<p>So, I’ve had my heart set on Penn State for quite some time but I’ve just been given an opportunity. East Stroudsburg University has offered me a four year full tuition scholarship. Now I’m not sure what to do. I feel that Penn State has more opportunity and is where I want to be but I would be in a better financial situation at East Stroudsburg. I’ve been asking for advice from some of the adults in my life and I’m just not sure which way to go. Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>It may be relevant as to what the price difference is, whether extra debt would be needed, and what your intended or possible majors are and how well each school’s offerings satisfy them.</p>
<p>You can always try it for 2 years and if you don’t like it or feel it is not the right level of challenge for you, transfer for the last two years. Half the debt is always better.</p>
<p>i know this girl who got into UMD college park (full) and MIT, she went to UMD and regrets it, but my opinion, obviously, is not an expert’s. The context is probably a little different</p>
<p>One important question: What do <em>you</em> want from college?</p>
<p>Nobody even you) can give you a good answer without knowing the answer to that one.</p>
Not that this should be the sole determining factor in your decision, but it is hard to overlook the vast Penn State alumni network.
I know both universities, graduates from both, and professors at both; if you got into Penn State University Park, don’t go to East Strousdbourg. You wouldn’t be among peers and there isn’t a critical mass of kids with good stats for you to “find your niche”. Most students just aren’t into learning OR do want to learn but haven’t acquired the skills to do so previously, and struggle. There are serious students, of course, but they just aren’t the norm. Unless you’re fine being the only student in the class who’s done the reading, it can be isolating - not to mention, boring or painful. In addition, the State of Pennsylvania consistently underfunds the PASSHE schools; it’s only very very minimally responsible for Penn State’s budget so even though it underfunds Penn State too, its effects aren’t as visible. Quality of peers and access to resources do matter.
If you mean that you got into Penn State Abington or another branch, then the discussion is different.
How much would Penn State cost you? Can your parents afford paying for Penn State out of pocket?
I assume you’d have to take the federal loans ($5,500) but in this case it’d be a wise investment.
@MYOS1634, not disagreeing with your take at all–this is a tough decision, no doubt, for the OP–but would you put West Chester University in the same category as East Stroudsburg? We visited WC (another PASSHE school for those not familiar with all of them) with my Class of 2014 son when we were in search of affordable safety schools, and while everyone we met was very nice, and we suspected my son might attract some serious merit money there, we were rather underwhelmed overall. And yet I know a lot of smart kids who go there and are quite happy (and graduates who have done well).
@Decisions1996, are these your only two choices? And what is your chosen field of study? My son never even applied to West Chester because they didn’t have engineering. He ended up taking a full scholarship at another state flagship rather than go full pay to Penn State, but we were prepared to pay for Penn State if he felt it was a better all-around match. He just felt that other school was a better fit for him and, for us, it felt like a better overall value. The school he’s now attending is not as highly ranked as Penn State, but it’s not in a completely different class (like the PASSHE schools) and he can still transfer to Penn State later if he changes his mind down the road.
If money is a serious concern, then I would agree with @twoinanddone that it doesn’t hurt to give ES a try and transfer later if it isn’t meeting your needs. No school is worth taking on a boatload of debt for; however, if it’s the difference between taking Stafford loans or not for a STEM degree, and Penn State fits you to a T, I’d head to State College and never look back.
IMHO, full tuition at Temple would be hard to turn down for Penn State; full tuition at East Stroudsburg isn’t nearly as enticing for a top student. Which doesn’t mean you can’t excel there and be a BMOC academically. So before you make a decision, make sure you’re comparing the two schools’ offerings very carefully.
West Chester is ten times better than East Stroudsbourg. The majority of the students admitted there are college-ready and have some motivation or drive. West Chester is to East Stroudsbourg what Penn State is to Penn State Beaver.
Full tuition at Temple vs. Full pay at PSU? Temple all the way. No problem.
OP: would your parents and yourself be able to pay out of pocket?
My DD is also trying to decide where to go. She has been offered a full tuition to West Chester and some scholarships from Penn State Brandywine 2+2 program. (Tuition cost for 4 years at PSU 2+2 will be around 4.5K). Major will be computer science at WC, Computer engineering at PSU2+2. We can afford if she chooses to go PSU. But we also like the option if goes to WC then the saved money can use for her graduate school. I’m just afraid if the WC degree would put her in disadvantage when applying graduate school in the future. Or if WC education won’t prepare her well for graduate study. Please share your suggestions. Thanks.
@stako555, was she competitive for UP and chose Brandywine to save money? Penn State’s reputation in STEM fields is tough to beat. Not sure I’d pass that up for WCU, but maybe @MYOS1634 will weigh in.
@LucieTheLakie Thanks so much for your comment. Yes, she’s good academically and she chose Brandywine to save cost for the first 2 yrs. We didn’t anticipate PSU would give out any merit scholarship, thus to safely cover all 4 yr cost, we decide to have her stay 2 year locally. But now, since PSU did provide her some scholarship, staying local campus for 2 yrs didn’t seem to save too much(`~20K). So you think it’s better to spend the money on PSU engineering, than go to a lower tier school then use the money for graduate school.
