pennsyJOE

My rejection letter from Carnegie Mellon was titled F'09 Rejects. Makes me feel good about myself!

I can't speak for the IST department, but I can tell you that my department, Geography (in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences), is incredibly friendly and willing to do almost anything to help you out. All the people are very nice and social. Again, I can speak out for the gay community, but State College is incredibly safe. I honestly feel safer here than I do in my suburban, Eastern PA home. State College is rated as the 2nd safest town in America. (http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/MetroCrime2008_Rank.pdf, http://wearecentralpa.com/content/fullt ... ?cid=46591) Penn State is only 10% Greek. I'm in a fraternity and you can trust me when I say that it is NOT heavily important. The only people that heavily important are Greeks, themselves, and freshman. As a grad student, Greek life wouldn't matter to you anyway. Its true that Penn State is seriously into football. I know people that aren't even into the game that go anyway just because of the amazing atmosphere on a game day. The people here have school pride coming out the wazoo! We do lack racial and cultural diversity. There is no argument there. However, that doesn't mean that there are just a bunch of racists here either. Everyone is very tolerant. Greyhound operates here (not that that's any better). The closest Amtrak station is only a 30 min. drive (most of the country can't say that!). The airport is only 15 min. from campus. It's regional, but it does the job. Ruralness? Oh yeah, it is very rural here. But middle of nowhere is a stretch. Philly, Pittsburgh, New York, Baltimore, Washington D.C. are all within driving distance. Hershey Park is also very close (about 2 hours). It's only in the middle of nowhere if you restrict yourself to State College. The Centre Region has lots of little towns to explore. I annoys the hell out of me when people say this place is in the middle of nowhere just because they saw a cow. Downtown is very nice with lots of shops and restaurants. Being a college town, there is a great night life, however depending on where you go it can be mostly drunk undergrads. Agreed that the weather does suck here, but don't rule out Penn State just because this person didn't like it and dropped out. Visit at least. You'll find it is a very nice campus with a great downtown. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about PSU or SC. I can even send you pictures if you'd like.

Judging by your signature and the "urban planning" program in your information to the right, I think we've received the same e-mail from Cornell...

At least you have a short flight for the open house... I get to drive three hours then spend another 8 in the air flying out of Philadelphia. Have any of you heard back yet on aid?