<p>@IH8PSU, do you know anything about the Sapphire Program that Smeal offers? I’m debating whether to apply and whether it’s worth my time.</p>
<p>It must even be harder for the 2+2 kids</p>
<p><<i am=“” still=“” not=“” comfortable=“” with=“” a=“” student=“” telling=“” others=“” to=“” stay=“” away=“” from=“” psu=“” because=“” of=“” the=“” states=“” laws=“” on=“” illegal=“” drugs.=“”>></i></p><i am=“” still=“” not=“” comfortable=“” with=“” a=“” student=“” telling=“” others=“” to=“” stay=“” away=“” from=“” psu=“” because=“” of=“” the=“” states=“” laws=“” on=“” illegal=“” drugs.=“”>
<p>Or complaining because the bars take the drinking age seriously.</p>
</i>
<p>@ Sax</p>
<p>Yes, but the law isn’t for drug SALES, it is for drug DELIVERY.</p>
<p>“Drug delivery is merely the transfer of an illegal drug from one person to another. It does not necessarily involve a drug sale. The simple sharing of marijuana between friends, a common scenario among college students, constitutes a drug delivery. If this offense occurs within a school zone, the alleged offender faces a possible two-year prison sentence.”
(source: Masorti & Sullivan P.C., statecollegelawyers.com)</p>
<p>Or, in the case of story #2 that I told above:</p>
<p>“Often times friends think they are helping friends by securing some bit of marijuana for them. When the marijuana is handed from one friend to another it is a delivery which could result in a felony criminal charge. It does not matter that the person handing the marijuana to their friend is not making any money on the transaction.”
(source: the link in your post)</p>
<p>The two stories that I relayed in my previous post should demonstrate pretty clearly how local authorities use a very loose interpretation of what constitutes a “drug delivery” or “intent to distribute”. </p>
<p>Since you seem determined to rebut me on this issue, regardless of my firsthand experience and your lack thereof, I’ll tack-on another story about an acquaintance who was charged under this law despite never dealing drugs:</p>
<p>Freshman year one of my good friends, who I’ll call “Rob” was smoking in a dorm room with some of his friends from high school. The dorm room belonged to his friend who I will refer to as “Bill”. The RA smelled it and called to police, who showed-up at his door. There were 4 people inside the room, all of whom were visibly stoned. The police conducted an extremely thorough search of the room and of their persons, which turned up a bag of weed and some rolling papers in Bill’s pockets and nothing else. The other three students, including Rob, were referred to Judicial Affairs, but were not arrested because even though they were clearly stoned, they were not in possession of anything illegal.
Bill on the other hand was charged with felony distribution in a school zone because he had shared his bag with his friends. From what my friend later told me, Bill was able to get out from under the charge by introducing an undercover cop to his dealer.</p>
<p>Almost a full year later, Rob was sharing an apartment with 3 other guys and one of those guys came home blackout drunk one night, and apparently found a bike in the hallway of the apartment building. He apparently rode the bike around his floor and then into his apartment. The next day, while the Rob and his roommates were out at breakfast, the State College Police entered the apartment on the grounds that surveillance footage showed the stolen bike being taken into the apartment. </p>
<p>They saw the bike in the living room as soon as they entered the apartment, but they decided to enter Rob’s bedroom regardless (the bedroom door was closed and locked. The landlord let them in), where they found a glass pipe on his desk. The officer took the pipe and left his business card.</p>
<p>When they tried to charge Rob with possession of drug paraphernalia in a school zone, his parents retained the services of the best defense attorney in the area, who argued that the police had no right to begin entering locked bedrooms once the bike was discovered in the living room. Especially because the surveillance footage clearly indicated that it was Rob’s roommate, and not Rob himself, who had stolen the bike.</p>
<p>The police response… “Rob is on the University’s ‘suspicion of marijuana possession list’.”</p>
<p>So in other words, the fact that he had been referred to judicial affairs the previous year for smoking in a dorm room was used by police to attempt to justify entering his bedroom without a warrant. He was never charged with any crime in connection with the previous incident and it is downright scary that the University and local police keep a list of people who are under “suspicion of marijuana possession” and that they believe that being on this list gives the police carte blanche to conduct warrentless searches of private residences.</p>
<p>The lawyer hired by Rob’s parents in this case not only got the case dismissed, but also got Rob’s family a letter of apology from the State College Police department after he threatened to have a lawsuit filed and go after the badges of the officers involved in the search. I do wonder what would have happened to Rob in this case though if his family had not had the means to retain the most expensive lawyer in the area.</p>
