I live on-campus in the West halls. For about the past week, I've been noticing extremely poor network performance on my Playstation 5. The ping isn't terrible, but there are constant lag spikes sending my ping through the roof for a few seconds at a time, on a few occasions even disconnecting entirely. Makes basically all online games completely unplayable. psu Wi-Fi works just fine, and I can play games on my laptop with very good network performance with essentially no issues but of course I can't connect my PS5 to it.
I have heard of certain people having their internet throttled or shut off for various reasons. Is this what's going on? I also find it suspicious that the troubles began on the 1st of the month, of all possible times.
Furthermore, does anyone have any tips or tricks to share that can help me to improve network performance to at least a workable state?

I think every one of them just went passed. What’s going on??

saw this thought it is funn https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAjmiyeRBNr/

I’m probably gonna fail this to classes and annoyingly this classes only available in the fall so is it possible to take them somewhere else or through Penn state over the summer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as my advisor says ask others.

Hi does anyone know where I can print out resume at state college? Using those thicker resume paper?

Thanks in advance!

Anyone have extra tickets for sale? Me and my boys never had time to grab em?. Plz lmk asap

I've completely forgot my parking permit for lot 11 at home and I'm pretty far out. I was wondering if anyone's experienced this and had a solution. I have a photo of the parking pass. Can I access it digitally? Will they ask us to have it physically? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I just want some cheap brown sugar boba - Mr. Wish is ridiculously expensive.

Hello, here is my unasked-for opinion on faq from people who are applying to penn state. For background, I did the 1+3 route (Berks), but I am graduating in 3 years instead of 4, so it was actually 1+2. I am a computer engineering major with a math minor, and I am in Schreyers (honors program). My advice may not be as true for non engineering majors, and will be the most applicable for cs or comp eng majors, though I think it will broadly apply.

What major/minor should I do?

This is a big one. My advice is to look at the bulletin. This should be your bible as a penn state student. The best part about it is that it shows every class available at PSU, every major, and their requirements and you don't even have to be a student to look at it.

This means that you can determine your course schedule before you even get accepted.

If you are serious about going to penn state, I highly highly recommend planning out your schedule as soon as possible.

Why? Because the advisors are a joke. They are worse than bad. ESPECIALLY if they're a branch campus advisor. My advisor said she didn't know if the ASL I took in hs counted for the second language requirement. What do you mean you don't know? Its your job to know.... (It does count btw)

So here is my advice, go through the list of majors offered and choose a couple that pique your interest the most. Go to their bulletin page, and look at the classes needed for that major. You can click on any blue link and it will give a nice little course description pop up that you can read.

Whichever major has the classes you think you'll like the most is the one you should pick. Once you've picked your major, make an excel spreadsheet, and use the "Suggested Academic Plan" tab as well as the "Program Requirements" tab to make a rough plan of what you'll take each semester. I made one my freshman year I followed all the way to now, here it is. This is not the end all be all, but if you want to take a class and it's full, by having your entire plan there you can easily swap a class you were going to take next semester.

Should I take a minor?

Yes! I think you should try to take a minor, and most who don't wish they would've, but it's too late to start.

Here's how: pick a minor from this list. In that same excel sheet you made for your major, add a new sheet. List out the requirements for your major in one column, and your minor requirements in another. Highlight anything that overlaps or can overlap. For anything that's not highlighted, see if you can fit it in your semester by semester course schedule you made for your major.

If it fits, you have your minor!

If it doesn't, try to find a different one that fits better and start the process over.

Here is a copy of the google sheet I made for myself to give you an example, as you can see I tested out a couple double majors and ended up settling on a math minor so I could graduate in 3 years.

How do I find out if my credits will transfer?

Penn state has a transfer credit tool that you don't have to be a student to use. If you took classes at a community college in hs, you can check if those classes will transfer. Note that just because they're not there doesn't mean they won't transfer, it just means that no one's tried yet. Make sure you collect all of the syllabi of college level courses you've taken (not AP).

For AP credit, check here.

Be sure to update your spread sheet based off of what you do/don't have credits for.

Should I do 2+2?

This question is complicated, and it depends on a lot of factors. Here's what I think you should consider for if you should do 2+2. As noted previously, I did do 2+2, so this is my perspective as someone who went this route.

Can you afford to do all 4 years at UP?

