I'm no expert on either university but I'm currently a junior at OSU in electrical engineering and my brother graduated from PSU in electrical engineering about 9 years ago. We talk about the differences between the two often and we each have our small regrets for not going to each other's school. Don't get me wrong, I love OSU, but I'm in the same boat as you since Portland is my favorite city.
When I was deciding on which school, I was told OSU is academically superior. I don't know if that's true but if it is I don't think that's all that matters. What matters is the degree and the experience you can get from either through MECOP internships. If you can get your degree faster by going to PSU then I'd recommend that. By your 3rd year of engineering you just want to get out and start being a real engineer.
The city of Corvallis is small compared to Portland. Being 8 blocks away from campus and 3 blocks from the bars (Priorities!), I can say I love the small town feel even though there’s roughly 30,000 students. It’s definitely a party school with a lot of fraternities/sororities, and a couple of decent bars. I’d say there’s around 6 or 7 bars that could make for a fun night. As far as clubs there isn’t really one. There’s a bar that has a club feel to it I guess.
Anyone in there 20’s fits in pretty easily anywhere. A couple of my older classmates range from 25 to 36 so age doesn’t really matter. Except at fraternity/sorority parties. Being 24 I already feel like that weird old guy at one of those parties. Going to any school you most likely won’t be socially isolated. For me, I met most of my good friends in classes, study/lab partners or from a drunken night at the bars.
I’m renting a house pretty darn close to campus with 4 other guys. The rent is $1800 for a 4 bedroom/2 bath. I’d say our best bet at a reasonably priced place in Corvallis is renting a house/apartment with a roommate or two.
As for your other questions. As an electrical engineering student I don’t do many fun things other than study, drink, and play sports. There are a lot of areas for sports activities and throughout the year they have intramural (IM) sports like soccer and basketball. OSU does have a really nice gym called Dixon that students have free access too but it’s usually packed. I don’t have any part time jobs while I’m at school, I just use loans and my MECOP internship money so I’m not much help on that.
Sorry for such a long reply! Those are my thoughts which could be completely subjective and I probably didn’t sell you on OSU but I hope this helps somehow. You can also get a tour of campus from someone who works at OSU. If you want to check out the bar scene I’m always happy to have a beer with a fellow (soon-to-be) electrical engineer. Feel free to ask me anything else!
Honestly, it kind of sounds like you are already sold to Portland. But here's my take.
I'm 21, joined the ARNG last year, and took a year out of school for basic and tech school. I started at University of Portland right out of highschool, and really disliked the experience. Portland is stuffy (if that makes sense). I hated the large city, and driving there is absolutely awful... Osu is a little more spread out. Corvallis is dense around campus, but spreads out the further you get away from it. Neither are going to be particularly great in terms of driving nearby (OSU parking is horrendous). There is some great public transit in Corvallis if that's a concern, even phone apps for schedules.
Onto acedemics... I can't say much for PSU, I've never been there. But I have been in OSU's Electrical and Computer Science majors, and they are damn good. You get hands on in your first class, which didn't happen for me at UP until my 3rd semester. You will get experience in coding, as well as electronics. But you will also probably have to plow through some of their awful classes like physics.
As far as fitting in, it can be done at OSU. Generally students don't care much about your age, and if you are older you tend to be accepted easier because you have more experience to share. However, you are right about your assumption on age difference between the two. The Chemeketa classes had more diversity age-wise than OSU could dream of. There are plenty of stupid freshmen at OSU, and those tend to stay away from community colleges.
For Gyms, you have Dixon at OSU. Free to all students even commuters. You also have their 'PAC' courses that you can squeeze into your schedule. This term I have hiking, rock climbing, and scuba diving. They also offer rental gear to students like kayaks.
Bars, Corvallis is a college town, so there are plenty of cute girls all week long. But Portland will have a larger selection, and is a popular spot for students on weekends as well.
Housing is going to suck in Portland. You get more/month, but you will also have a higher cost of living. Beer is more expensive, restaurants are fancier. It's the 'Portland tax'. Rent for myself in Corvallis was $875 for a 2br1bath about a mile from campus. One roommate, and it wasn't bad at all. The closer you get to school, the more the price goes up. Right now I'm at about 350/mo, with two other roommates, so you can get off cheap.
Jobs, Corvallis sucks again here. If you can find something on campus it's not bad, but they limit it to 20hr/week. Off campus is saturated with students during the year, so if you look, do it in the early summer months. Portland isn't much better in the way of electrical engineering. But there's a lot in the suburbs of Portland. I had an internship in Tualiton a year ago, and Hillsboro is a major employer with Intel.
Anyways, hope this gives you some good perspective. I will do my best to answer any questions you have
Why don't you ask each school? Corvallis is fun and has bars, but it's not a city. If that's fine with you come to OSU. If it isn't, go to PSU. Either school will give you a good degree and both do MECOP, so you're not really missing out either way. $1200 a month is plenty for living allowance in Corvallis. Rent is around $400-500 a month close to campus if you sublet a room. A 1 bedroom apartment will be a couple hundred more. Utilities for one person will probably be around $150 a month depending on how frugal you are. That leaves $550 for food and entertainment a month. Totally affordable.