<p><<“I am still not comfortable with a student telling others to stay away from PSU because of the states laws on illegal drugs. The poster is saying he doesn’t like PSU in large part because of their stance on underage drinking and illegal drug use.”>></p>
<p>Not largely because of those factors. I believe that I’ve listed numerous factors in this thread that are of much greater importance than those issues. You are just focusing on those issues so that you can take the moral high-ground and dismiss my views on the school as a whole.</p>
<p>We are under no obligation to agree with your views.</p>
<p>hey you out there! This essay is my 2nd draft, I am new to writing essays and I need your input. please grace me with your wisdom.</p>
<p>Since I was born, my family struggled to put food on the table. My parents come from third world countries; Nicaragua and Cuba, where their wealthy families lost everything to unethical and criminal based governments. My parents had not the opportunity to educate themselves beyond high school, as they were put to work from an early age. Before meeting, my parents worked extremely hard to come to the promising land of United States, where they had the bliss of falling in love and procreating my sisters and I. They sacrificed much of their own wants to satisfy their children needs and desires. Perhaps my sisters and I were not able to have fancy toys and the latest fashionable clothing but we were blessed with never having suffered from food or education starvation. I have learned so much from their struggle. I wish they would not have to go through it any longer, therefore I started working my senior year of high school while still attending school and maintaining passing grades. I was not aware of the many scholarship opportunities for high school students so I signed up for the college that warmly accepted me without them, Miami Dade College. My dream is to become a professional pilot! Miami dade Eig Watson school of aviation had the perfect program for me which allowed me to stay living at home because the college is so conveniently close. Many government grants helped me with the beginning courses, full time work and college courses kept me busy and on my toes for my future accomplishments. Many people along the way recommended I reconsidered my career of choice, for them piloting was a manly career and would take much more of me as a woman to prove myself in success. I was advised to follow a more “promising” major such as nursing. I felt so strongly on following my dream so I kept working on getting the best grades to raise my GPA while working and saving as much as I could for my educational needs and to help my parents at home. I devoted myself to complete my career as I hope I could make my parents proud of me and their hard work. I gave up many fun outings with friends in the means to keep my job and education. Two months ago I reached my savings to six thousand dollars and I was able to complete my private pilot’s license. Besides the college and major theory credit courses, the certificate licenses are the most expensive to achieve. As I attained my first license, into a career seemingly impossible by many and due to illogical dispositions, my parents hard work truly felt rewarding and their hearts filled with happiness! Allowing their offspring to enjoy the virtue of education by following the career path in which they will be great at because they love. By far that was my greatest accomplishment; my first big step into my dream career and the beautiful smile from my parents whom well deserve it. Looking back at my opportunity cost I realized that the devotion I pledged into my priorities in education and helping my family improve may have not been any easy yet the most fulfilling experience. Working hard and helping others, even further more than family alone, can prove to be immensely gratifying! Therefore, I encourage others to try it and work hard towards their dreams, because dreams do come true if you follow them your body, heart, and soul. Towards our future here we come!</p>
<p>@Mainstone</p>
<p><<“One of the things that you posted that really concerns me is that you did not want to tell your parents that you were not happy at PSU. I can absolutely see my son doing the same thing. Is there something your parents could have said or done that could have helped this situation?”>></p>
<p>Honestly, what made that aspect so difficult was the fact that PSU was far-and-away my #1 choice out of high school and that I even turned down scholarship offers to other schools to attend what I thought was my dream school. Because admitting to a mistake of that magnitude is difficult and painful, the optimist in me wanted to believe that things would get better. </p>
