[PhoenixAzul]

As a former staffer at OU, I know that it would not have been my *personal* choice to study at as an undergraduate. Don't get me wrong, there's a ton to do in terms of clubs and etc, there's infinite resources, there's amazing facilities, and if you like the weather, it's pretty much second only to football as an interest.

But for me it was too big, too football focused (I know, coming from someone from Pittsburgh, I should be used to this), and too bleeding hot. How people learned to adapt to that kind of heat, I have no idea. I was a scared wee freshman who knew nothing about college or Greek life, and I think that if I personally had gone to OU as a freshman, I'd have sunk. The Greek life there was so different from what I knew of Greek life from my tiny Ohio school that we might have been talking about completely different planets. Not even in the same galaxy.

The same was true for me for Penn State, which I seriously considered due to reputation and clout in the area. Again, living in PA, Penn State is the big blue and white elephant in the room. If you walk in to any room and ask for Penn State alum to raise their hands, I can almost guarantee you that there will be at least two. It's a huge school, and has an equally huge and rabid alum base which is pretty darn helpful. I will say this, PSU is in pretty much the middle of nowhere. Like OU, if you like the countryside, you can get it if you want it. If you want an urban campus, this is not it.

Like OU, Penn State has almost endless resources. Crazy resources. If you want to study it, club it, play it, or be it, you can find it there. But it might take you a while to find it. Again, swimming in a pool of 50,000 students was, for 18 year old me, no bueno. The fact that it was 2 hours away and 2 hours away in the middle of nowhere was not a huge selling point for me. I participated in a bunch of summer clubs and camps there, and those were fun and I enjoyed the campus and the student assistants were great..but I didn't want to spend 4 years there because of the size.

Now, all my pessimism aside: they're both great schools. For the right student. But you can say that about any school. It's worth a visit any old how. You can visit my former employer and their beautiful new building when you're at OU. If you come for a visit to PSU, make sure you get some Creamery ice cream (SO GOOD).