Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Top Questions

My favorite class has honestly been Art 50 even though art is not my major but it was a very relaxing painting class, that would make three hours go by fast, it allowed my mind to just walk out and unstress myself. The professor was amazing unlike others who judge your art work, she was very calm and nice. Class participation varys anyone can participate as long as you want to in smaller classes everyone has to participate or it will be awkward. I'm a biobehavioral Health major and minor in spanish so far I've noticed the department is very organized has many offers such as research and alot of opportunities. I have spent time with prrofessors outside of class they are very helpful. Most do make time for you even after office hours or days they don't have them they also have the teacher asistance.

challenging yet exhilarating.

Currently I'm taking Intro to Psych, a Human Behavioral Sciences class and a Family Development course. I absolutely love the curriculum. It's as if the teachers planned their curriculum together so that they are teaching complementary information.

The academics are taken very seriously at my school, which is the main reason why I chose Penn State. Graduating with a degree from Penn State will land you a great job in the future. Also, our career networking facility is one of the largest in the country.

Academics at Penn State are what you make of it. If you want to pay tuition for four years and not attend a single class, then that is up to you. If you dedicate yourself to learning and improving as an individual, you will receive a great education. Class size, relationships with professors, study hours, etc. vary by individuals and majors. I knew some people that would attend professor's office hours weekly, and other students who never once attended an office hour. It is really a matter of preference and how you do best. Some classes require attendance and participation to the point where it is factored into your grade, others don't. As you progress through your major, attendance becomes more prominent; however, you really should be there anyways if you are majoring in it! I was a double major in Marketing and Advertising. Marketing is in the Smeal College of Business with a strong focus on the strategic side of marketing as well as learning the entire business industry (accounting, finance, econ, etc.). Advertising is in the College of Communications with more of a focus on media and creativity. I learned a lot from both of my majors and had the opportunity to get a lot of great experience. Besides learning in the classroom, there are many opportunities through clubs and certain courses where guest lecturers are brought in to give industry advice and insight. These talks are huge. They provide great networking and learning opportunities, that have often even led to jobs.

Because we're such a big school, the class sizes tend to be bigger especially freshman classes like BIOL 110 which has over 700 students! The higher your seniority, the smaller the classes get usually. By then, the professors will start calling you by name. My favorite class was ENGL 213 -Introduction to Poetry. As a math major, I miss writing papers and doing more creative things. This was the perfect outlet for that. My professor was great and really cared about us and her job. I wish all professors here were like that. Passionate professors really make learning easier and more entertaining. In regard to class participation, usually there are only a few people who volunteer while the rest just keep to themselves. That's what I've noticed but I could be wrong. From what I've noticed, students don't really engage in intellectual conversations outside of class from what I've seen and heard. Of course there is a small population that does. I try to at least. The lack of hearing intellectual conversations going on kind of killed my impression of college in high school. I like my major and my department (math). The advisers are helpful and the department building looks pretty nice and is conveniently situated next to the HUB. I feel that the academic requirements should include an accounting class as a general education course. I think managing one's finances is one of most useful things to know and it's simply not a required course here. I would like that changed. No matter what major you are undertaking, accounting and personal finance will be apart of your world; that's inescapable. I think our classes should be more rigorous. I feel that some are challenging but others are just a complete joke. I want to learn and not just get that easy A if I'm paying all of this money to go here. I think learning here is geared towards getting a job and not for learning for its own sake. The career services supports this because it seems that the emphasis in mostly all of my classes is learn x, remember x for the exam, repeat for a good grade. I think that it's mainly for the grades.

The academics at Penn State are incredible. Having a degree from Penn State is a very prestigious honor, one that must be earned through 8AM classes, term papers, midterms, labs, and hard work. Some classes are huge, like general chemistry which has about 400 people in it, but others are really small and personalized. Professors will know your name even if you have a big class, as long as you introduce yourself. Getting to know your professors is important, especially at the end of the semester because they can provide specialized feedback tailored to your educational needs. If you don't introduce yourself, you are just another face in the crowd.. which sometimes is preferred for classes that you might not necessarily want to be overly involved with. Students tend to form study groups, because studying with other people open up new ideas and points of view to understand some material better. I am a Forensic Science major.. and I'll list the courses I was required to take: general chemistry, organic chemistry, calculus, physics, english, ethics, law/criminology classes, countless biology and biochemistry classes, and of course crime scene investigation, analysis of biological and nonbiological trace, and DNA analysis (plus some other stuff). Penn State makes sure that you know everything you possibly can know when you graduate and they make you a "well-rounded" student by making you take general education credits outside of your major. Those classes are always fun because you get to pick whatever. I took a music class and a film class, just because it looked interesting. The coursework might seem overwhelming at first, but once you figure out a good schedule to balance classes, homework, friends, and sleep.. then it becomes second nature. By the end of four years, you will be able to write a 10 page lab report in a day like a piece of cake. They make you work hard, but it's so worth it in the end.