<p>For example, at the end of freshman year I assumed that it would be better once I moved into an off-campus apartment with 2 of my friends as opposed to living in the freshman dorms with a random roommate (who was a really nice guy, but we had nothing in common and he mostly just stayed in the room and played videogames)</p>
<p>I would just stress to your son that it’s important to put himself out there and make an effort to get involved, but that if he feels like it isn’t the place for him, then he should seriously consider transferring rather than just hoping that things will miraculously improve. Sometimes things just aren’t what we expect them to be, and if you keep setting yourself up for disappointment by hoping that things will change, then you will wind-up with a lot of regrets. </p>
<p>Also, let him know that it’s much better to go through the difficulties of transferring if he is unhappy than to try to stick-it-out at a school that is not a good fit. Transferring is an intimidating prospect because it means starting completely over at a new school as a sophomore or junior and that can be a scary thought for a student who has already met with disappointment at one school.</p>
<p>@slipjig</p>
<p><<“We are under no obligation to agree with your views.”>></p>
<p>Did I ever say you were? In fact, I said quite specifically:</p>
<p>“I am not looking for sympathy, looking to incite action against PSU or looking for anyone to agree with me.”</p>
<p>@sbrtth </p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t know much about that program except that my freshman year roommate was in it.</p>
<p>@mainstone</p>
<p>pt. 2</p>
<p><<“Now that you are a senior and looking back is there anything you can suggest to incoming freshman to make the experience better? Join clubs? Find a girlfriend etc.?”>></p>
<p>Getting involved in club and intramural sports is definitely a good idea if your son has any interest in athletics. I met a lot of people through playing in the intramural ice hockey league. If athletics aren’t his thing, clubs could serve the same purpose. </p>
<p>As far as dating opportunities go, the hook-up culture is very big here, but most of the people I’ve known who had real relationships here at PSU were people who had dated since high school or were from neighboring towns. Also, PSU is one of the only non-technical/engineering schools in the country to have a higher percentage of males than females, and frankly a lot of the in-state girls are only interested in guys from their area. </p>
<p>If your son is more the type of guy who’s into being in a relationship as opposed to going out every weekend and trying to hook-up, he might have some difficulties here. I had steady girlfriends all through high school and also managed to find myself an amazing girlfriend during my time abroad who I’m still with 2 years later (she’s a non-psu student). But during my pre-abroad time at PSU I had a pretty abysmal track record with the ladies here.</p>
<p><<“Also were there any schools (could you name them) that you now wish you had attended instead?”>></p>
<p>I’ll list a few that immediately come to mind:</p>
<p>Ithaca College - My brother and several of my friends from abroad went to school here and I’ve always had a great time when I visited.</p>
<p>Connecticut College - I probably would’ve needed a scholarship to go here (or loans) since it costs +50k/year, but some of my best friends from abroad went here and visiting them was always amazing. Their spring weekend, called Floralia, is 100x more enjoyable than any event I’ve ever attended at PSU.</p>
<p>UConn - I don’t think I would have liked UConn that much, since it has a lot of the same big, state-school problems that PSU has, but I figure that if I’m going to go to a school I don’t like, the price may as well be right.</p>
<p>BC/BU/Northeastern - I had a lot of friends who went to these schools and loved them. Boston is a great city to be a college student in.</p>
<p>NYU - Being from an area of CT that’s essentially an NYC suburb, I have a few friends who went here and I’ve spent a lot of time in the city and although I think I’d probably prefer Boston, going to school in NYC would’ve been cool too. </p>
<p>There are others, but it basically boils down to this: I would have chosen either a small liberal-arts college or a city school. Studying abroad in a major European city really opened my eyes to how much I was missing out on by going to school in the middle of cow country.</p>
<p>@JakeSill</p>
<p>Are you an out-of-state student who is doing the 2+2 plan or in-state?</p>
<p><"You are just focusing on those issues so that you can take the moral high-ground and dismiss my views on the school as a whole. "></p>
<p>Yep, and we are welcome to do so.</p>
<p>@Slipjig</p>
<p><<
<"You are just focusing on those issues so that you can take the moral high-ground and dismiss my views on the school as a whole. "></p>
<p>“Yep, and we are welcome to do so.” >></p>
<p>Sure. You’re welcome to do that. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not stupid and it doesn’t mean that I won’t call you out for said stupidity.</p>
<p>Let’s put essentially the same argument into a different context so that you can see how ridiculous it is:</p>
