<p>First of all, thank you for your ad-hominem attacks, which were not only well-informed, but also completely called-for and very mature. Even from a woman of your advanced years, that display of maturity is surprising and very welcome</p>
<p>As far as not being able to have fun anywhere if you can’t have fun in Happy Valley, I had the time of my life studying abroad, partied my way across Europe, and have had great times visiting friends at their home universities. I also have an extremely tight-knit group of friends from my hometown and we go on roadtrips together frequently and have amazing times.</p>
<p>I did not choose the school simply because of it’s reputation as a party school. That was a factor, yes, but is there really anything wrong with wanting to go to a college that’s known for having great parties? If I just wanted to go to a “party school” there are many that are cheaper and closer to home. </p>
<p>PSU was far and away my #1 choice coming out of high school. So much so in fact that I passed-up scholarship offers to other schools in favor of paying full tuition to attend what I thought was my dream school. I can assure you that I would not have done that just to chase a “party reputation”.</p>
<p>I can understand that some of my posts might come-off as arrogant and judgmental, and I’m fine with that because quite frankly I feel that I am better than this place and I have no problem admitting that.</p>
<p>However I don’t think that any of my posts were rude in any way except for my crack about sunshinesmom’s age, which was in response to calling me “a complete jerk”.</p>
<p>Since you have chosen to write an INCREDIBLY rude post directed at myself, I’ll close with this:</p>
<p>I hope that 2-3 years from now your freshman son tells you that he hates this school. I hope that this place breaks him emotionally in the same way that it broke me. I hope that he decides that he can’t handle one more week here and withdraws like I did. </p>
<p>Then you can get to tell HIM that it’s his fault and that it must be something wrong with HIM that made him hate it here. You can tell HIM that maybe he was too arrogant and judgmental and that that was why his college experience was miserable.</p>
<p>IH8PSU, Perhaps you might want to look into this-- [Student</a> Affairs Counseling & Psychological Services](<a href=“http://www.sa.psu.edu/caps/]Student”>http://www.sa.psu.edu/caps/)
There are more effective ways to deal with bitterness and disappointment than posting on an anonymous forum. Coming to terms with your feelings might help you going forward your life and career. I wish you luck.</p>
<p>IH8PSU - My post was not rude. It was factual - based on what you have written here.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should take 1moremom’s suggestion. There are lots of lessons to be learned from your experience, but I don’t think you have identified them correctly. </p>
<p>My in-state daughter (from the Alabama part of PA) loves Penn State. She is glad to be meeting people not from her high school. She doesn’t party and is able to avoid the party scene. She was very involved in high school sports and activities and finds lots to do at Penn State that doesn’t involve being a racist. She likes her professors and the TAs.<br>
I thought at first the OP was doing the equivalent of drunk-dialing, but I see that he is still posting during the light of day.<br>
I think if the OP is serious, he has a lot more going on in his life that makes him unhappy besides Penn State. Kind of sad, really. Penn State is a wonderful place, and I still have fond memories and life-long friends thirty years later.</p>
<p>Funny that you should suggest that, because prior to withdrawing I actually did start seeing someone within PSU’s counseling and pyschological services department</p>
<p>The counselor I was seeing was actually the one who suggested that I withdraw and attempt to transfer despite being a senior. She told me that it really seemed like the depression I suffer from at PSU is ENTIRELY situational and advised that I leave. This place is seriously toxic to me.</p>
<p>I already stated several times in my previous post that I did withdraw. I tried to transfer, but with my senior standing it would take at least 2 full years to graduate from another school. Not an option financially, so I came back and am tying to finish.</p>
<p>I hope you are secretly a student at a rival Big-10 school who is trying to bash Penn State. Otherwise, you have no excuse for your sob-story about how awful Penn State is and how you were totallly miserable. I’m sorry your college experience was so awful - wait a minute, I’m NOT sorry, because you could have made the most out of your opportunities as a PSU student. I know seven people who go to Penn State, all OOS, and they ALL love it.</p>
<p>You get in big trouble for smoking a joint at Penn State? GOOD. It’s illegal. If you give students a “shame on you” speech and send them off, then they have no motivation to stop doing drugs (which is illegal, did I mention that?)</p>
<p>And the whole “TAs who don’t speak English” situation? Almost every large university faces those problems, and 1/3 of classes like that is better than the 1/2 of classes like that I’ve heard of at other nearby state universities. And that problem affects all students, both in-state and out-of-state.</p>
<p>
Wait, were’nt you just bashing all the in-state students that were friends with people from their hometowns? And since you have such an amazing group of friends, don’t you think all of those other students did too?</p>
