Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Top Questions

The first year classes are mostly huge, like 300+. This is weird to some I guess, I'm personally from a tiny school and it's really no big deal. Some classes are attendance based, most aren't but lecture notes aren't always posted online so attendance is sort of important. Check ratemyprofessor.com for info on classes, there really is no set teaching style or difficulty because there are like 100 departments and like 20 professors within each department. My department, geography, is amazing. It's small and everyone's friendly and outgoing. Before geography I was in engineering which I found to be the opposite, huge and professor's were hardasses.

Most professors will not know your name. Once you enter into your major and have some smaller classes then professors might know your name. In large classes (300+), participation is rare. Industrial Engineering at PSU is a highly ranked program with nice facilities and good professors.

Big classes can be intimidating. You WILL have classes 100 Thomas and the Forum building, which are big lecture halls. The forum can typically seat between 300-450 students, and 100 Thomas seats around 750. That said, big classes aren't as bad as they're cracked up to be. In face, I really like them. First of all, taking attendance is impossible, so if it's a blow-off class, like most of the intro-classes are, then you don't really have to go all that often. And if you really want to get to know the professor, then they all hold office hours multiple times every week, where you can go to get extra help. Overall, you're going to have a mix of tougher classes and easier classes. From what I hear, the science-intensive majors (read: engineering, physics, chem, bio, etc.) are much more challenging than most of the business classes, which are tougher than a lot of liberal arts and communications classes. This being said, you're going to have easy and hard classes regardless of your major. Another thing to note is that although the classes are fairly standardized, the tests aren't. Some professors are MUCH easier than others, so I'd use ratemyprofessor.com as a guide before scheduling.

Since Penn State is a huge university, it really is up to you how well you get involved in your academics. No one but is going to be holding you accountable here. Everything depends; what major you're in, how involved you get in your classes, what sorts of things you're interested in. You can do as much or as little as you want to get by here. Still, there's a sense of community here in that we all have to be somewhat intelligent since we were all accepted at a high-ranking university. The English department I know first-hand. I love what I study, and that's why I study it. I'm not driven by money or prestige, and I think that separates liberal arts majors from the rest. We're genuinely passionate about what we study. I've gotten to know only a couple of professors outside of class, but not because the others didn't give me their time. I had plenty of opportunity to meet with professors outside of class, and I know they really like meeting and getting to know their students. The English major is all about learning how to communicate, how to form arguments reasonably and for the sake of classic study. I did feel like there were some artsy-fartsy types in my major, who wore barets to class and thought they were entirely too complicated. But there were also plenty who were grounded and down-to-earth (if that can be said about an English major). There's lots of variations of study and in people in the English major. Again, it's what you make of it.

Class size depends on the department and whether the class is a general education requirement. The foreign language classes and English classes are almost always very small. Most of the other gen. ed. classes are huge, some easily reaching 700 people. My department is the largest department in the College of the Liberal Arts. That being said, it is actually on the small side. This allows us to get to know the faculty, which is beneficial for future endeavors. I know people in science, engineering, and business have a much more difficult time getting to know the faculty because of the shear size of the respective departments. The general education requirements are somewhat excessive, but at the same time, I really do think I know more than some of my friends at other schools. Although you may think these requirements are ridiculous, they can help you in your actual major.

Some classes, obviously, are very big. Some are small. Depends on the class and its level - intro courses tend to be large. Students do a reasonable amount of studying but nothing outrageous. The lack of intellectual debate on campus is very obvious - those who are actually interested in learning and thinking find themselves distanced, somehow, from their fun-loving counterparts who go to class and take exams, but couldn't care less about actually broadening their intellect. PSU's academic requirements are rather easy to meet - anyone with a social security number can basically be accepted to a commonwealth campus. And while the school pretends to make a huge fuss about main campus, those same D+ high school average, beer guzzling, 20-and-never-lived-anywhere-but-with-mom types still make it down to University park their junior year. Even requirements for freshmen aren't that demanding. A 1200 on one's SATs isn't that impressive. I certainly feel that if you dig into your courses and work hard on mastering the material, not just cramming it in for an exam, the education here is solid and will prepare you for the future.

My friends refer to my major (English) as fake, but I don't think that's true. My science and math major friends have their problem sets and lab reports, but I have fifteen page research papers and over twenty books to read- all the way through. My books aren't textbooks that I have to read bits and pieces of. I have 400 page novels that I have to read all of, sometimes in a week or less. My course work can be just as rigorous, just on a different scale.

All of my current professors at least know my face. There is only one that does not know my name, but she commented in class the other day that I always ask great questions. Just as it is with the social aspect, Penn State academics are what you make of them. You can choose to participate or not participate as you see fit at Penn State. The professors encourage you to want to do better and to try and work hard, but the intrinsic motivation really mainly comes from one place. My favorite classes by far have been those in which I have had a pre-existing interest in the content and those in which the professors have made the content interesting and engaging. I have particularly enjoyed HD FS classes and Psych classes here at Penn State. I also had a spectacular Sociology class with Dr. Silver. I actually honors optioned her class and learned so much that will be helpful to me in my career! Another professor that I've had along the way was Bonnie Osif. She was a wonderful teacher as she made each class period very personal. I have had the pleasure of meeting with her outside of classes to discuss other aspects of life, such as a shared interest in the Czech Republic. I love when professors develop a personal relationship with their students. It makes the academic experience far more valuable in my opinion.

Classes tend to be large but once you get into your core major classes, the classes are smaller. As a freshman I was a little intimidated at first by the huge lecture halls-there were people sitting on the floors and in the hallways because they couldn't get a seat. But that's unusual. It can also be a challenge scheduling classes because there are so many students, but if you really need to take a certain class, you can almost always convince administration to let you join. Almost all of the teachers I have had have been really good and really know what they are talking about. My favorite class so far has been sociology race relations. My teacher was the most open-minded individual I have ever met and encouraged this kind of thinking in us, as well as active participation on the part of the students. We even took a genetics test and I found out that I was 2{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} African! I find that my major of public relations is quite easy and I seldom have a lot of work to do. My friends that are business majors or science oriented majors on the other hand, have a much larger course load it seems. The business school is great at PSU, and it is known for its art and architecture department.

Academics at Penn State are tough. Do not come here expecting to not do a lot of work. Most courses during freshman year are very large, and interaction with professors is almost non-existent unless you literally hunt them down. As you get farther into your major though, class sizes become much smaller and interaction with professors is a regular occurrence. My major is meteorology, which is a top-notch and extremely difficult department. I have heard from other majors that they have less work, but no matter what you study at Penn State, expect a challenge!