Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Top Questions

Sorority girls are sluts.

They're stupid and boring.

Sorority girls are easily distinguishable with their tight pants, uggs and north face jackets. THON committees are all about socials and drinking.

We get drunk and crazy everyday, our school is in the middle of no where, every student is smart

Some of the stereotypes about PSU is that it is just a big jock school. People think that everyone plays a sport and only gets ahead due to sports. Also people think that the sports are over-rated at Penn State. Another stereotype is that PSU students are all just spoiled kids who all own a BMW in their driveway. People think Penn State students never study but just party all the time.

Generally, PSU has a reputation as one of the biggest party schools. Anyone who doesn't go here seems to assume that it is the greatest place on earth. Tell anyone you go here and they don't even ask you how you like it; rather, they reply "Oh, well, you're loving your life then." So, people tend to associate PSU with the "pregame harder than other schools party" lifestyle. Also, the fact 40,000 undergrads attend university park, everyone assumes that there is something for everyone.

I think the main stereotype about PSU is that we're a big party school--and that's it. Oh, and we're obsessed with football to an unhealthy degree.

Like most Universities, there are many stereotypes about the student body as well as the overall establishment. The most common stereotype that I've heard is that Penn State's students are obnoxious, belligerent party animals. Another common stereotype is that all the girls are uptight and snobbish and all the guys are cocky and obsessed with lifting weights and picking up girls.

There are quite a few stereotypes about Penn State and Penn State students. The most prominent stereotype, in my opinion, is that the students here only care about drinking and football. Many people question students' priorities, assuming we are more focused on our socials lives than academics.

A lot of people think of Happy Valley as a drinking town with a football addiction. People also think PSU is in the middle of nowhere.

Common misconceptions about Penn State students label them as Greek-life dependant, football-obsessed adolescents who find little time to fit academics into their party-packed schedules. The campus is many times viewed to be too large, causing any kind of unique individual to be lost in the sauce.

Since my initial decision to attend PSU, Sophomore year of H.S., I've heard everything from "Drinking school with a football problem" to "One of the best public schools in the nation". To tell you the truth, neither stereotype turned me off from coming here. Who wouldn't want to go to a school with huge (that's huge as in, HUMONGOUS) football games, great parties, and a decent education to top it off? I knew I was game!

Even prior to my attendance the image of Penn State ingrained in my mind was of a party school populated by fraternities and sororities and with very little room for anyone else. Football fanaticism supposedly ran rampant while other sports were largely ignored. The Rene Portland incident also paints the picture of a conservative atmosphere.

I think the most common stereotype about PSU students is that we drink too much. Anyone that visits State College on a home football game weekend witnesses our party habits firsthand and probably believes that’s all we do. Another stereotype is that PSU lacks diversity in all ways and that we are simply a white, athletic, middle to upper-class, good-looking crowd of 40,000.

Well, I don't know if you've heard the rumors, but it's basically common knowledge that Penn State Students are white, middle class kids, from either outside of Philadelphia or on the skirts of Pittsburgh. All 80,000 students were raised in the same cauldisac, in walking distance of at least one farming community. With such a vast number of sheltered young adults attending a huge University such as Penn State, people say it is inevitable that they will prioritize immediately: Natty lite and football.

Penn State is definitely known for its football and parties. Before I came here, just on visits, I came to understand that pretty well. We have a living legend as a coach, and we were ranked number two in the nation for partying a couple years ago. Our academics are also known, though that may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you tell someone you go to Penn State.

I’ve heard that Penn State students are all rich, white students who are a bunch of hard-partying, class skipping kids that only care about bar specials and Saturday nights. Penn State is also looked at as just a football town.

JoePa is a God. PSU football is unsurpassed; we tailgate with the best. And of course, you're always happy in Happy Valley - I mean, how could you not be, you're always partying with 40,000 of your closest friends. THON (FTK, for the kids) is an amazing fundraiser that you HAVE to get involved with.

I think one of the major stereotypes about Penn State is that we're strictly a party school with a major focus on football. I know when I was applying to schools I thought that Penn State students were "party animals" and that every weekend you need to be drinking or you wouldn't make any friends.

PSU students are typically stereotyped as football going, binge drinking, engineers who all know Joe Paterno personally and on top of that, every one else at the university. At least those are the common questions that I receive from many relatives and parents.