UP is expensive AF. If you are not fortunate enough to have family that is able to put you through all 4 years at UP, then I think you should do 2+2. If you can afford it, do all 4 years at UP. I loved my year at berks, but part of me wishes I could've swung the extra year here, however, I do not feel like I missed out on too much, in your first year you're likely not going to take advantage of all UP has to offer anyways, so if you can't afford it don't beat yourself up and save the cash. Future you will thank you for the lessened student loans.

Are you graduating early?

If you are going to graduate a year early, I think you should spend all 3 years at UP. I say this because things can get a little funky with credits and the courses branch campuses offer can be limited depending on your major. If you are graduating a year early, it is likely because you have a lot of gen ed credits and a couple intro credits, when the whole point of going to a branch campus is to get those out of the way before you go to main. So if you already have those, I don't think it's worth it.

Note that if you go to a branch campus that offers your major, then it may be worth it. For example, the Berks campus offers Mechanical Engineering, so if you did 1+3 there when that is your major, you would be better off than someone who's major isn't offered there.

In my personal opinion, if you only have 3 years to get as much as possible out of your education you should go straight to UP because there are many more research or club opportunities. I also feel like 1 year at 1 campus isn't enough time to get anything done or make enough meaningful connections or opportunities, you need the full 2 years.

Are you near by?

If you live near a satellite campus, it makes much more sense for you to go to one. I say this as someone who didn't. This is mostly because a lot of the opportunities that are given at branch campuses are local. For example, the mini career fairs are all mostly going to be local companies, whereas at UP there are a lot more national companies.

Can you commute to UP occasionally?

If you can go to a branch campus that is nearby UP and you have a car, it will allow you to have some of the UP opportunities available to you while not having to pay the UP price. For example, you can go to games, the hackathon, career fair, etc. So if you decide to go to a satellite campus and there is something going on at UP you don't want to miss out on, you can still go.

My thoughts on 2+2 in general

I think that doing 2+2 can be an amazing opportunity to save money and build your resume. At a branch campus you have the chance to be a big fish in a small pond. You can really put yourself out there and do great things that you can put on your resume, that might not have even been on your radar at UP because there's so much going on. With that being said, if you can personally afford to go to UP for all 4 years I think it would be good to take advantage of all it has to offer.

With that being said, in terms of intensity branch campuses are nothing like UP. At a branch campus class averages are high, at UP they can be 60-70%. So it can be a culture shock if you start at a branch campus and then come here and get railed by your first class.

What campus should I go to for 2+2?

PLEASE TRY TO GO TO A CAMPUS THAT OFFERS YOUR INTENDED MAJOR!

In my opinion, penn state does not give future students the correct resources to decide which campus to go to, so here is my opinion on how you should go about it.

Location

If you are from PA and want to save on money, go to the campus closest to you. You can commute and save on food and housing money. Living with your parents as a college kid kinda sucks though so take that as you will.

Price

Branch campuses prices vary. Here is a tuition calculator.

If you are trying to get the most bang for your buck, pick the cheapest option, but I don't personally recommend this being your sole factor.

Size

Branch campus sizes vary from medium to tiny. If you want a campus where you know everyone, go small, if you want to have a bit more of the "college experience" go bigger. Here are the campus sizes.

MAJOR!!!

Please please please pretty please try to find a campus that offers your major. If there is none, then go off of the other factors I listed above. Here is a website that shows what majors each campus offers.

The reason I stress this so much is because branch campuses that don't offer your major likely won't have professors that specialize in your major. This means that you can very well be screwed over when you come to UP. For example, at Berks they had a Mechanical engineering professor teaching the intro to CS courses for CS majors. I knew more than him and often had to correct him in class. He would say things like "I don't know why this is important but I have to teach it to you" about very fundamental concepts. I'm sure he was a good ME prof, but those CS students are struggling now at UP.

Where should I live?

I was also concerned about this as an incoming UP student, but in hindsight it really doesn't matter in my opinion. This may be an unpopular opinion from fellow penn staters, so take it with a grain of salt! I will say that if you're going for engineering, the west halls are going to be right next to your classes and everywhere else is pretty far. I ended up living in the same building both years, but I don't think I would have cared where I ended up either way if I'm being honest. I will say that Pollock is hands down the best dining hall so take that as you will (Near south, pollock, and eastview terrace areas).

If you want to live boujee, go for Eastview Terrace. They are single rooms with AC and a private bathroom. Super popular and expensive though.

What gen eds should I take?

There is another reddit post that is very good for going over which gen eds to take which I linked below, so instead I am going to explain how they work because it is a little confusing at first.

