Pennsylvania State University

Penn State's CS program is not a good program in the slightest. It is part of the College of Engineering so you spend your first two years fulfilling all of their math and physics requirements before you can start taking meaningful computer science courses. By the time you learn a computer science topic it's too late and too broad. So you get passed over for internships because you don't know as much as peers of the same age and you don't know anything in depth because PSU's CS program takes the "jack of all trades but master of none" approach.

3rd Year Male -- Class 1921

Perceived Campus Safety: A+, Education Quality: F

Penn State is for a certain type of person. If you are ambitious, highly focused in academics, introverted, and don't drink, this is not the place for you. Penn State is for people who want to drink, party, major in something easy, and have fun. Since the school is so big, nothing is handed to you. You need to be extroverted, proactive, and get involved in order to make friends and find a group. In addition, groups form fast so start all of this early, or else you'll be stuck in a school with 40,000 kids and no friends.

Academics are decent. I'm pre-med and have found that the department is pretty good, very resourceful, and wants to send its students to medical school. If you take action, there are many opportunities to get involved in research, teaching, volunteerism, and clubs. Most of my classes have been 100+ students, but if you sit up front and make an effort then the professors will usually be very approachable and get to know you. Some professors are highly absorbed in their research and put very little effort into teaching, but this is common at big research universities. Perhaps the most troubling thing i've encountered has been the lack of standardization in some courses. Some courses can be incredibly difficult with one professor, but then easy with another. In addition, the format and material taught may be totally different.

Grades are pretty competitive, and most students value working the system to get a good grade above actually learning the material. However, I don't feel that the student body is too intelligent (generally), so if you're pretty smart then you can easily shine. Grades are only curved if the average grade in the class falls below a C+. In this case, it's curved so that the average is a C+. Some professors will curve to a B+. I think there is big grade deflation early on, in the big weed out courses such as intro chemistry, calculus, and biology. Then grade inflation later on in the upper level courses. I'm not a fan of grade inflation, because it dilutes the achievement of the super smart. Penn State really needs to implement an A+ grade, being worth the same as an A on a 4.0 scale, but just for the distinction.

4th Year Male -- Class 2017

University Resource Use/ spending: A+, Individual Value: D+