Advice for an international student

[Kim9090]

Hey,

 

I'm from Germany and I already studied one semester at the Dickinson College as an exchange student.

 

I really liked my abroad time, it was an awesome experience for me and that's the reason why I would love to do my master's program in the US. And here is my problem.. my favorit University would be Penn State. I heard so much good things about this school and I would love to be a graduated student there. But now I've heard, that they receive more than 100 applications and only 6 to 8 will be accepted for the program I am going to apply (Media studies)

 

So, I think I really can't be sure that they will accept me and therefore I need to have at leat 4 alternatives. But it is pretty hard and difficult to estimate if a certain college or university would fulfill my expectations, since I am right now in Germany and don't have the time or money to fly to the US again to look around at any universities to see if the campus and first impression will be good in my view.

 

Therefore I have the huge please if you can tell me your opinion about universities which popped up to your mind in considertion of the following terms:

 

1) I really liked Dickinson, and this is a very small School, but in general I'm searching for a university/college where I can have a great campus life and atmosphere. I liked it that almost everything was going on on campus and most of the students live on or at least near the campus and did not traveld home every weekend. Social life is realy important for me. Even I am a serious student and education is really important for me, I also like to go on partys, meet new people and all the stuff.

 

2) Also College/university pride is important to me. The feeling to be a part of the university was great, such as attending sport-games.

 

3) Since Penn State is a huge university, I really don't care about the size. I've heard only best things about penn state in regard to social life, college pride and also quality of education.

 

4) My master (so the university should offer graduate programs) should be in the field of Media studies, communications, media/arts management

 

5) As I already indicated, education is also very important for me. But this is totally different to Germany, here we have almost the same quality at every univerisity. So, if you can tell me about the quality from your recommended schools, I would be very happy!

 

6) This last point will may sound strange.. but it is a kind of important to me: the sex ratio. I'm a girl and I already attended a university in germay with 80 % of females and 20% of males and it was horrible! Therefore, I would prefer universities with a balanced sex ratio.

 

I am sorry if this question is bothering anyone! But I am searching through the internet for so many weeks or even months now, I am really desperate in finding alternatives to penn state where I (at least think) I would be happy. So, if you can recommend me any university in regard to the points above I would be extremely thankful!