<p>
That is an awful reason for chosing a college. No wonder PSU didn’t live up to your expectations as a free-for-all party central.</p>
<p>By now, I don’t even know what to say to your bitterness except “That’s a shame.” You’ve brought all of this upon yourself because you went to school for all of the wrong reasons and had unrealistics expectations about Penn State. Don’t give people advice based on your poor judgement.</p>
<p>P.S. Your username is idiotic. The all-caps and numbers make you look like a 6-year-old.</p>
<p>IH8PSU - What you don’t seem capable of understanding is that your bad experience at Penn State is just that - YOUR bad experience. It is not the experience that thousands upon thousands of other students have had or will have. </p>
<p>As someone suggested earlier, if you want to post about your particular issues with PSU - fine. Title the thread as such and have at it. However, coming on here and making broad over-generalizations that the problems you had are problems that every prospective student can expect to experience and therefore PSU is not even a school that high school students should consider - is just plain silly. </p>
<p>And as pointed out, many of the “issues” you have are the same at most major universities - nothing that is in any way unique to PSU.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, it’s now the end of March - are you graduating in May? Do you have a job lined up? Grad school?</p>
<p>^OP could probably get a job through Penn State’s alumni network, the largest in the world, which has almost a half of a million members. OH WAIT! He “h8s” Penn State. Sorry OP, no job for you.</p>
<p>Whenever a thread starts: “I feel obligated to warn prospective students,” you can be pretty sure it is
-a bitter reject
-a bitter flunk out
-a rather disturbed person
or any combination of the above. Most colleges on CC have at least one thread like this.</p>
<p>Firstly, I was deeply hurt by your comments about my username. I spent countless hours trying to come up with a clever and inventive username that expresses my individuality. It pains me to know that I lack the creativity and verbal skills to come up with something profound and unique like 2chillaxin. Or maybe I just typed in something real quick without giving it any thought. </p>
<p>Based on your logic about PSU’s marijuana policies, students who get caught drinking a beer before their 21st birthday should face felony charges and have their whole lives screwed-up. That’s illegal too, and if we don’t impose the harshest punishments possible then we’re not teaching them a lesson right?</p>
<p>My group of friends all attended different schools all over the East Coast, we all wanted to go out and live independently and not stay in the high-school bubble. The reason I brought that up is because when people see a post like mine they immediately assume that I’m a socially awkward loser who spends +8hrs/day playing World of Warcraft or something. Just pointing out that I have never had any social issues in any other environments except for PSU.</p>
<p>As I already said to a previous poster, the party reputation was a factor that INITIALLY attracted me to this school, but after doing campus tours and the like I fell in love with the place and it was far-and-away my #1 choice.</p>
<p>BTW, since you’re only a HS senior or a freshman based on your 1993 DOB in your profile, I would assume that the 7 OSS students that you know at PSU are all current freshmen who graduated from your HS, correct?</p>
<p>I read your list and like some of the other posters, feel that what you have said does apply to many state schools. The SUNY schools are even more inbred in terms of in state kids. My son is contemplating going to an OOS big school and your points (other than the drinking and drugs points) are issues for us.</p>
<p>@IH8PSU: 4 are freshman, 2 are sophomores, and 1 graduated last year, in case you care. They are not all freshmen who are jaded by the whole “first year of college” experience.</p>
<p>What do you want from all of us CCers? Sympathy? Agreement? A march on State College to protest PSU’s existence?</p>
<p>With 40,000 or so students at Penn State, surely there are one or two that might share your interests? Maybe one or two girls willing to throw themselves at you?</p>
Does anyone think that PSU (or the area around PSU) has a reputation of a diverse environment and student body? They (PSU) might be making an effort to attract more URMs, but the environment is still mostly vanilla.</p>
<p>
More than likely your son attended a mostly white suburban PA high school. Many PA parents consider PSU 13th grade. Don’t know what to do with your son/daughter after graduation? They’re not sure what they want to be when they grow up? Send them to PSU with a non-declared major and pay $30K a year while they figure it out. </p>
<p>Like any state college, PSU can be a great school for those that take advantage of it’s strengths and all that it has to offer. But it is NOT Shangra-La and isn’t a good fit for everybody. Evidently the OP is one of those that should have enrolled elsewhere. Unfortunately after he graduates he will become a member of one of the largest alumni groups in the world and every time he mentions he is a PSU grad he will hear…WE ARE…</p>
<p>vp2247, I’ll post more soon and try to answer your questions. I do want to give useful info to future students. Grabbing some food now then I’ll try to get to your questions.</p>