Ready, Set, PSU: Thoughts for New and Incoming Students in Fall 2024
Read time: 9 minutes
Author: Lorin Harris
Introduction
Being accepted to Penn State is a huge accomplishment and exciting time for students and parents. The horizon broadens, and all one can think of is the amazing four years they are going to have here at PSU. However, as time creeps closer, we as students find that we have a lot to manage and put in place before we ever step foot here--and fast. There’s matters of football tickets, housing, meal plans, roommates, and more--it feels like you always have to be one step ahead in your planning. This can be extremely overwhelming, for both students and parents. As a recent alumni, up until my very last few weeks of my last semester I was still navigating new things (like how to make sure my graduation information was settled, my diploma information was right, and my name would be pronounced correctly at the ceremony). Going to college here truly teaches you to be proactive, because there is no “hand-holding” --but that is great for learning to be independent. Learning how to navigate Penn State is an ongoing journey until your last days, but it’s helpful to know where to start and find your footing as you plan your time here.
Summer Start and Leap
Penn State gives some students the option to start their freshman year in the summer to get a head start on the courses and assimilation to the college as a whole. While it does cut some of the summer short, students are still welcome to come and go as they please on the campus as if it was a regular school year. Some thoughts to note is that students will likely move to a different dorm during the fall than what they stay in during the summer, and they will need to check their student emails/lionpath notifications to be sure they fill out housing preferences or they will be randomly placed. Here are some pros of doing summer session at Penn State:
Familiarity with the campus/building locations before the semester starts in the fall
A chance to live at different residence halls and create an opinion about living locations
More time and opportunities to meet friends and collaborate with peers
Beautiful weather and outdoor activities
A less crowded environment to assimilate into the college
LEAP is a program during the summer session that combines small, cohort-based courses with extracurricular activities and peer mentoring to assist students in transitioning successfully to Penn State. Each student joins one LEAP pride, which consists of two linked courses, and is matched with a peer mentor who organizes activities and provides support to LEAP students during the summer program. It’s another great way to assimilate into Penn State before the fall semester starts while offering more focused support.
Football and Athletics
Getting football tickets is a big ordeal every year, and students/parents always have many questions about it. One of the key things about making sure you check all the boxes to get your tickets is to continuously check your student email and monitor PSU athletic social media pages for announcements. As we move closer to the fall, students will get an email from PSU athletics about the date that they can buy their season student tickets. They determine this based on year--for example, grad students usually have the earliest date, followed by seniors, etc. It’s always a gamble getting tickets, but here are some tips and things to keep in mind regarding the sale:
They usually cost around $250
The sale usually occurs in June-July in a 1 week period
Students will need a ticketmaster account to purchase them, as well as a PSU GO athletics app account
You can use multiple devices to increase your chances of getting them, but not from the same account
If you don’t get tickets, there is a great chance you can still go to most if not all of the games at a reasonable price. Students sell tickets all the time, especially as it moves closer to the game day. Friend networks and student facebook pages are more reliable than ads or ticket vendor resales. Be wary of scams!
Download all of your tickets into your phone wallet, service and phone battery are unreliable at games
CHECK YOUR EMAIL CONSISTENTLY! ALL THE INFORMATION YOU NEED AS A STUDENT IS THERE! FOLLOW THEIR LINKS AND INSTRUCTIONS AND REACH OUT IF YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES--DON’T WAIT!
New Student Orientation and Getting an Advisor
All incoming first-year students at Penn State are required to attend New Student Orientation (NSO), a vital step in your transition to university life. At NSO, students engage with fellow students, faculty, and staff and map out course schedules for the upcoming semester to begin implementing your academic plan. To ensure a smooth transition, Penn State gives students an NSO Tasklist to guide them through pre-, during, and post-NSO activities. Incoming freshmen will receive an email notification when the tasklist becomes available. Once received, students can complete the NSO Tasklist using their Penn State Account User ID and password (e.g., abc5123). It’s here that students receive guidance and advice from their orientation leader and it’s the first real taste of college--this event occurs in the summer before the Fall semester.
All students are assigned an academic advisor that is an expert in helping them navigate schedules, majors, career plans, and more. Students are automatically assigned an advisor, and there is nothing they need to do to receive one. Part of new student orientation is meeting with your assigned advisor where they help you create your first semester schedule. Once students begin their education at Penn State and become acclimated with how scheduling works, there is more freedom and leniency with advisorship--you can keep your advisor throughout college or request a change if it isn’t a good fit. Additionally, you can attend drop-in hours for different advisors, majors and subject matter in their respective buildings on campus. After your initial meeting at orientation, students find it helpful to meet with their advisors once or twice a semester to make sure their schedules are meeting degree requirements--but you can communicate with your advisor and meet as much or as little as it suits you for the rest of college!
Transfer Credits
Most high schools offer AP and Community College dual enrollment credits that can be taken during high school and transferred into college. Common transfer credits are general education classes like English 15, Psych 100 and Stat courses. This means that by taking them in high school and receiving college credit for them, they do not need to be taken again. Essentially, students can get a semester or even a year ahead of the typical freshman standing by transferring high numbers of credits. However, they don’t just automatically transfer on their own. In the summer before starting freshman year, students should reach out to the Admissions department via email or phone with information regarding the credits they would like to transfer. PSU staff members will be able to tell you if your credits are transferable and it will manually show up on transcripts--this may affect general education classes one could typically take fall semester so it’s important to check. Students can also use this transfer credit tool from lionpath to navigate this process.
Housing and Meal Plans
Penn State houses thousands of students on campus with four main residence areas (North, East, South, and West Halls). Every cluster of halls also has its adjacent dining hall that is the closest, but students can eat anywhere on campus with their meal plan. East halls are typically the freshman dorms, located near Beaver Stadium and the IM fields--they are all newly renovated or brand new. North halls are located at the tip of campus across from the arboretum and feature options of suite style living. South halls/Pollack are nestled on and near E. College Ave., including housing for the Schreyer Honors College. West calls are located close to the library and west edge of campus. The sooner students accept their offer to Penn State and complete their housing preferences, the more likely they will be placed where they requested--but it’s just a gamble. There are pros and cons to living on every single area of campus in each set of dorms--an important tip to consider is what major you are choosing and where most of your classes will be held (research research research!) and then try to choose housing based on proximity to your major’s buildings and study spots.
Along the lines of housing, Penn State offers a three tier meal plan. This is to be used strictly for on-campus dining purposes and at certain markets/stores within common areas on campus. Meal plans are frequently confused with LionCash, which is like a Penn State Credit card--you can upload money through your account and scan your Penn State ID to pay with things in lieu of a meal plan. It can be reloaded as often as necessary and used for a plethora of things--on campus dining, vending machines, downtown vendors, certain grocery stores, restaurants and even some merchandise. LionCash also earns a 10% student discount on most campus food vendors. The food and housing systems may look confusing on paper but once students step foot on campus, it is easy to get the hang of.
Nail the Transition
Coming to Penn State as a freshman or transfer student is a huge transition with instructions, checklist items, tasks and learning curves sprouting out in every direction. Parents and students likely funnel hundreds of questions and play out numerous scenarios of how things work and how they will turn out. The best way to be set up for success is to frequently monitor messages and emails from the school, and communicate with staff if there are any hiccups. While the amount of new information can be overwhelming, the content itself is not and students are well equipped to take on everything Penn State presents. Best of luck!
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