<p>Me: I hate my job. My boss is a tyrant, there’s a 2.5hr commute, the work is monotonous and the coffee here sucks.</p>
<p>You: The fact that your office has bad coffee is no reason to trash your place of employment. If coffee is so important to you then maybe you need to re-evaluate your priorities.</p>
<p>Focusing on the one element of someone’s argument that is most vulnerable to attack and presenting that as their ENTIRE argument is just silly.</p>
<p>@IH8PSU</p>
<p>I agree with your opinions of how PA is using a loophole to incarcerate seemingly “innocent” college students that are just trying to have a good time, and apparently and no one else’s expense. A minor drug possession charge definitely doesn’t seem like something that should be a felony.</p>
<p>However…please understand that the people who are seriously arguing with you about this are parents. Imagine being the parents of your said friend who was caught smoking weed in that dorm room. Realize that even tough their arguments might not make sense, the idea that parents who are paying for their children to get and education, and don’t want them to spend their time using drugs…has some validity.</p>
<p>Also, please consider the possibility that even tough X percentage of people are involved in the same illegal activity, doesn’t make that activity legal. By using illegal drugs, people do risk incarceration. Life isn’t always fair, but lets not pretend a person caught smoking weed in a dorm room is “innocent” of all wrongdoing.</p>
<p>This is the first time I have ever heard anything negative about PSU and I know a ton of people who have attended. If you can’t find a group of friends in a student body of over 40000, that’s on you. You don’t have to fit into the majority to have an enjoyable experience.</p>
<p>The blind Penn State fanaticism in this thread is crazy. I had a great experience overall at PSU and do not wish I had gone anywhere else, but can still recognize the merits of what IH8PSU is saying. None of his points are entirely without merit. The big question is how serious each of them is and whether the positives of Penn State outweigh the negatives (I believe they do).</p>
<p>When you come on a forum like this, don’t you want to get a good view of some of the negatives of the schools you’re considering? It’s so easy to learn about the positives from more official channels.</p>
<p>I haven’t read through this entire thread, but wanted to jump in and say I agree with the point that there are probably quite a few unhappy PSU students whose parents are totally unaware of how their kids feel. Due to our situation, we are on campus more than most parents so we probably get a better sense of this. Just off the top of my head I can think of several students who are (or were) very unhappy and I suspect their parents thought they were having a blast.</p>
<p>I have pointed out to several school administrators that PSU really doesn’t have good systems or resources in place to spot and hopefully help students who may be having a tough time fitting in and who might become unhappy/depressed. </p>
<p>I realize it’s such a large university that it’s impossible to keep a close eye on each and every student, but it would be nice if there were a way to at least look out for those who might be especially at risk for having trouble finding their social footing (as in, new students who are from out of the area and don’t know anyone else at PSU and don’t belong to an athletic team or other group that would provide a built-in social system). </p>
<p>I think PSU’s large size can often actually work against kids who have trouble finding their social footing. The number of students can be overwhelming, and it can often appear as if everyone else has lots of friends or is having a great time, which only makes the shy/introverted kids feel even lonelier. </p>
<p>As to what parents can do, I think it boils down to communicating and, especially, listening. It’s great to be enthusiastic about the school, but be careful not to go so overboard that your child may be reluctant to mention any problems he or she may be having.</p>
<p>I’m an out-of-state student who is doing the 2+2 plan</p>
<p>psubmb - Of course students and parents need to understand both the pros and cons of the schools being considered. That’s a critical part of making an informed decision. And thanks to the internet, there are a variety of ways that students can find these things out. </p>
<p>This forum is one such source, and had IH8PSU written a “Things incoming freshmen should know about college” or “Things I wish I had known before starting college” type of post - that would have been fine, welcome, and appropriate. </p>
<p>But his opening comments were - “As a current senior at PSU-UP, I feel obligated to warn prospective students, stay away from PSU…I’m going to run through a brief list of reasons why you should go anywhere else besides PSU.” That’s not a helpful, informative approach. It’s a targeted attack. Basically, he’s had a lousy 4 years and wants to make sure everyone knows about it.</p>