UDel vs Penn State (Univ Park) vs Rutgers

Parents Forum
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<p>I guess it depends where you live. For whatever reason, though, we have a really bad rep with Pennsylvanians, specifically in the Philly area (although not with employers, thankfully). I’ve never understood why. Temple is pretty popular (and increasingly so) in my area, 20 minutes away, although third or fourth most popular state school behind PSU, Pitt and Maryland. So in terms of students’ perceptions, it ultimately depends what suburb you live in. We do seem to have a good rep with students from Philly itself.</p>

<p>Go Owls.</p>

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<p>Hey, JHS, I’m sorry to hear about the two you know who went to Penn State. I know many…both current students and alumni. Happy ones for the most part.
It’s clear that YOU DON’T LIKE PENN STATE. But really…I don’t think it’s fair to judge a school on the sour experience of TWO students you know. My son is in the honors program and some of these kids are really impressive…as are some of his friends outside of that program. And my son works hard …knows his professors well…and is doing well. His friends range from jocks to vocal arts majors to science or engineering geeks. There really is a lot of variety. </p>

<p>We have horror stories in our community from almost every school. Kid down the street hates BC and withdrew. Other neighbor’s d went to Cornell and transferred after one year. It’s not enough to go on. If you want to check a school out, reach beyond that. Visit the school. Ask lots of folks. Make your own assessment as to fit. Personally, I don’t believe in stereotyping or blacklisting schools.</p>

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<p>Just to be clear, I don’t dislike Penn State. I don’t know enough to like it, and I’m not hiding the lack of depth of what I know. And I wouldn’t describe the experiences of the kids I know as “sour” – more “ambivalent”, some very good things and some not-so-good things. As is likely to be the case for many students at any large institution, even if there are many other students with unambivalently great experiences. I can’t tell what the ratio is, and my sample size is too small even to speculate.</p>

<p>I know a number of impressive engineers who went there longer ago, and swear by it. People refer to the main campus as “Happy Valley”. It’s not as if Penn State lacks champions.</p>

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<p>^^^ OK…fair enough…but I do think you’re stereotyping. Just like some folks unfairly stereotype a place like Temple. Small-town mindset is broad brush description and doesn’t fit a large place like PSU. It puts the kids in a box. They’re not in a box…they’re all VERY different.</p>

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<p>While I hate Penn State very, very, very much, everyone I know who goes there loves it. It’s basically a cult.</p>

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<p>Jolynne Smyth wrote:</p>

<p>Just to throw in – son got into both PSU & Rutgers (didn’t like UDel after a visit) and the PSU out of state tuition was just exhorbitant. Rutgers instate was still not that much of a deal, but it was about half of PSU. He ended up going out of state to another school w/full-tuition scholarship, but did closely consider Rutgers & PSU. Money was a big, big factor. </p>

<p>Jolynne, my daughter is a freshman at PSU. Rutgers for instate would have been about 23K and PSU is about 35K. So it’s about 12K more for PSU. Rutgers isn’t half of what PSU costs (unless your son was going to commute, or he had a scholarship…but that’s not comparing equally).
Just wanted to clear that up. Congrats to your son on his scholarship!!</p>

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<p>My husband and I are both RU alumni and my son got into RU honors and got a good scholarship from them. But he ended up going to American with a good scholarship.</p>

<p>Let me describe the Rutgers campuses from both an alumni, a parent and also a frequent visitor. (We live 10 minutes away and I visit New Brunswick alot for various reasons- theater, good restaurants, friends.)</p>

<p>The five campuses are: </p>

<p>College Ave (the original Rutgers College site - there are a core of five straight blocks of college buildings - the closest to town are the original old buildings which no one uses for classes any more, next is the block where most College Ave classes are held - Scott Hall is the big lecture hall and Vorhees has an art gallery. the third block is not for the college - it is most buildings for NB Theological Seminary- the one that you curse when you have to walk past them- the next block has most of the COllege ave residence hall and the dining hall, and the final block has the library. On one side of this five block area are the 3 tall river dorms and a park and on the other side are New Brunwick urban environment, which includes the fraternity buildings plus a newer Student Center.) Yes, the housing stock is run down and close together and students pile into these old buildings in order to be able to walk to class and activities
But the train to NY is one block away - 45 minute ride- and students have access to internships in NY. The Business school claims to ahve a good success rate at that.</p>

