Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Top Questions

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.

When you are taking general education classes, they tend to be big class sizes where you might not know your profesor that well. However, that doesn't mean that it's totally impossible to form a relationship with them. All professors are required to have office hours where you can talk to them and get your questions answered; Some professors are even interested in getting lunch with students and some will even offer to pay for your meal!

Penn State is the only college that I applied to and luckily I was accepted. In the past 3 and a half years being here at the main campus, I have never once regretted my decision to come here. Our University has had many ups and downs, especially in the past couple months, but I still could not have seen myself attending any other college. The best thing at this school, besides the intense football games, would have to be the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance MaraTHON. It is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world that culminates in a 46 hour no-sleeping, no-standing dance marathon in February. It is the most amazing event I have ever attended in my life - DEFINITELY GET INVOLVED WITH THON! Some people think Penn State is too large, but I think it's just right. I'm not the type of student who likes to raise my hand in class and be put on the spot. At Penn State being put on the spot rarely happens. If you do like to raise your hand and participate though, it is very easy to do so! Upon telling people that I attend Penn State - University Park, most people are like "ohhh WOW!" People really look up to Penn Staters, especially those that attend the main campus. The school pride at Penn State is amazing. Most Penn Staters are completely obsessed with their school and they deserve to be!

I believe my professor knew my name becuase I always be the only one Aisan girl in my engineering course. My favorite class a major courses about designing VLSI on CAD software and the least favorite course is the group speech course. Class participation is very common and students might work together after the class in computer lab. If the homework is hard, classmates would hold conversations outside of the class to solve them. The most unique class that I had never taken is a philosophy course about sex and love, I've learned about a lot of the proper view on how to look at homosexual people in that web course. And If the professor is the kind of person want to spend a lot of time interact with students, I would also try my best to communicate with that professor no only in academic issue but also extracuricular events. Our school's academic requirements are not the same for all the major. For my major, it is very low; the graduation requirement is only 2.0 GPA. But for some other major, for example, Finance; even the entrance major is 3.6 GPA. My school has its own facility on helping students getting a job, but its education encourages students to establish study to be a life long habitat.

The academics are extremely competitive and difficult. The teachers are world class professors and truly prepare us for the real world and future careers. While the classes are often large, professors and teaching assistants make themselves accessible to all students in need of help.

There is a common misconception that at a large school you will be sitting in a lecture hall with hundreds of students (we do have one 700 person lecture hall!) and the professor won't know who you are. Sure, that can be the case if you allow that to happen. It is common for general education classes to be taught in the larger lecture rooms. However, at PSU the university provides resources to make sure students can master the material and connect with their professors. With larger lecture classes, there are often smaller recitation classes in which a TA reviews (they do not teach new material) the information taught earlier that week by the professor. For every one hour a professor teaches class, they must hold one hour of office hours. During this time, they cannot check emails or grade papers. The professor simply waits for students to come in with questions about notes, exams, or assignments. Building relationships during office hours allows for the professor to put a name to a student's face. Also, sitting up front in class never hurts! It allows you to forget about the hundreds of people sitting behind you and your professor starts to recognize you. Every student is guaranteed two classes with 30 students or less: English 15 and First-Year Seminar. When we schedule courses (we go based on credits with the exception of honors and student athletes so typically seniors have the most and schedule first ) you can check how many seats are available in that class, which allows you to pick smaller class sizes if that if what you are most comfortable with. As far as scheduling goes, try to transfer in with AP credits or attend the summer session before freshmen year. Coming in with extra credits will bump you up in the registration time table. Like most universities, we have a course management system called Angel (similar to Blackboard). It allows professors to upload a syllabus, assignments, exams/quizzes and skeleton notes. Skeleton notes are PowerPoint slides with key words missing, so students have to attend class to get the material!

The academic atmosphere is varied depending on what type of classes you take. There are a lot of students here. So, many classes (especially general education courses) are going to be large. In fact, one of my sociology classes had over 300 students. So, in that scenario, it's a little bit more challenging to stand out among the crowd. Honors courses are a lot smaller, so professors definitely will be able to learn your name. In my experience, my professors have always been eager to help you and see you succeed. Penn State is known for its football program, but it definitely provides a quality education and unique opportunities that will help students learn and eventually get jobs.

Professors in my major or for small classes know my name- for larger classes, if you don't go to office hours, they won't know your name. Favorite class: Intro to Ballroom (Kines 017). Least favorite: Chem 110H. Honors students study a lot, other students, it depends. Class participation common in honors classes, not so much in others- mostly just the same kids over and over. Most unique class: Inart 005 (watch 5 performances at the Eisenhower auditorium and write about them). I spend time with professors in my major. I believe the general education is very reasonable compared to other schools and if you take AP classes in high school, they are easy to skip. Education is definitely geared towards getting a job, and we have the largest career fair I believe in the world.

The academics at my school are definitely challenging. But, it really instills in every student good time management skills. And there are programs on campus that make resources available to us to help us through whatever academic problems we are having.

I have friends in a few other colleges and I have attended classes with them out of curiosity and comparison purposes. NOTHING is like Penn State. The teachers here are so willing to assist/help the students with anything whether it is review for an upcoming exam or writing letters of recommendation. The classes are academically challenging which is important because after all you do want to get an education from school. At the same time, the classes are very interesting, and grading is fair; you get what you deserve and you get out of the class what you put into it.