Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Top Questions

It might be best to take a year off of school to discover what you really want to do in life. I know I just jumped into school and I got lost in all the options that I had.

Don't pick the place that 'ought to be the best,' pick the one that feels right when you step onto campus. From my first tour of Penn State University, I knew it was the place for me. I was accepted to numerous brand-name universities, but I knew I would be happier here.

I would tell them that it is important to visit the campuses they are interested in attending, especially when classes and students are in the full swing of a semester. It is important to see what a typical day is like at the campus you are looking at, not just what it is like on the weekend or in the summer. Also, to talk to future professors, they are glad to help you and give you any information you may need, whatever contacts you cant make, MAKE THEM!

Visit the college for more than just a day. Take a weekend and see what the social scene is like on and off the campus to see if it's really a good fit for you. Once you choose the best fit for you, get involved! Find a campus group that you can relate to and enjoy it!

To both parents and students. Vist the colleges you might possibly attend! Parents should allow their daughter or son to explore the school without them, but should also explore the campus separately. The students should consider their gut feeling very important. Put aside academics and school rankings for a moment, if you don't see yourself happy at that school, you probably won't be. (Atleast at first) Look around at the students and talk to them! They'll have the best advice for you. If you want to make the most out of your experience than talk to people and make friends right away. Meet people who live in your dorm, and try to get involved with extracurricular activities. If alot of people from your highschool are going to the same college, try to make other friends separately at first. Don't fall into that safety net! Make sure you put enough time into studying. It's easy to just let it slide and hang with friends but sometimes you really gotta kick yourelf into shape if you want that A. Not hanging with friends for a night isn't nearly as bad as a low GPA.

Be sure to visit the college first and go at a time when the campus will be most active. Durring the week is best. While visiting, ask random students about their likes and dislikes. They will provide the most honest answers.

In order to find the right college it is important that you research you're top choices very thoroughly. If you can, definitely visit and take a tour of the campus during the school year so you can see how students interact on campus, get a glimpse of the campus culture, and talk to students if possible. Visit a student sites, where videos or pictures are uploaded, such as college humor so that you can see how students really party and spend their time; this may not be everyone, but this way you won't be so surprised. Furthermore, factor in other costs of attending the school, the cost of living in the area, and how those affect the aid you receive. Lastly, it is important if you can't visit the school, try a virtual tour, and try to send correspondence to any student liasons.

I would tell parents and /or students to start looking early. The earlier you look at schools the more time you have to visit them and learn sbout their programs. I would also tell them to try to have an idea of what you want to do. Knowing what you want to do with your life will make it easyier when looking at schools to see if they have what your looking for.

Finding the right college and subsequently making the most of the college experience is such a huge and involved process. Students and their parents need to keep the big picture in mind when choosing a school. If I could go back to my senior spring, I would have thought more about choosing a college for who I was right at that moment than choosing a school that I thought would impress others. Think more about the college itself than its location: Your school is where you will spend most of your time, and no matter how close you are to a hip city, you need to think about whether the area around your school is accessible and somewhere you'd like to be. Think more about the student body itself than the fact that you got into the honors program or that the school wants you to be on their lacrosse team: Even though these things sound great on paper and will surely open doors for you, they just aren't worth it if you don't love your school in the first place.