<p>Don’t kid yourself, getting a 3.5 is hard regardless, and if you want to relax a bit just realize that getting into a competitive PhD program ( Ivy League or top 20) will be difficult without a high GPA, no matter what school you attend ( most programs really do not care one thing about the undergraduate program you were in, you must be top of your class and have done research at the indergrad level, seems like the PSU programoffers to ensure that is done for you and is for free, if you slack at UVA or don’t do research work you will have trouble getting into a top PhD program regardless and sometimes it is difficult to do any undergrad research at all since many students compete for spots, if its not guaranteed for you at UVA you may not get a spot at all ( especially if your grades are nto competitive. Additionally, at large research schools like UVA and PSU, many times students cannot even get close to a research spot until at least 3rd year, if PS helps you so that as a Freshman you are way ahead of the game</p>