<p>Cook and Douglass are very close together - DOuglass used to be a stand alone college for women but was just folded into the College of Arts and Sciences and is now just a residential campus for women and anyone can take classes there. WOmen who I know who went there raved about the closeness of the community. Dorms are Old houses, but are well kept. Cook has newer dorms and aprtment style housing and was originally focussed on Agricultural Sciences. The center of the campus has a beautiful lake. It is on the opposite side of NB from Rutgers College and is a slighly better area.</p>

<p>Busch is across the river from New Brunswick (in Piscataway) and has the Engineering, Math and Sciences concentrated there. It has relatively new dorms, the stadium, the athletic bubble and athletic fields, its own student center. The grounds are well kept.</p>

<p>Livingston is also in Piscataway and also has modern architecture, but is the least visually appealing of hte three.</p>

<p>The area around Busch and LIvingston are suburban houses. </p>

<p>A Student can spend most of their time on any one campus - and as said there are buses that travel between the campuses often. </p>

<p>As an alumni, I can state that the school was too big for me. I felt adrift. But I felt that the Honors program would have addressed my issue if I had been there. </p>

<p>But my DS didn’t want to go there because so many kids from his high school were going there and he didn’t like the busses.</p>

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<p>I live out in the suburbs - between Philly and Harrisburg - more and more kids are choosing Temple and Pitt.
8 or 9 years ago hardly any kids chose Temple and the past couple of years have seen quite a few kids going there and liking it very much.
Our high school is white and fairly “rich”. From what I have seen, the kids who go to Penn State (directly as freshman) tend to be from more conservative families. They emerged from the womb in a Penn State T-Shirt (although I have seen this backfire). The kids who go to Temple are more liberal and seeking an urban and diverse University.<br>
I can see why kids who grew up in Philadelphia or it’s suburbs would not be attracted to Penn State.</p>

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<p>katie–that’s great that your daughter is enjoying PSU! I know the ‘total cost’ figure can vary based on what’s included, etc. (fees, room/board). But, Rutgers lists cost of tution for instate student at $9,546 [Rutgers</a> | Rutgers Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.rutgers.edu/Costs/TuitionAndFees.aspx#1]Rutgers”>http://admissions.rutgers.edu/Costs/TuitionAndFees.aspx#1) while PSU lists costs of tution at $25,134 [University</a> Park, Hershey, Dickinson, and Great Valley Tuition Rates](<a href=“http://tuition.psu.edu/Rates2009-10/UniversityPark.asp#UPNonPA]University”>http://tuition.psu.edu/Rates2009-10/UniversityPark.asp#UPNonPA).</p>

<p>I know Rutgers does have a high figure for ‘fees’ so the lower tuition amt is a bit misleading. I also know I was shocked at the much lower instate fees at other schools (e.g. U of MD) as compared to Rutgers instate. </p>

<p>I think the PSU & other out of state costs (e.g. U of TX, U of Ill) that started as a base of $25k approx for tuition then added $10k for room/board plus add’l fees just threw us over the top – not manageable. Others may find it worth it, though!!</p>

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<p>I guess preference really varies by area. Our local high school (primarily white and quite wealthy) sends abuout 40-50 kids to PSU main each year. In fact, this was a downside for my son, although it didn’t turn out to have any impact at all. A couple each year to the PSU honors program. Some are going to Pitt… in fact it’s getting quite popular. Same with UDEL and UMD. Even WVU is getting a few each year due to free tuition offers. But Temple continues to be unpopular…one or two per year (nothing against Temple, I Like what they’ve done recently!) Drexel, however is gaining in popularity. These are close-in Philly suburb kids. Not country bumpkins, and no not especially conservative as a whole.<br>
I think it’s fun for some people to dump on or pigeon-hole PSU…and yes, perhaps it’s because so many have a cult like attraction to it…even after they graduate. I had a less than favorable impression myself until I visited.</p>