There are Arts (GA), Humanities (GH), Natural Sciences (GN), Social and Behavioral Sciences (GS), Quantification (GQ), Writing/Speaking (GWS). You need varying amounts of credits for each, here is a website with the break down. You must also take a class that is marked as US and a class that is marked as IL. These are classes about US and international cultures respectively, but not their own gen ed category.

Depending on your major, some of many of these requirements may be fulfilled with your normal course load.

There are courses that are marked "interdomain". This means that the class counts for two gen ed categories. For example: ASTRO 7N counts for an art credit AND a science credit. However, you must take a class that only counts towards one domain for each. So in other words, there is practically no reason to take an interdomain GHW course because you only need 3 credits of it. You must take one class that is only in art, one only in humanities, etc. The rest may be interdomain so you knock out two birds with one stone.

You are also required to take at least 6 interdomain credits, which you should be doing anyway. There are lists you can find that lists every single course that fulfills a certain gen ed requirement (Here is the art one). If a class ends in an N, then it is interdomain. Here is another reddit post that lists some of the easier, more popular gen eds.

Conclusion

College is very hard, expensive, but rewarding. I am glad that I went to Penn State, and I think you will be too. I know this all seems scary at first but I promise everything will be okay. If you have any other questions I didn't answer, comment and I'll answer as best as I can and I'm sure others will as well. If a question I didn't list comes up a lot I will try to edit it for the next years of students. Good luck!

Volunteer on Election Day as a poll monitor! You got half the stipend after completing the virtual event on October 11th 12:30-6 and half after doing a 3-4 hour shift on Election Day at a polling location of your choice 💜

To anyone that has taken Econ 306, can someone give an idea of how hard this course is? I've been hearing some things about how this is the hardest Econ course and what not... which I never assumed 306 would be that bad (Esp compared to 302 and 304). I plan on graduating next semester and I have to take the class but after hearing some things I'm incredibly nervous.

I’m looking for a salon because I have pretty long hair and right now I’m styling it as a mid part.

But, it’s been getting a little too long and heavy. So I want a trim to remove some weight and give it more texture.

Any recommendations near campus?

Thanks.

hi everyone i’m sure this is a bit of a long shot but if there anyone in here that has transferred from penn that can give me some advice? i’m also looking for ways to make my time here a bit enjoyable until i leave.

Anyone have any insight as to what the midterm looks like? I'm nervous as all get-out about it.

Anyone have good insight into the likelihood of seeing the aurora / northern lights tonight in the area?

Vote!

You're busy living your life. I get it, I did the same when I went to PSU branch then main campus. You want to make a difference but often it seems out of reach. Vote! You know the sides, you know the stakes. Goodness knows you don't need to hear any more of the propaganda specifics.

You might know that Pennsylvania is shaping up to be the key contested state that'll decide it all.

You probably don't realize that difference in polling between the two sides in PA are and have mostly been less than the enrollment of PSU. Less Than The Enrollment Of Dear Old State.

THON keeps growing and voting doesn't even take a fraction of supporting that cause. You know voting is easier than registering for next semester's classes and you manage to get that done. If you registered for mail-in ballots those have been arriving in the last week. It's time.

Vote!

I applied for spring 2025 as a first year for main campus. Was just curious how hard is it to get into main for the spring? I applied undecided

Anyone driving from NYC/NJ this Fri? Looking for a ride!

Please comment if you have applied , We can connect!! , I need some Information regarding application

Stay safe when riding a bike or a scooter! Especially in the rains. Please watch for blind spots, and be mindful about the grip in the rain, you don't want hydroplaning on bikes/scooters.

Over the last two weeks the weather were mildly rainy, but I had two accidents. This all happened at Downtown bike route where it's a double sided bike lane with lots of downhills from campus to The Point. And I am going to share them with you:

Last week Wednesday, I was riding my E-Bike home. I was on a downhill, turning right and hugging the right side of the lane. Suddenly, I saw someone in front of me coming to my way, he was using the left lane and approaching me at a speed around 15mph and turning sharp left. Since we both coming out from each other's blind spot, we only have very few seconds to avoid making the accident. We stared at each other for two seconds, I thought he was going to "go back to his lane" because I took the driver license test and my intuition told me he was on the wrong lane so he should move right, but he didn't. After 2 seconds, I tried to push to the right side so I can hug the edge of the right... except it was too late and he hit my basket and my rear wheels. I fall over after the collision, luckily I was not hurt as I was wearing a helmet and jacket, only a light mark on my left shoulder. This sucks because I can't ride my E-Bike for a week because the rear wheel is bent from the impact, rubbing against the frame.

