Though it’s been less than 2 weeks since the application window closed, the incoming class of 2014 has begun to receive their acceptance letters. This is an impressive feat considering more than 100,000 students applied to Penn State this year. One can only guess at the admissions office’s process for sorting through these applications. Nonetheless, this is an exciting time for future Penn State students, and that means one thing, Class of 2014 Facebook groups.

As of this post’s writing, there were four such groups on Facebook, though more are sure to be created soon. What is most interesting is who decided to form these groups.

The first (and largest, with 169 members and counting) is “Penn State Class of 2014 | University Park”. This page was created by a Penn State sophomore, and seems have been created to promote thecollegethings.com,  a Penn State specific forum on college life. Interestingly, the largest Class of 2013 group promotes the same site, so these people obviously know what they’re doing.

Next is “Penn State University – Class of 2014 (Official Group)”. Though claiming authority through strategically placed parentheses, there is no evidence that this is a school sponsored group. However, this is the only group that appears to have been created by an actual member of the class of 2014, so that gives it more legitimacy than any other in my opinion.

The smallest legitimate group, “PSU University Park – Class of 2014” was created by young man who apparently  likes Chicken Cosmo’s and Craps. Why a student would create a group for students who will be freshmen when he is a senior is a question I choose not to speculate on, so I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.

The shadiest group, which thankfully only has 23 members, is “Penn State Class of 2014 ROOMMATE FINDER: Sponsored by URoomSurf.com”. There has been a growing trend of companies forming this sort of group to market directly to students. In the past, these marketing ploys tried to hide the fact they were glorified spam lists, but it seems this company at least is being upfront about their efforts.

I personally waited until around March of my senior year before joining one of these groups. Was anyone out there an early adopter like these students?