Penn State - confrontation with myself: The Penn State Saga

Penn State - confrontation with myself: The Penn State Saga: "The view from my apartment is magnificent. It would take much more than words to explain the beauty of State College; the golden, yellow, re..."

The Penn State Saga

The view from my apartment is magnificent. It would take much more than words to explain the beauty of State College; the golden, yellow, red, lavender leaves the purple and pink sky, windy, and beyond all the white and purple flowers on the grass outside my apartment, makes me wonder what Penn State is all about. The weather and scenery are so eye-soothing that even the long treacherous minutes at the bus-stop are sort of enjoyable and its amusing how late bus arrivals do not frustrate me. That is the beauty of State College and I am glad that I came here during fall and I witnessed its beauty myself and boy am I loving it here. This brings me to think about one very important issue that concerns students, especially prospective college students, all around the world. What do students take into consideration when they apply for admissions at a college or university? The answer may not be that easy for many as many of us are not sure why they applied to some specific universities. At the very beginning lets just throw away, 'randomly,' as an answer as there is always a ballast, on which rests our college selection. One simple reason to think about this question is the fact that brands that are well known are not always the best fit for everyone. I knew that University of Penn. was the ultimate choice for me because it was the only ivy-league around Philadelphia but something about Penn State was different. The Penn State Saga that I refer to in the title is the environment that grips students when they visit Penn State. Forty thousand students, Joe Paa, the rich old culture, the Old Main church, the lush green fields around Penn State definitely made me wonder as to why choose an ivy-league poised bang in the middle of one the biggest cities of America when I had the opportunity to live in a small town far away from anything people called urban and live with a large family where you had the sense of being at home amid professors, friends and of course football.
I had 3 relatives who had studied at Penn State and their experience was amazing, as they told me. For me, however, when I began hunting down colleges, my only intention was to find a school with a good reputation, so I could graduate with an Industrial Engineering degree and get the hell out of college. Well, as it turned out to be, I changed my mind on absolutely every sentiment I had about college. To begin the list, I chose Penn State, instead of Ohio State, University of Penn., Univ of Pittsburgh and Drexel University eventually choosing Penn State. I switched from Industrial Engineering to Finance and Economics and from thinking of graduating in just 3 years I decided to stay on for as long as possible trying to grab as much experience as possible and being a part of the saga for eternity. Well two and a half years down I am still loving the Penn State experience and given a choice I would never leave Penn State (also I need that unlimited supply of funds, Perpetuity.) Well what made me change my decisions, is anyone's guess. Its the very fact that the experience I gained after living at Penn State was phenomenal and it really did change my thinking. I was away from my parents but I never felt away from home, in fact Penn State was just a bigger house with more family and their love knew no bounds.
Today, when people ask me how the Penn State experience is, I reply "To know Penn State, you have to visit Penn State" and I guarantee that once you have visited Penn State, you will love it because it is quite amazing to be a part of, of course with 40,000 fellow students, WE ARE PENN STATE