Accepted Students Days Thread - 2020

[jlhpsu]

@snakster

@jlhpsu

I don’t think Penn State is interested in “selling” anyone at accepted students day. I think they present who they are and then students can decide if Penn State is the right fit for them. Penn State has no interest in selling people to their school if it’s not the right placement. I think the lack of sales pitch is because they want people who want them because it’s a good fit - not because they were ‘sold’.

Fair enough but the kids wouldn’t have applied there in the first place if there wasn’t some level of fit determination already made. It is entirely possible that more than one school is an attractive fit option for a given student. Otherwise, kids wouldn’t agonize (in some cases) over their final choice.

I wasn’t talking about a used car salesman routine. My phrasing was not quite accurate. At the risk of digging a hole, I guess it’s more to do with feeling like you are wanted. That is, you get a general Engineering presentation, but they go out of their way to let you know that’s all you are. Whether you have an intended major or not, they won’t discuss because…you’re NOT that major. So carrying that forward, no one from your intended major is there to discuss. Nor do the depts (to date) reach out to you and congratulate you on your acceptance, etc. That’s not selling, that’s making you feel wanted.

Now, had we not had that kind of experience from a couple other places where son has been accepted, I probably wouldn’t even have thought about it. Obviously, it’s a very large school and there are some things that are not practical. One must come to grips that, as an entering freshman, you may lose a little of the personal touch. There are trade-offs with every choice

To be completely fair, I would encourage Juniors (rising seniors) to take advantage of the Spend a Summer Day program. This event absolutely includes individual dept presentations and the ability to ask questions 1:1 if you so desire. Perhaps they believe that by the time you attend an Accepted Student day, you have already gone through these things. But clearly Accepted Student day is the first visit for some. I feel they could do little things that make the undecideds feel more wanted.

I totally get where you are coming from. I think it’s probably more indicative of the size of the school than anything else. It’s also a precursor to things to come. I love Penn State, truly - but it’s not a hand holding university. There are 45,000 students there so the resources aren’t there to do that. It’s not for everyone. In many ways at Penn State, students ARE just a number…until they get involved to ensure that they aren’t. But Penn State won’t do that FOR you. It’s a university that, because of its size, encourages independence. Students will swim …or sink. And plenty sink. But the majority do just fine once they get the lay of the land and those kids who can advocate for themselves and search out opportunities do amazingly well.

I have two kids who’ve gone to Penn State (so far). They are very different kids. My daughter thrived in that environment and did just fine. My son needed much more hand holding and started out doing very well at Altoona, went to UP sophomore year (major required it) and sank FAST. It took him a while to get the lay of the land. He’s now a second semester junior and doing very well. But sophomore year was tough. It did teach him independence I’m not sure he’d have gotten at Altoona though. Good and bad everywhere I suppose.