's probably too large to be "clique-y" even though most of the students are coming from PA, WV, and NY state.

[Anonymous]

A cult school will do that to you!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VERY large football and Greek life culture. Ohio State has the same amount of football enthusiasm if not more because the Buckeyes are a better team, but much less emphasis on the greek system due to the fact that it's an urban campus. Pitt is into football, not as much as Penn State or Ohio State, but again, urban campus and Greek isn't as big of a thing. Miami University in Ohio has more emphasis on Greek Life than Penn State but not as much emphasis on football. Pitt is probably the most diverse out of the schools.

Pitt is into basketball, not football. The "Oakland Zoo" is the Pitt equivalent of the "Cameron Crazies" at Duke, and the home games are on campus. The football team plays at Heinz Field in downtown Pittsburgh, and the stands are mostly empty on game days. The Greek scene exists, but it's not a big deal, as you might expect with an urban school.

[Anonymous]

US News National Rankings

Obviously major offering and rankings and cost play a role in selection, but overall, lots of what pps are saying (Pitt has surpassed PSU, etc.) not exactly true....

Mich #29

Wisc 47
Penn State 48

UMD 62
Pitt 62
VaTech 71


JMU #6 "regional" universities of the south rank


http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-pittsburgh-3379

[Anonymous]

Penn State is oddly highly ranked, particulrly given its lack of selectivity. It has massively lower average SATs than a school like Tulane, which is ranked lower (we're talking 250 points lower). It has lower admission statistics than Pitt. It has been falling down the rankings in recent recent years, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is oddly highly ranked, particulrly given its lack of selectivity. It has massively lower average SATs than a school like Tulane, which is ranked lower (we're talking 250 points lower). It has lower admission statistics than Pitt. It has been falling down the rankings in recent recent years, however.

It's SATs are surprisingly very low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is oddly highly ranked, particulrly given its lack of selectivity. It has massively lower average SATs than a school like Tulane, which is ranked lower (we're talking 250 points lower). It has lower admission statistics than Pitt. It has been falling down the rankings in recent recent years, however.

Penn State has been ranked higher than Tulane for years. And Pitt as well. This is not a one year anomaly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is oddly highly ranked, particulrly given its lack of selectivity. It has massively lower average SATs than a school like Tulane, which is ranked lower (we're talking 250 points lower). It has lower admission statistics than Pitt. It has been falling down the rankings in recent recent years, however.

Penn State has been ranked higher than Tulane for years. And Pitt as well. This is not a one year anomaly.

US news is sympathetic towards Institutionalized pedophilia.