This Wednesday, I was still trying to repair my E-Bike so I took my Segway scooter for a ride. When riding home, I was going downhill at 16MPH on the right side of the bike lane. After the last accident, I am sticking to right lane only if I have clear vision, so I was on the right side of the road with a beautiful view of the downhill. Quickly, someone teleported with a bike on my left side. Well, I guess, it was just an overtake since it's a big hill so it's possible to reach 25MPH,(my E-Bike can reach 32MPH) no big deal. Instead, his cheap Walmart bike hydroplaned, drifting left side. As he tries to correct the direction, his front wheel are sliding to the edge outside the track, causing a second drift to the right side and he fall right in front of me, while I was riding 16MPH downhill. He landed on the bike trail with his butt on the road, sliding down smoothly as he is a on a slide. What is even crazier - he was half a meter apart from me! I pressed brake as hard as I can, watching him sliding down the bike lane. After 4 seconds, I was lucky that I didn't step on him, but it was too close. By the time I stopped the E-Scooter, I was 15 meters away from him. He stands up acting like Jackie Chen and yelled "I"M FINE"... Only if he knew I was half a meter away from him when he was sliding...

I looked up the list and there's a ton to choose from. I'm overwhelmed lol.

I recently applied to PSU through the common app. Stupidly I created a my Penn state account through PSU before they sent me an email to create my account. On the common app Penn state says “please do not attempt to create a Penn state account on your own, doing so will delay the processing of your application.” Will they be able to receive it and will I be able to fill out the SRAR? Thanks

I was debating taking this course online but wondered if one advises in -person. Is it challenging?

I'm starting to organize my schedule for next semester, and I'm heavily considering taking math 141 online. I got a 5 on the AP exam but still took 140 this semester (don't ask me why; idk either). Is there any glaring reason why I should choose in-person instead? Any bad experiences or other issues I should know about?

Yo what’s good chat, I’m currently a junior study Mathematics / Statistics at Penn State. I’ve tutoring college freshman / sophomore at Penn State for about a year now. And also tutor some local high schoolers. if you are now struggle with your math course. I would like to offer my help to not only boost up their grade, but also actually understand the concept behind it.

Some credibility: Before I officially start tutor, I was Learning Assistant for Calculus 2 ( math 141) for 2 semester and a Statistics class (stat 200) for 1 semester. I’m currently serve as an undergrad teaching assistant for an entry level math class.

I tutor almost all kind of math ( algebra, geometry, Statistics, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Differential Equations, Discrete Math, Analysis and more…)

I charge 25$/ hour. However, if you are first time tutor with me, I would do a 30 minutes free tutor so you can see if you like my style or not.

Probably not good for my tutor business, but I still wanna say the math faculty here at penn state are some of the most amazing folks I’ve ever seen, so if you have questions about the contents from class, please go to office hour!!! They will beyond happy to see people go to their office hours asking for help instead of just spending money outside for tutors…

Hey all, recently purchased a small (27 ft) RV and looking to take it tailgating for the OSU game.

Is there any free spaces or hidden gems around campus that I would be able to tailgate at? From what I’ve seen, everything official is sold out or over $900.

I’m ok with paying a couple hundred bucks but not trying to break the bank.

Trying to decide if I should take it online next semester or do in person. My schedule will only accommodate a M,W,F section if in person. Not excited about that so considering online. Heavy STEM classes so looking for easiest way to complete with good grade. Also not sure about individual (A) or group class (B) as a CS student. Did a search but looking for more recent experience. Thanks!

What are the differences between a Bio Major and a Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Major?

I am a freshman DUS student and looking into both and can't decide. They seem very similar but they do have their differences.

Any advice?

I live in eastview and at the very start of the semester the address for me to get packages had eastview in the address so that’s just the address i used at first for packages and it worked fine but now it seems that i have to put south in my address instead. I’m just wondering if my package is lost or something cus it was ordered with the original address format they gave and ups says they delivered it but i have yet to see an email from the commons desk. It says it was delivered on Wednesday and idk maybe they just haven’t scanned my package in yet but im just kinda wondering what i should do. Ups also says it’s in university park so maybe they just haven’t scanned it but idk they’re usually pretty quick with this stuff.