Full disclosure here - my husband and I are PITT grads from almost 30 years ago but many of our friends and some of my husbands family are PSU grads so we are laughing to ourselves that PSU has come onto our radar. We always joked about PSU being its own planet. Since this C Confidential conversation came about only in the last couple of days, even my son has started to rethink the idea of PSU Altoona for name recognition. He has some LDs so he has to work so strenuously to get a B. I think his efforts and the results that show for it have been the most painful aspect. That leads me back to our focus on smaller schools. Personally, I think he would be best at PSU Altoona for all 4 years - for no other reason than it is much smaller than main campus. Unless he changes a lot, I could seriously see him lost in the shuffle at main campus, and most importantly, he is finally learning to advocate for himself, but it took until his 11th grade year to wake up and fully accept that he needs to see teachers after school for help and it will take him 3 or 4 times to get a concept vs 1 or 2 times for someone else. I think convincing him that there are ways to get the education right for him with college name recognition is attainable.
@MYOS16634 thank you for the additional NY suggestions. I started looking at the SUNY schools last week
and it seemed to be like what you wrote. There isn’t any one of them that is a main campus and I checked out the
SUNYs you listed. Some of them are in pretty cold regions.
West Chester is on our list and one to visit so that is a focus school as well.
@japsmom that is very good to know regarding your son. I really like the idea that PSU main campus is attainable, I just don’t know if my son would be able to make it there academically. A diploma from PSU Altoona is a PSU diploma, correct? I always thought so.
I think you are right, as PITT branch campuses did. When I was at main campus PITT, I seem to remember meeting students who moved to main campus from the branches. Regarding the finances, yes we do know that PSU is merely an in-state school for my son, but it is not a “state” school.
PSU diplomas don’t say what campus you graduate from, they just say Penn State, so even if he stays at Altoona for all 4 years, it’ll still be a PSU degree like the ones at UP.
^I don’t think so. In particular, the transcript, which you (may) have to send for jobs, indicates the campus. But Psu Altoona is a respected university even if it’s not ‘the’ Penn state. In addition, branch campus to main campus means you do graduate from Penn State (the/ up) and have access to its big alumni network.
I suppose it doent matter,at lesst at this point.
I am just so pleased that he has a safety school with a lot more merit and potential for matching what he is looking for.
I emailed PSU Altoona regarding the diploma / campus
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your email inquiry. A student receives a Penn State education regardless of the campus he or she selects. The diploma will list the degree and the academic college which houses that degree.
Take care,
Sheri
Sheri A. Harper
Assistant Director of Admissions
Penn State Altoona
3000 Ivyside Park
Altoona, PA 16601
There have been discussions as to whether a PSU Altoona degree will state Altoona - my understanding is it does not, but the transcript does. However, as stated above, PSU Altoona is a good school on it’s own. A PSU education is just that. The class requirements do not change from campus to campus.
The Pitt branches work a little differently in that they are all also 4 year schools. They are smaller as well and you CAN go to Pitt main after a year or two depending on your major and grades. It’s not a transition as in PSU, but an actual campus ‘transfer’. I live in Pittsburgh, but went to PSU because too many people I knew were going to Pitt, lol. I did go to Pitt for my second degree however. I will say, the campus environment could not be more different between the two. One is very city, the other is a more traditional college campus setting with a walkable town etc…It all depends on what you like.
Bumping this thread because it’s the only one on CC discussing “Penn College” in the last five years!
About my kid: I *wish" he son had a 20 ACT! (The national average is 21, BTW, not 34 as CC’ers would have you believe. )
My son was hoping to get into a free, private trade school near us but was denied for the second and last time (will be too old to apply next year). He really wants to study landscape design and there are so few programs available here in PA. Penn College has a very good reputation among those who know about these things, but the price sure is steep for a trade school. At least we’re looking at a two-year program, but it’s still a little scary since it’s open enrollment, which means they don’t bother to determine if your kid can hack the academics beforehand. My son’s only shot is at open-enrollment schools, so I’m going to require him to take some classes at the local community college to demonstrate he has the willingness and ability to do college work. Even if those credits aren’t transferable (and I assume as with anything Penn State-related they won’t be), I still think it would be good prep for him.
When he contacted admissions a while back, he got the impression that it was a pretty active (and traditional) campus experience, so hearing it’s a suitcase school is concerning. I guess I was hoping that because it fills a pretty important niche here in the state there would be students there from all across PA. I don’t know what he really expects (or wants), but with an older brother at Bama and friends at PSU-UP, I think he now believes he needs that experience too.
If anybody else has any opinions about the PCT or the landscape programs specifically, I’d love to hear!
The truth is there are a lot of viable options for students who want a traditional college education. For someone who wants to go into the trades? Very few affordable options (especially at not-for-profit institutions) and NOWHERE to get any reliable information.
@LucieTheLakie Did your son ever consider not going to college and just apprenticing with a landscaper? I come from a very large family of landscapers, uncles, cousins, nephews, extended family. All with their own business, all successful and none with formal landscape education. They just learned from other landscapers or each other. I know landscapers are always looking for help also as my son was going to to this for the summer for fun. Just a thought if you didn’t want to spend the money or think he can’t get through college classes.
@japsmom, yes, absolutely. And we’ve talked about that a lot and, frankly, that may end up being his only option.
He does a fair amount of landscaping work in our neighborhood now and could certainly apply to work for some local landscapers.But he is SAYING he wants to “go to college” too. I think going through the process (twice) of applying to the private trade school (and having very unrealistic expectations about his odds of getting admitted) kind of put him on the “college track” in his own mind. He has taken the full offering of non-credit horticulture classes at our local community college, which theoretically has prepared him to take the Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturist Exam. I don’t know if that’s worth anything or not, but any credential seems better than none to me.
The other issue is learning to run the business side of things. That is one area that the private trade school really emphasizes and is probably the reason it takes three years to earn an associate’s degree there. They are the gold standard for tradesmen in our area (and I do mean “men” because they don’t accept women), and I think my son compares everything against that standard.
The test costs $125 to take, and the study guide is $75 (!). An excellent investment, I suppose, if it does the job to prepare applicants, and certainly less expensive than taking six community college classes, but I’m trying to figure out if the certification holds any actual weight in the state or anywhere else.
I never heard of the PCH program but I just looked at it and it sounds like it would definitely be useful. I do know from family members that running the business end of landscaping is more challenging. Maybe your son can get a business certificate or just take some business classes at a community college to get that college experience.
Was the trade school he was trying to get into a vo-tech associated with his high school? Back in the day, I went to vo-tech but I went after I graduated high school. I had to pay but it was much less expensive than any other school I had looked at. Is that an option for your son? Also, we have an excellent vo-tech near our home and my husband has taken so many courses there as an adult. He took carpentry, electrical, and plumbing. I can’t recall how long the courses were but he highly recommends it to anyone. He works in the finance field but he is excellent at those three skills now because of the vo-tech program.
My son graduated from high school last year, @japsmom. He did attend the technical high school in our county for a year (what we called “vo-tech” when I was in HS), but unfortunately they eliminated the landscaping program before he was able to complete it.
The trade school he wanted to attend is a very small private institution that grants associate degrees in a number of trades. It was founded by a famous Philadelphia Quaker about 130 years ago. It’s now run more like a private military boarding school (a bit of an irony since Quakers are pacifists), but you have to have completed high school to attend.
His vo-tech instructor was actually a landscaping graduate of that private school, and he lost his job at the technical high school when they eliminated the landscaping program. He’s a GREAT guy and really influenced my son. (The instructor is in grad school now, at Penn State, I believe. )
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