Plentiful, with free buses that stop at all the major complexes. Prices range from $500-1200 per month per room. Costs are generally lower living off campus if you don’t select the highest priced housing.
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So update,
I’ve narrowed it down to 3. I am visiting all 3. Virginia Tech, Penn State, Cu boulder. I made my list tricky for myself. I only chose schools I could see myself at. I prioritized program strength and quality of life. So if anyone has any experiences with these schools. I would like to hear about it.
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Sounds like a great list. All three are beautiful !!
Good luck.
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Not personal experience, but a longtime childhood friend of my younger S went to VT for meteorology. It’s what he wanted to do since he was a little kid. He also is a storm chaser and sometimes has his pictures posted on news sites online.
Anyhow, he loved the program. Graduated in 3.5 years in dec ‘22, as he went in with 50-60 DE credits and got a job out in CA. I think he works for an oil and/or gas company. He seems to be enjoying life and doing well.
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After your visits, a reasonable simplifying strategy may be to choose your favorite from VT and Penn State, and then to compare that school to the geographically dissimilar CU to make your final choice.
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1 in 3 meteorologists are from Penn State! Their program is tops. It’s not an easy program but I assume you are strong in math and science.
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Quality of life:
- CU Boulder
- Virginia Tech
- Penn State
Ranking program strength is splitting hairs and somewhat comparing apples to oranges. But for quality of life, hands down Boulder is tops.
Well everyone has different needs. But why did you rank it that way? Also for anyone in the know, I heard about psu budget cuts. Whats going on with that?
Here is some color. It’s all likely not known yet.
Penn State budget cuts total $94M for fiscal year 2026 · Spotlight PA State College
I’ll start with the budget cuts. My brother is a faculty member at Penn State. Morale is low. There are issues with leadership and a lack of a shared vision about the purpose of the university. For faculty, I’d say the culture is toxic. But is it better or worse than CU Boulder and Virginia Tech? I don’t know. Budget cuts are an issue across the country. I suspect outside of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, you might notice some negatives.
Quality of life is, of course, subjective. I have lived in Boulder and State College. I haven’t lived in Blacksburg, but I’ve spent a lot of time in that area. It’s a bit isolated, but not as much as State College. Climate is a plus for Boulder and Blacksburg, a negative for State College. All 3 have a wealth of outdoor opportunities within their respective regions, but only Boulder has them literally footsteps away. Boulder’s outdoor culture is world renown. The city has a vibrant nightlife and Denver is an easy bus ride away. Boulder’s main negative, it’s very expensive, which is partly a result of how many people want to live there. It’s a stunning setting with a beautiful campus in one of the best college towns in the US. If someone had a job offer in Boulder, Blacksburg, and State College and asked me which would be the best place to live, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Boulder. I would dissuade them from State College and say I could be happy living in Blacksburg.
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Ok so update, I attended an accepted student day at Penn State. Wow, it was much better than I remembered. So much new info I didn’t get at past events? Were they trying to get me to attend back then? Some of the college of earth and mineral science info was super important and I had no idea. They really need to fix there college visit pre acceptance info sessions. It left a pretty good impression. I will wait to decide until I visit the other two. One big pro about penn state is I did a summer program there before my junior year and I know a ton of people going and currently attending.
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Did you know Accuweather is right near the campus? They use meteorologists for broadcasts all over the country including the big networks. If you did the summer program (as my son did) I suppose you know this 
Yeah, I’m not the biggest fan of broadcast. But its a cool place.
I wonder about allergies to pollen. Is there anyway to figure out where I will be more comfortable?
I’d research it locally. There are lists - but no telling how they impact the specific areas you are going to.
Maybe there’s an index for each city. Denver is on the ‘best places’ on the first list - but Boulder is not Denver.
I do see there are daily pollen ratings too -but I imagine that’s not a good tool for the long term.
Good luck.
Best and Worst Places to Live With Allergies: Cities and States (verywellhealth.com)
Top 10 Worst Places to Live in the U.S. for Allergy Sufferers | The Weather Channel
Definitely not VT, pollen is way worse in VA than Penn State. My allergic son ended up with a sinus infection due to pollen overload after a weekend visited W&M back in 2019.
I’ll plug CU:
The Hillel is right across from engineering (the on campus engineering, not the east campus). It is a fantastic spot because they rent their parking lot out on game days and make a fortune. I really doubt they have to do any other fund raising because that brings in so much money.
CU has a planetarium on campus.
CU has all types of weather, often on the same day. It can go from 75 and sunny to 40 and windy to snowing by bedtime, and reverse it all the next day. And that happens often. I live in Denver and yesterday it snowed, today I washed my car (55 degrees) and tomorrow it will be in the 60s. And then rain on Wed, snow on Thurs, and back to 60s at the end of the week.
Colorado is a desert, so your allergies should be fine (or better than in other climates). Pollution levels are low in Boulder, and the wind will blow everything away.
CU is easy to get to from the airport, and public transportation is included with your student fees. It is much more difficult to get to Penn state or Okla.
CU is just more fun.
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Ok, so I visit all 3. Boulder seems really nice and I love the Rockies. Something is just not clicking there and I don’t know how to explain it. Virginia tech and Penn state are probably the top 2. Both programs are strong in different ways. I feel kinda stuck.
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Why - you are down from three to two - and frankly both are very similar (PSU and Va Tech). That’s not stuck. That’s progress.
Now look at whatever else is important to you - whether sports, program offerings (does one offer more courses than the other, dorms, distance to home, weather, costs, food (Va Tech is one of the top dining schools in rankings) - whatever else it is - and pick one.
It could very well be both work fantastically for you!!!
But down to two - that’s not stuck - that’s progress.
fwiw the weather is wayyy better in VA than PA. We’ve lived in both places.
PSU is having some major financial struggles. Google it.
But go with your gut, it’s usually always right.
You’re in a great major and will have no problem getting a job once you graduate.