Finally a Visit to Penn State

Fun Facts I Learned While Spending the Day in Happy Valley

In the years since I began advising students and families on the intricacies of the college application process, I visited many college campuses. I have seen urban and rural, large and small, liberal arts and technical colleges alike. The one that kept evading me year after year, and without fail one that I always had students applying to, was Penn State. It was never on my way somewhere, or near something else I was planning to attend. That finally changed last week when I attended the Spend a Summer Day Counselor Program in University Park, and even though it took hours of driving through desolate cornfields to arrive, it did not disappoint.

Penn State has fifteen colleges across its 19 undergraduate campuses, although after this academic year seven of those will be phased out. As the main and largest campus, University Park receives the vast majority of applications and is the most competitive for admissions. They received over 106,000 of the 145,000+ applications submitted this past season for approximately 10,000 freshmen spots. What I loved most about the campus was its insular feeling. The bubble effect created by its distance from any cities makes you feel safe and detached from the outside world. In fact, the local economy, social scene, and culture focus almost entirely around the university.

Five Fun Facts I learned during my visit:

1. The university recently announced they have become permanently test optional.

2. Beginning next year they will be adopting a No Harm policy for applicants who choose to submit a score.

3. The Smeal College of Business is expanding their new direct admit pathway with all admitted students guaranteed their first choice major within the school as long as requirements are met.

4. The Accuweather Global Headquarters is located on 6.5 acres adjacent to campus and is a pipeline for meteorologists and data scientists graduating straight from Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

5. More than 200 cows are milked twice each day, producing about 2000 gallons of milk which then is engineered to have a 14% butterfat content, making it rich and dense and becoming delicious, legendary ice cream and the largest university creamery in the United States. So busy is this ice cream shop that there is a strict “one flavor per cone” rule to keep the lines moving.

University Park is not near anything but is still worth a visit. If possible I highly recommend staying in the Nittony Lion Inn, which was recently renovated. I am sorry it took me so long to see, and I am happy to finally be able to speak first-hand about the cult-like vibe that students and faculty describe.