Please find tips, information, and advice below from current and former Rural Sociology graduate students. As you make your plans to move to State College we hope that you find this information helpful. We are looking forward to meeting you!
Academics
Courses to Take
- Look up RSOC in the Schedule of Courses but also check out other departments such as: SOC, INTAF, GEOG, RPTM, and any others relevant to your academic interests.
- The graduate student bulletin has information on university requirements.
- Talk about courses with an advisor, graduate officer, or other students early on – even if you’re not sure how you want to focus your interests.
Signing up for Classes
- It can be more complicated than what you are used to at other schools. You have to be on campus and get a student ID first – you do this in the student union building.
- After you get your ID, you have to register your ID number – the people who give you your card will tell you where you do this. Only then can you can sign up for classes.
- Classes fill quickly, and the best way to ensure getting a spot in a small seminar is to register early. Some students wait till midnight when registration opens to get first dibs!
Picking an Advisor
- Students should not feel pressure to choose an advisor immediately. We recommend visiting with faculty, learning about their research, and getting to know their work and communication styles. For Master’s students you should have your advisor near the end of your first year.
- Those of you who are assigned assistantships should not feel pressure to select this faculty member as your advisor.
- Once you have chosen your advisor you will work with that person to select a committee.
Dual Title Degrees
- If you’re planning on earning a dual degree with Demography, Women’s Studies, Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the Environment, or International Agriculture and Development, plan on taking a class in the program this fall. It will help you get to know the people in that program and prevent you from getting behind in requirements.
Assistantships
- Communicate with your assistantship advisor. Make sure that you both agree on the workload and scope of responsibilities.
- Advocate for yourself—this is real work and you can contribute creatively.
- Assistantship work will vary, some weeks will have a heavier workload than others, but it (generally) evens out in the end. You may not have time to do 20 hours for your RA and all your class work every week but don’t get hung up on the number of hours, just get the work done.
Moving to State College
Finding Housing
- When selecting a neighborhood to live, be aware of Beaver Avenue (one of the main streets going through downtown). There are a lot of fraternities in this area. Downtown in general has more noise and rambunctiousness during the weekend! However, some may prefer the convenience of being close to campus. Downtown can be an okay place to live if you avoid “Frat Row.” Especially once you cross Westerly, it is much quieter.
- Housing here is competitive and the best place to look for vacancies is Craigslist. Start your search early!
- Housing is cheaper outside of downtown:
- Lemont: This village is about five miles from Armsby and is a wonderful place to live for the person who wants to be able to escape campus life at the end of the day.
- Toftrees and Waupelani offer nice apartments and many graduate students live here.
- For those that don’t mind an easy commute and want to live where it is REALLY quiet, look for farmhouse or apartment rentals outside of town. Boalsburg and Bellefonte are both small towns outside of State College that are reasonably close to campus.
- There are also cooperative housing opportunities available.
Transportation
To and From State College
- The University Park airport (code: SCE) is located about 15 minutes north of campus. This small one gate airport is convenient and quick to get through, but it can be expensive due to requiring connections at larger hubs. It is worth checking prices against Pittsburgh (PIT) and Philadelphia (PHL) to compare — sometimes the rates are comparable for the convenience, but sometimes flying to a major airport and taking the bus in can save considerable money.
- Megabus is a fairly cheap option if you do not have a car. There are routes between State College and New York, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh. Buy tickets early for cheapest fares!
- Fullington Trailways is the only direct bus to Washington D.C. but it only runs during the weekends. Taking Fullington Trailways to NYC is nicer than taking the Megabus and also drops you off on campus; Fullington Trailways goes to several Pennsylvania locations like Allentown, Reading and King of Prussia.
- There is an Amtrak station in Lewistown, which is about 45 minutes from State College.
In State College
- State college has great bike paths that connect campus to residential areas. Always need to lock up? YES! There are several bike paths that fly in and out of campus and you can get a map at one of the bicycle shops in town: Freeze/Thaw or The Bicycle Shop
- Bikes need to be registered with campus parking.
- CATA provides buses around campus, downtown, and to surrounding areas. You can purchase a bus pass online or pay $1.50/way. There is a CATA App for the iPhone which lists bus schedules and real time bus locations, and route maps are available online. Some lines do not run on Sundays or weekends, and do not run late into the evenings.
Words of Wisdom
“Coming in, I wish I would’ve known……”
- …to start using Zotero/EndNote/RefWorks right away. These are programs that allow you to store articles and auto-format your citations.
- …that you can substitute required courses with comparable courses outside of the department.
- …that there are some important dates about scheduling, when to have forms turned in, etc. These items are difficult to locate. Ask Amanda and definitely ask other grad students about anything you are not sure of.
- …actually, just be sure to meet Amanda Ault, the graduate student staff assistant. She’s great to work with, and she will likely end up saving you at some point!
- …that grad school is a marathon and not a sprint.
- …that you will constantly feel like you’re behind with your work. Since there’s no way you’re ever going to be caught up with everything anyway, you may as well make sure you make time to be a real person. It’s all about balance.
- …that librarians are REALLY helpful with research. You can find a list of librarians on the library website.