@stako555, I don’t know anything about West Chester’s STEM programs, but my son (who’s on full scholarship at Alabama and was accepted to Penn State UP with zero merit $), was not terribly impressed with West Chester’s offerings or the overall feel on the campus. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good for computer science–I just don’t know one way or the other.
I’m guessing Penn State offered your daughter that money for Brandywine because they have such a high volume of kids trying to get into UP and they want strong students like her at their satellite campuses. You’ll likely never know if they would have offered her that merit money for the main campus. They don’t seem to offer many incentives to engineering students at UP since they don’t lack students dying to go there.
The thing with saving money for “graduate school” is that unless you’re talking about professional school (med, vet, dental, law, business, etc.), graduate school in STEM fields should include a stipend to cover tuition if the school is worth attending.
If I were you, I’d compare the two schools very closely to see how the academic offerings compare. How hard is it for someone to transfer to PSU-UP in engineering from WCU after two years? See if you can find that out. Maybe she can have the best of both worlds!
If your daughter can do Penn State (University Park) engineering, yes it’s money well-spent if she has a scholarship or if you can afford it. If you can’t, the situation’s different. It’s not worth getting into more debt than the federal loans.
The Penn State University park program is highly respected and its alumni network -allegedly the largest in the country - will make a lot of difference for your daughter when she’s seeking internships (paid internships!), research positions, and later on, jobs.
West Chester is good (it does the job) but can’t be compared to Penn State UP.
Keep in mind that a girl in CS with even just-decent stats WILL get funding for grad school. So don’t factor that in. Unless your daughter plans to get a CS or CSE degree, then go to law school or med school, grad school in CS will not cost her anything, she’ll likely have tuition covered as well as a stipend.
Penn State Brandywine is a small commuter campus - there’s no housing whatsoever, even student apts off campus. 1,500 students, average GPA 3.02 (weighted), only 61 full-time faculty members teaching undergrads (to understand the enormity of this, ask how many teachers there are in your daughter’s HS…), SAT range 430-530 in CR and writing, 440-550 in math (meaning the top 25% have SAT scores in the low to mid 500s, and 3/4th of the students do not), range of ACT is 18-22 meaning 75% students aren’t college-ready. I didn’t even know they had CS or CSE.
WCU has 14,000 students, average GPA 3.53 (weighted), SAT range is 530-600 (meaning the bottom 25% at West Chester would be the top students at Brandywine).
You can always call and ask if your daughter can start at Penn State UP if she relinquishes her scholarship at Brandywine and starts in the summer (if that’s feasible financially).
I’m really not sure whether Brandywine + certainty of a degree from Penn State is worth it… if your daughter thinks she can do a good job at WCU+ transferring to Penn State, she could spend her first year (or two?) at WCU and transfer either after the first year or the second… but probably it’d be preferable to transfer after only one year (ie., on her Fall semester freshmen grades) as to be able to keep up with the UP pace and courses, which are more rigorous than at WCU.
Would that be possible? Or would starting at Penn State in the summer be possible (may help her get acquainted with the campus, make friends, etc.)
Did she get into the Honors College at West Chester? (If she has to apply, she should do so ASAP).
What kind of “graduate school”? Do you mean something like MD or JD school (expensive, but more dependent on GPA than undergraduate school name), or PhD program (only worth attending if funded, but can be dependent on the quality of the major at the undergraduate school).
@MYOS1634 Thanks so much for the information provided. Enlighten to see the difference in GPA and SAT (I was surprised). Yes, my daughter received invitation to the Honor college and had the interview last week. During the interview session, she had the chance to tour the Honor’s dorm and the special honor’s program. After reading your comments, I’ll have to rethink about the PSU 2+2 program. Thanks!
If she got invited to WCU’s Honors Program, I hope she gets in - it’s quite good and selective, and there are definite perks that would make her first year there better than the “regular” WCU.
In addition, you could set the money “saved” aside to pay for schooling at PSU. She could apply in the Spring of the freshman year, or, if that doesn’t work, in the spring of her sophomore year. The value the PSU degree in engineering would have is definitely worth it - the resources, opportunities, and job offerings simply aren’t the same for West Chester, but for her first year or two, Honors Program at WCu would be a pretty good alternative to UP classes.
A downside is that with the 2+2, she’d be guaranteed a seat at UP as long as she does okay at Brandywine (and clearly there wouldn’t be much competition - if she was invited to WCU’s Honors College, she’d likely be bored to death at Brandywine, because the classes there are geared toward their average student, but of course she could be taking 21 credits per semester there and with AP credit might be able to switch campuses faster?) If she goes to WCU, she’ll have to keep her grades up and it’ll keep her under more pressure, since transferring is not guaranteed. In addition, she’ll have to make friends when she transfers. She could see if she can transfer into Shreyer or through Paterno Scholars, so she’d have a small “honors” community at the UP campus.
Was she invited to WCU’s honors program or East Stroudsburg’s (or both?)?
^Comment 16 was to Stakko.
East Stroudsburg Honors isn’t very good. :s It’d be a last resort, but not one I can imagine someone with the stats for Penn State would choose without a compelling reason.
@Decision 1996 hasn’t returned though.
Sorry, @MYOS1634, I got confuzzled! 