UCONN or Penn State?

jec7483
Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:44:15 +0000

DreamingOutLoud, I am sorry that you didn’t get the money and are staying in state. I think you are making a mistake, but it is all about what fits best for you. I believe you should visit Penn State UP. I do hope you take the time to be thorough with your decision. If you visit both, I believe the decision will be easy.

Omniscient1,

“I’m sure that you’re a bright kid, but you look too closely at the rankings. Rankings are only important when applying to grad school, believe me.”

Rankings are important. They compile the resources, academics, professor ratings, and other parts of a university that set it apart from other schools. Penn State is #47, while UConn is #66. The difference of 19 is the same difference between Tufts. There is a difference academically between Tufts and Penn State UP, just as there is a difference between Penn State UP and UConn. Just as the difference between Tufts and Penn State is not negligible, neither is that between Penn State UP or UConn. If you went to Harvard, which I doubt you did, then I would listen to you downplaying the rankings, but someone from a lower ranked school downplaying the rankings is not surprising.

“I will agree that networking is very important, but when you compare the networking of a UConn and a Penn State, the difference is negligible”

Penn State is known for having the largest dues paying alumni in the country. The alumni connections of Penn State stretch across the country, and are incredibly strong up and down the east coast. The connections with going to UConn are very strong, as long as intend to stay in Connecticut after graduation. Even Princeton review reiterates this when they say, "Students report that the typical UConn undergraduate “is a Connecticut resident”. At Penn State, you will meet students from many of the surrounding states and from all over the country.

“… unless you go to an Ivy League caliber school, you will not see too much of a difference… take it from me, I’m sure that I have more experience with this stuff than you do.”

I am bright enough to have learned several things. The most important thing I have learned is that age is just a number. A young idiot will grow up to be an old idiot with experience. While I am sure you are not an idiot, experience and wisdom are not one and the same. Take it from me, as I am also in the working world, a lower level job at a top level investment firm job hardly qualifies you to give life lessons.