Penn State University is a dream school for many. Not only is it outstanding academically and challenging enough to receive the prized acceptance letter in the mail, it is also regarded as a socially stimulating place to develop. My grandparents had Nittany Lion season passes and longed for me to attend college in University Park so they could visit me on the weekends when they swung through for football games. I was the only one of my high school friend group to get accepted. I half heartedly accepted my invitation the night before final decisions had to be made in April of my senior year. I enthusiastically left a year later upon the completion of my freshman year. Here’s why:
I was a number and treated myself as such. Do you know how many students professors see in a day let alone in their career? I was a fleeting glimpse in their academic blanket of faces and minds. I felt myself blending into the whole in a way I didn’t like. I became less involved, less accountable, less invested in my future. My peers seemed to be feeling the same way as we all ditched class or cruised Facebook during our three hour lectures. With true independence comes responsibility. This enormous campus was not the proper environment for me to foster both of these necessary aspects of becoming an adult.
Penn State’s campus is surrounded by cow pastures and cornfields. I am all for getting in touch with our natural roots; however, this can feel a bit isolating. If you need a break from campus life you seldom find it. Many colleges and universities are in or near cities, which act as cultural hubs home to museums, music venues, ethnic food restaurants, and a chance to mingle with people other than middle to upper class white 18-22 year old (if I dare be blunt). But Penn State’s town of University Park is nothing more than a college town. You simply don’t have the options and opportunities that come with living in a city.
Not to mention campus is multiple hours from the closet dose of necessary diversity, namely found in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh. Maybe some folks last four years without the internal pressures seeking a bit more than what a college town has to offer, but if you are anything like me, you’ll start questioning things within a year. It’s not all bad, there are some fun things to do in the country, but every day?!
This perpetual boredom can only lead to one thing: excessive partying. I am convinced that this is why year after year Penn State University gets crowned the number one party school. No one has anything else to do on this campus and in this forsaken town! Lack of cultural stimulation leaves one with fewer options for entertainment and enlightenment. Even I fell victim to going out drinking four or five nights a week. And, filling your voids with booze is only fun until it isn’t. My intrigue and desire to dedicate my life solely to a good time faded after my freshman year. you can read little more about the Penn State University parties in my first article for GBTB.
All in all, I never once regretted leaving. Sure, I had a solid group of friends on campus and had a damn good time that year. However, my desires to be a socially responsible human being trumped all else. I had to grab my adulthood by the horns and hit the road. Penn State University is a faded memory of utopia that had to be short lived or I would have risked stunting my personal growth. Cheers to all those who last four years and still come out decent!
Carmen G Ruvie attended Penn State University in 2009 and eventually majored in Sustainable Community Development at a small, environmentally focused liberal arts college in the forest