I was very impressed with the academic aspect to Penn State. All of my classes here were manageable but also challenging. When I began my career here, many of my classes were large (up to an 800 person class), but now most of my classes are between 20-30 people. Each class that I have had that was 30 people or less, the teacher always made it a point to get to know the students. Most of the professors that I have had experience with really want to engage students and assist them in learning. I have only had one or two professors that I did not like because they were either boring or confusing. Class participation is not common in the larger class rooms, and dependent on the teacher in the smaller classrooms. I have one class that is centered completely around class participation, and other classes that I can simply sit and listen the entire period. I am an accounting major in the Masters of Accounting (MAcc) program in the Smeal College of Business. In this program, I will be graduating with my Masters and Bachelors degree in Accounting in 5 years with enough hours to sit for the CPA. This program was created for students who intend to be CPAs. The classes are very challenging, but rewarding if you give them the time. I will be interning this summer with PwC (formerly Pricewaterhouse Coopers), and at my acceptance dinner the partners told us that they made it a point to hire the most students from Penn State because they found that we have been very successful in the workplace. We were also recently ranked number two in colleges that recruiters hire from according to the Wall Street Journal. One thing I do fully appreciate about Smeal is that they take a large focus on integrity, which seems to be lacking in the business world today. Every exam we take, we sign a statement saying basically that we will not cheat and we did not have unauthorized access to previous forms of this exam. My favorite class right now is my auditing class because my professor takes time to ask us questions that really make us think on our own. I have seen a great change in my outlook outside of the classroom because of many of the questions he has asked in class. I also feel like I need to study less than for other classes because I stay focused the whole class period. My least favorite class was an online class I took on the history of pop music. The class was easy, but I did not feel like I learned very much. It also ended up being very time consuming and was on a subject I ultimately did not care very much about. The best advice I can give anyone is to take classes that actually interest you. I have found that even the easiest classes do not feel easy unless you are interested in the subject. My hardest classes are sometimes the most enjoyable ones because I actually appreciate the knowledge that I am gaining. The main difference between college and high school is that you can now choose your classes freely and you do not have school every day from 8am-3pm so it is now your responsibility to make it to class on time and do your homework. I find that this helps teach students the value of knowledge.

The best think about Penn State is all the opportunities. Getting involved at Penn State is easy, no matter what your passion is. I love community service, and my first weekend at Penn State i was involved in FreshSTART day of service (a day of service especially for freshman). There are also a lot of opportunities for leadership at Penn State, because there are so many clubs there are also lots of leadership positions. As a sophomore I am a Recruitment Captain for Relay for Life and get to help plan the event. Having a leadership position makes me feel like I am making an impact on my campus. Penn State is a large school, but I would never say that it is too large. I strongly believe that you can make a big school small, but you can't make a small school big. When I walk around campus, I run into my friends and people that I know from class. My professors know my name, because I put effort into my classes and getting to know them. At Penn State a student could be just a number, but students don't have to be. If students put themselves out there, it is easy to make Penn State seem like a smaller place. I will never forget my freshman Economics class that easily had close to 200 students in the lecture. The professor however didn't treat the class like a large room of students who were just there to be lectured. He had us do activities. One day we had to trade zoo animals, in order to demonstrate supply and demand. The class was so full of energy. People were yelling, "I need a monkey!" or, "Who wants an elephant?" That activity brought us together as a class, and proves that a large class doesn't stop the professor from engaging their students. People are usually pretty impressed when I tell them that i go to Penn State University Park. The name Penn State carries a prestige, a prestige that employers want. State College is the definition of a college town, and I couldn't love it more. There is nothing better than hearing fight songs while you walk around shopping on a Friday afternoon. Recently the controversy or scandal at Penn State was with Jerry Sandusky. Since the revealing of that event, students on campus have pulled themselves together and we have gone back to life as usual. In our own way, students, who didn't really associate themselves with Sandusky to begin with, have disowned him. He is not a part of our university or who WE ARE. At Penn State we yell WE ARE at passing tour groups. We get 110,000 people to all wear white. We wear Penn State sweatshirts and sweat pants to class and consider ourselves to be "appropriately dressed". There is a lot of Penn State pride. We also have a strong sense of tradition, that gives the campus and electric feeling whether it be game day, THON weekend, or just another rainy Tuesday. The most frequent student complaint is the rain. I suggest having a solid pair of rain boots before coming to school here. Girls, you're going to want a couple of pairs, so they can match your outfits. Happy Valley is usually Rainy Valley, but it's one of those things that I have learned to love to hate. Some days it is comforting for there to be a rain cloud in the sky.

I know one of the biggest issues that most prospective students pose is that "the classes are so big!" Please take it from me, that means nothing. If you have a passion for a class/subject, show it, those professors will remember you. Just think how amazing it is to have a teacher know your name, your face, your potential....in a class of nearly 300 students. I had this happen in my Mammalian Anatomy class freshman year. I went to the professor, and Dr. John Waters and I became great friends as we discussed possible projects about my interests. Every day after I made that first comment, he said hello as he walked into class. Another thing to keep in mind, the academics are challenging and stimulating. You can take them as seriously or lax as you like, but ultimately you have the freedom to push yourself forward or fall behind. No professor that I've had has ever acted like a middle school teacher watching over your shoulder. Meanwhile, they are also there for you, should you show the need.