By Jon Mettus
Editor-In-Chief

Pennsylvania State University is a large, public, state-related research university located in Pennsylvania. The university was founded in 1855 and offers 160 majors across all 25 of its campuses. Twenty of those campuses are common-wealth campuses which are dispersed throughout the state and five are “special-mission units.” The University is also home to the prestigious Schreyer Honors College. All first-year students applying to any academic Penn State campus can apply to the honors college. Fifty-two students from Neshaminy’s class of 2012 went to one of Penn State’s campuses.

University Park

Penn State’s largest campus, University Park, is located just 90 miles from the state capital and is comprised of about 39,000 undergraduate and 7,000 graduate students, making it one of the largest schools in the country. The school admits 54 percent of students who apply and runs on a rolling admission system.

Each year, around 44,000 students apply to the University Park campus. Of those applicants, nearly 24,000 are admitted and around 7,500 enroll. Though the SAT is required to be taken, subject tests are not. University Park also requires four years of English and two years of foreign language, as well as three years of math, science and history classes completed in high school.

University Park offers certificate, Associate, Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees. Forty-one percent of students who graduate with an Associate degree earn their degree in Liberal Arts, while 20 percent earn a degree in business/marketing. Of those who receive Bachelor’s degrees, 16 and 12 percent major in business/marketing and engineering, respectively.

Students at University Park can participate in a wide array of Division I NCAA sports, as well as a variety of intramural and club sports. Penn State is well known for its football program, though recently it has been marred by a scandal and sanctions from the NCAA. The school recently instated a Division I hockey team this year, after it spent more than three decades as a club team.

“Penn State is amazing,” 2012 Neshaminy graduate and Penn State freshman Terry Sanson said. “Everyone here is literally one team. I love the campus and I made a lot of new friends that could be friends for life.”

A popular event at University Park is the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, also known as “THON,” which is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. It is a year round effort to raise money for pediatric cancer that culminates with a 46-hour dance marathon each February.

To anyone considering attending Penn State Sanson said, “Go here, the atmosphere is fantastic.”
“It’s the greatest place ever,” Neshaminy physics teacher and Penn State alumnus Hank Oppenheimer

Abington

Penn State Abington is primarily a commuter campus, located just 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia and roughly the same amount of time from Neshaminy High School. Penn State Abington educates around 3,400 undergraduate students, but, unlike University Park, only offers certificate, associate and Bachelor’s degrees.

Though admitting 78 percent of those who enroll, the campus features the same academic course completion requirements as University Park. According to the school’s website all parts of a student’s application are not evaluated equally. “Approximately two-thirds of the evaluation is based on your high school grades and one-third is based on a combination of your standardized test scores, advanced placement and honors courses, and class rank.”

Liberal arts is a popular major at Penn State Abington, with 92 percent of students graduating with associates degrees earn their degrees in liberal arts. Thirty-seven and 23 percent of students who graduate with Bachelor’s degrees major in business/marketing and psychology, respectively.

Penn State Abington offers students the opportunity to participate in nine different Division III NCAA sports.

Despite not being as big as Penn State’s University Park campus; the Abington campus offers “students a traditional college atmosphere combined with all the resources of a major university.”

“It’s close and I can still get a Penn State degree without having to go far away for two years,” senior and prospective Penn State Abington student Mike Meredith said.