Sally_Rubenstone

I hope that other current seniors, like this one, will bring many factors to the table when making final decisions about attending Penn State.

Having once worked in public relations at a college, I am familiar with discussions about the ways that negative PR can influence application and enrollment numbers. I feel that most prospective students and their parents will distinguish between publicity that reflects on the entire institution (e.g., “Four-year graduation rates plummet") and isolated episodes that involve one or two individuals who just happen to be affiliated with a particular school (“Prof indicted in wife’s murder”).

Penn State, however, falls into a gray area (or maybe more like a black hole) because, although those involved in the abuse and its cover-up represent only the tiniest fraction of the PSU community, the visibility and power of the football program loom so very large.

Even so, I have found that the media is bringing out both the best and the worst of this university as a result of these atrocities.

bazaarshopper

I expect PSU will be burdened with defending costly lawsuits or paying settlements. My concern would be how much of that cost will be passed down to the students - who had nothing to do with the mistakes of the school's leadership.

lorindaleigh

I'm a current Penn State student. While everything going on sucks, Penn State is still an awesome school. It's just one department and a few rotten tomatoes. The rest of the school is still just as amazing as it has always been.

MD Mom

My son applied to Penn State before the news broke. This week, he received a letter from the new president saying the he hoped my son would keep in mind all the good things about Penn State and not look at just the recent publicity. It talked about the 10,000+ students who held a vigil to recognize the victims in the scandal.

rodney

With an OOS cost of attendance of $40,000+, I think people will believe they have better options regardless of the scandal......

Prior to this, I have had applicant parents "shocked" when finding out the cost of attendance.....

kvilledeac

Penn State's football first culture covered up a child sex abuse scandal and when Joe Pa was fired their students rioted, flipped news vans, but most students just hit the streets to check out the fun. Happy Valley riots much more often than its peers. The current PSU culture is good? Parents encouraging their kids to apply since it could be easier because of the bad press fits right in with an amoral culture.

VMT

I graduated from PSU, albeit quite a while ago. I attended 2 football games in total, and somehow, I still managed to appreciate my time there. Contrary to how ESPN, Fox Sports and the rest of the media has portrayed Penn Staters, we weren't all "football first". I didn't attend the school for football, and many of my fellow Pennsylvanians did not go there for football either. Since it was my state school, it was one of my only choices for financial reasons. We went there because the in-state tuition was reasonable and the academics were very good. I received an excellent education at Penn State, and I have had an successful career as an engineer because of that education. I had dedicated professors who cared about their students. Never once did I discuss football with a professor. I felt no connection to football. Despite this, it was a wonderful place to be. Penn State is an academic institution first; that is its reason for being. And in all the years I and other family members spent there, we never experienced a riot.

I can see choosing not to go to Penn State because of the horrific events. It's so awful and heartbreaking, and wanting to distance oneself from it is absolutely understandable. I love my alma mater but I am not proud of what happened there. I can understand choosing not to attend Penn State because of concerns about about the financial strength of the school and the eventual effect on tuition. However, people should understand that Penn State is about so much more than football.

FortunateZeal

It's mainly because students believe that they have an easier chance of being accepted to PSU. These students probably had PSU as a reach or weren't really interested in it till they realized how easy it is to get in.

Plainsman

What does a scandal involving the coaches on the football team (it doesn't even involve the student-athletes) have to do with the academics? Answer: zilch.

That's a very limited world view. There aren't only two types of students--nerdy types and football fans. I would think the majority of students at a university the size of PSU-UP are neither nerds nor football fanatics. They're just kids happy to be at a strong academic public school that was rated the favorite school, public or private, by corporate recruiters, according to The Wall Street Journal. Great place to get a degree and get a job afterwards.

Easy to get in? Where's the PROOF that leads you to that conclusion?

soozievt

This video may be of interest to this thread (and relates as well to post 19):

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com
^^Penn State is on a preemptive strike to keep potential students interested in attending the university.

evitaperon

nerds have a sense of ethics, too.

uhh PSU's SAT average is 200 points lower than my school.

MisterK

Hi Sally -
I'm one of many parents in my district with academically-oriented seniors who would have applied to Penn State, but who are now taking a pass. I thought I'd give you a parent's perspective.

Although the university is naturally thinking in terms of public relations, publicity and damage control, we're trying to look past all that. We're thinking about the complete university experience that we'll be purchasing during the next four years for our young adults. As you know, that's an association that we all carry for life. The problem for Penn State is that the overall package has been greatly damaged, and in ways that we won't even be able to ascertain for years.

In normal times, we generally like Penn State academics, although for many of us that's a recent discovery; PSU has chosen to brand itself in terms of football, and it takes some effort to look past that. We parents vary quite a bit in our opinions regarding the PSU culture - for some, the football is a big plus, but for others it's tolerable, even if a bit over-the-top and cult-like. All in all, we see PSU as a solid school. But normal times are gone, and they won't be coming back for quite awhile.

Today, we're all concerned with an actual negative situation that is still unfolding, that will dominate the university experience over the next four years, and will continue to play out beyond that. We're still in the very early stages. The next year should be very volatile, as new pieces of news come out, and the system thrashes its way towards some new form of equilibrium.

Even if Penn State were to approach this transparently and competently (which they're not), the situation won't be going away anytime soon; it's simply too huge. Even for those who really like Penn State, there's not even enough runway to feel confident that the leadership understands their problem fully, let alone that they'll find the right track.

Anyway, this will be a defining aspect of Penn State for decades. As you say, this is "black hole" territory. Many of us without deep ties to the university don't see the point of picking up this unhealthy baggage.

The financial question also enters into the picture. As you know, Penn State has chosen to price itself as the most expensive state flagship in the nation. It's fairly easy to find a quality education elsewhere at a much better price, even for in-state students. For good students with choices, it's hard to see how Penn State will even enter consideration; PSU offers very little in the way of merit dollars, so there are numerous options that deliver a superior education for much less money.

genie160

I am a current Penn State student and I can say that while the scandal was terrible. It has absolutely nothing to do with the academics of the school. Furthermore, even the athletics of the school are still at the same level they were six months ago. Many people forget that it wasn't the football team or even Joe Pa that was the problem, but Sandusky who quit working at Penn State in the late 90's (I think it's 1999). Even in the wake of the media's attention on the scandal, Penn State isn't any easier to get into, and the enrollment numbers are rising because Penn State is still a great school academically and athletically.

kpattz

Evita, what Ivy League are you attending that the SAT score average is 200 points higher than this?

http://i42.tinypic.com/295r9zp.png

evitaperon

I meant the aggregate score, btw.

College Search - University of Virginia - UVA - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®

I'm usually a Jeffersonian and an antielitist but I am afraid I must intervene when those from Penn State ridicule those not of their "calibre"