<p>Penn State Honors program/ college requires approx. a 1450/1600 SAT and is largely math/science/quant. oriented. (Not exclusively, though.) A Penn State honors student usually qualifies for the most elite schools in the nation. The PSU honors program started out as a research based and oriented program. If you want a massive state school atmosphere and you know what you want to study then PSU’s honors program is good. Pitt’s honors program grants a philosophy degree after completion of a thesis. Pitt’s honors is better because it is available to a wider cross-section of students and requires a thesis. It is hard to critique Penn State because one out of every 6 or 7 degree holders in the U.S. went to PSU and critics get bombarded with emotionally charged responses. I have dozens of friends who graduated PSU and loved it. If you can get into PSU’s honors program, you can get into almost any school. PSU has a large communications dept. Syracuse University has a great communications school. The Newhouse School of Communications is a much better option for those wishing to study communications. PSU is a very heavy party school–which can be fine if that is a large part of what you are seeking in college-- my friends loved it and all graduated within 4 years.</p>