According to a survey done by Forbes, the desire to be in Happy Valley isn’t just unique to current students and alumni. Penn State ranked 24th for colleges that high school seniors wanted to go to, based on a survey of 2,700 high school seniors around the country. Penn State was the only Big Ten school in the top 25. Pitt also ranked outside the top 25.

Penn State is among a fairly diverse group on the list, including predictable schools like the Ivies, some more surprising ones like the University of Northern Iowa, and other large public schools like the University of Texas. The top five are predictably Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, and Princeton. The University of Pennsylvania, the only other PA school on the list, came in at No. 12.

The University has been trending upwards in popularity in recent years, and the school even received a record number of applications last year. Transcending academia, this data is consistent with the trend of really talented high school athletes wanting to come to Penn State too.

So unsurprisingly, Penn State is an attractive destination for many high school students. They’re making the right call.

About the Author

Mike Reisman

is a senior Supply Chain Management major with an Economics minor (Read: Business Douche) from South Jersey. He has an intense fear of graduating so please don't bring it up. He writes about stupid things nobody cares about, and student life if the site is low on content that is clearly supposed be funny but is really very unfunny. He is lovingly (?) known around the staff as Baby Mike which may or may not be because he has a child (hint: it’s not). He’s also a second generation Penn Stater who has been wearing Penn State sweatshirts since before he was two, a habit he hasn’t grown out of. If you really hate yourself, you can follow him on twitter at @mike_reisman or email him at [email protected]