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<p>Hi Jolynne, I see now that we were talking about two different things. You were talking about just tuition but I was talking about total COA. I see the numbers you are citing but when we looked, we included Rutgers fees of $2300 (listed right below the tuition) and we looked at the total COA. That difference between the two schools is 12K. So we are both right, how often does that happen!</p>

<p>Also just wanted to comment about UD.
Their admit rate is about 92% for instate (commitment to Delawareans program) and for out of state about 46%. They have also made a big commitment to meet financial need of all Delawareans and to cap loans for Delawareans at 18K over four years.
Out of state tuition went up $1900 for this fall. About a 9% increase.</p>

<p>[The</a> Review - Students react to 10 percent jump in tuition](<a href=“http://www.udreview.com/news/students-react-to-10-percent-jump-in-tuition-1.427034#5]The”>http://www.udreview.com/news/students-react-to-10-percent-jump-in-tuition-1.427034#5)</p>

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<p>Uh oh … with mention of WVU we’ve broken out of the RU/PSU/UD publics. Well OK, perhaps we should add JMU to the mix. While touring we spoke with a number of students who chose JMU over PSU (in particular). I suspect the differences were distance-from-home and campus culture. If that’s true for the JMU-PSU couple, it’s probably true for other combinations as well. RU never came up on D’s radar. PSU did, and I’d have been very pleased if she’d chosen PSU over UD … but she didn’t.</p>

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<p>Toneranger, just want to let you know I have been reading your posts for a while and have always found them very informative. They were very helpful when my dd was deciding on PSU. Thanks!!</p>

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<p>Katie…thanks…and I’m glad your dd is enjoying PSU. My son has many friends from NJ…and NY and a few from Mass and other states. And…surprise…they’re all enjoying Happy Valley!
And newhope…JMU is quite popular at our local high school. Nice campus…very friendly kids.</p>

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<p>I dont know what to tell you regarding that. I went to a wealthy HS 20 minutes from Center City that is ~80% white and ~60% Jewish, albeit we had people of all ethnic backgrounds, and Temple has always been a popular choice. We’re around 55/43 Democrat/Republican. I guess your school is just different, because I know Temple is popular with all of the suburban Philadelphia HS.</p>

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<p>Hey dion, I have nothing against Temple. I think the kids around here just stereotype it…wrongly…and never visit. Just like some city kids do with PSU. It happens…</p>

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<p>Oh I know, I’m just pointing out how seemingly similar schools in a nearby area can be so different.</p>

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<p>I think the 92% in-state acceptance rate at UDel includes branch campuses and possibly the Associate in Arts articulated-transfer program. But in-state acceptance is an institutional priority and definitely higher than OOS rate.</p>

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<p>basically, if you don’t want to do anything else but Penn State,
then come to Penn State.</p>

<p>EVERYTHING revolves around the school. It’s essentially a school literally in the middle of nowhere (3+ hours from manhattan or philly). </p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong I love the school spirit (just got season tickets WOOT).<br>
But if you’re a city person, go to Rutgers instead. NY and Philly are just a carride away.</p>

<p>I would add a few more comments on the student body as a whole, especially the students from pennsylvania (which makes up 70% of the students). But it won’t be politically/morally right. So I’ll hold off on the public judgement.</p>

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<p>Anybody want to comment on UD kids? Looked only at LACs for my oldest, but youngest is taking a stab at playing a DI sport and Enormous State Universities scare me. Looking for something a little smaller, and although I’m only two states away, I really know nothing about UD. Anyone willing to throw out totally subjective impressions of the student body? (We learned from the first go-round that fitting in with the rest of the kids is pretty important.) (I will go post on the UD thread, but thought I might as well do a mini-highjack on this one.) Thanks!!</p>