PSH outshines sunny Florida for one Honors Student

I can relate to the feeling one gets during college applications; it is traumatizing, exhausting, and problematic. With over 4,000 (and counting) colleges and universities to choose from across the country and at least 30 for you to choose locally, college applications can be arduous. Choosing a university you want to attend depends on a lot of things, including personal or financial issues, (they certainly played a significant role in my decisions). But I want to talk to you about two universities I have attended and perhaps convince you to choose Penn State Harrisburg or make you feel content if you are already attending PSH.

As a high school graduate from Orlando, Florida, my friends and I knew we would attend the University of Central Florida, which was just half a mile away from our homes. UCF, barely 60 years old, is the second largest university in America by student enrollment with over 55,000 students admitted annually. UCF, in my opinion, is also the most beautiful campus in America. An aerial view shows a flower-like shape of the campus, with the sidewalks and roads dotted with palm trees, scattered small lakes glistening like gems, and the entire campus shining like a diamond under Florida’s glaring sunlight. It’s the perfect dream college!

However, after attending the first week, it reminded me of the reason why I came to college: to learn, not for sight-seeing. Learning was a challenge at UCF, not that the teachers weren’t qualified but it was simply impossible for the professors to interact with me. With a minimum of 200 students in each class, and the labs taught by Masters students instead of professors, I simply had no interest in my courses. I had an urge to go back to my high school teachers for study help because going to my professor’s office hours was an ordeal in itself. I had no energy to wait an hour outside of their office to ask questions when 20 others are in line in front of me.

Although I enjoyed interacting with so many people and made use of a variety of campus activities and other resources UCF had to offer, I was not happy with what I learned, if I learned at all. I got through most of the classes by attendance points (which is recorded by electronic clickers) and “Googling.” Google was a boon; I had never in my life searched for anything as much as I did my freshman year. All I wanted was some individual attention because I had my own set of doubts that were never addressed in class properly. UCF has a faculty to student ratio of 42:1, the highest (and worst) in the country, which is nearly the same as most large campus schools, including Penn State’s University Park.

Thankfully, my family was relocating to Hershey, PA. I took this as a perfect opportunity to transfer out of UCF to Penn State Harrisburg, because I wanted to learn, not spend 4 years of my college “Googling” my doubts. I was mildly disappointed by the size of the campus, as it was hardly any bigger than my high school in Florida, but I learned that PSH is a young campus built on Olmsted Air Force base used by the US military during World War I, and I am now proud of this history in the making.

The entrance into Penn State Harrisburg

Penn State Harrisburg is a great campus to attend, as we are blessed with so many opportunities in a 10-mile radius such as: Penn State Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine, Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania State Capitol, and Hershey Foods Corporation. This means more opportunities for us students to exercise our classroom skills and apply through jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities, more variety than even the students at University Park on any other Penn State campus can get. I also am proud to be part of the wonderful Honor’s Program at Penn State Harrisburg, an active tight community of hardworking and competitive students at PSH. As an honors student, I have the opportunity to do intensive research in my major and interact with students like me who want to graduate with more than just a degree, but learn to apply our knowledge in the real world usefully. As prospective students apply to Penn State Harrisburg, applying to our Honor’s program is also a great chance for showcasing their talents while adding sophistication and significance to their degrees.

Out of the many important majors and minors PSH offers, both in bachelors and graduate programs, I chose bachelor’s in Science with a major in Life Science. PSH students will have many courses to choose from that can be tailored according to your 4 year curriculum. With fewer than 30 students per course, interacting with my professors inside and outside of class is possible, which greatly help me in understanding my subjects better. The quality of PSH’s education projects out to all of us students as our course teachings is very interactive and student-oriented. At our Capitol Campus, I am not just a random student sitting in an enormous auditorium but, Jyothi, a Penn State Harrisburg student with a name which will be remembered by my professors.

Written by Jyothi Kakuturu, junior Life Science major at Penn State Harrisburg in the Honors Program.