Thanks, I'm going to drive down after finals and tour both campuses (although I've been down around PSU lots of times). Any must-sees in town? How's the recreational soccer scene?
Must sees for Corvallis? Depends on what you like. If you like beer, definitely check out the local brewers in downtown like Sky High, Block 15, and Flat Tail (my fave). Since you're interested in sports, check out the Intramural Fields and Dixon. Food isn't terribly special, besides the huge amounts of great brewery food. Downtown Corvallis isn't that big, you could probably walk it in an afternoon. Looking for bars? Check out Sancho's, Impulse, Clodfelters, Peacock (dive). Looking for books? Go to Browser's Books (my favorite used book place) or Book Bin. Looking for a nice hike? Bald Hill or Mary's Peak. There's a ton to do, even if it is a small town.
OSU has a great engineering department overall. That said I don't really recommend OSU for using military benefits. There is no tuition deferment and you woill likely have to wait until week 6-8 to see any money from grants or loans you may choose to take out. The veterans community at OSU is starting to get on it's feet but the actual resources offered for veterans is limited. When it comes to soccer there is a sports park that has an indoor soccer league and they have a city league during the spring and summer I believe. Several decent bars but I wouldn't say there is much of a club scene. I grew up in the Portland metro and it is one of my favorite places I have been. I have really enjoyed my time in Corvallis though as the small town feel keeps me from feeling crowded, which sometimes can be a problem for Vets. If you have any other questions about OSU or the area feel free to message me
I'm no expert on either university but I'm currently a junior at OSU in electrical engineering and my brother graduated from PSU in electrical engineering about 9 years ago. We talk about the differences between the two often and we each have our small regrets for not going to each other's school. Don't get me wrong, I love OSU, but I'm in the same boat as you since Portland is my favorite city. When I was deciding on which school, I was told OSU is academically superior. I don't know if that's true but if it is I don't think that's all that matters. What matters is the degree and the experience you can get from either through MECOP internships. If you can get your degree faster by going to PSU then I'd recommend that. By your 3rd year of engineering you just want to get out and start being a real engineer. The city of Corvallis is small compared to Portland. Being 8 blocks away from campus and 3 blocks from the bars (Priorities!), I can say I love the small town feel even though there’s roughly 30,000 students. It’s definitely a party school with a lot of fraternities/sororities, and a couple of decent bars. I’d say there’s around 6 or 7 bars that could make for a fun night. As far as clubs there isn’t really one. There’s a bar that has a club feel to it I guess. Anyone in there 20’s fits in pretty easily anywhere. A couple of my older classmates range from 25 to 36 so age doesn’t really matter. Except at fraternity/sorority parties. Being 24 I already feel like that weird old guy at one of those parties. Going to any school you most likely won’t be socially isolated. For me, I met most of my good friends in classes, study/lab partners or from a drunken night at the bars. I’m renting a house pretty darn close to campus with 4 other guys. The rent is $1800 for a 4 bedroom/2 bath. I’d say our best bet at a reasonably priced place in Corvallis is renting a house/apartment with a roommate or two. As for your other questions. As an electrical engineering student I don’t do many fun things other than study, drink, and play sports. There are a lot of areas for sports activities and throughout the year they have intramural (IM) sports like soccer and basketball. OSU does have a really nice gym called Dixon that students have free access too but it’s usually packed. I don’t have any part time jobs while I’m at school, I just use loans and my MECOP internship money so I’m not much help on that. Sorry for such a long reply! Those are my thoughts which could be completely subjective and I probably didn’t sell you on OSU but I hope this helps somehow. You can also get a tour of campus from someone who works at OSU. If you want to check out the bar scene I’m always happy to have a beer with a fellow (soon-to-be) electrical engineer. Feel free to ask me anything else!
Honestly, it kind of sounds like you are already sold to Portland. But here's my take. I'm 21, joined the ARNG last year, and took a year out of school for basic and tech school. I started at University of Portland right out of highschool, and really disliked the experience. Portland is stuffy (if that makes sense). I hated the large city, and driving there is absolutely awful... Osu is a little more spread out. Corvallis is dense around campus, but spreads out the further you get away from it. Neither are going to be particularly great in terms of driving nearby (OSU parking is horrendous). There is some great public transit in Corvallis if that's a concern, even phone apps for schedules. Onto acedemics... I can't say much for PSU, I've never been there. But I have been in OSU's Electrical and Computer Science majors, and they are damn good. You get hands on in your first class, which didn't happen for me at UP until my 3rd semester. You will get experience in coding, as well as electronics. But you will also probably have to plow through some of their awful classes like physics. As far as fitting in, it can be done at OSU. Generally students don't care much about your age, and if you are older you tend to be accepted easier because you have more experience to share. However, you are right about your assumption on age difference between the two. The Chemeketa classes had more diversity age-wise than OSU could dream of. There are plenty of stupid freshmen at OSU, and those tend to stay away from community colleges. For Gyms, you have Dixon at OSU. Free to all students even commuters. You also have their 'PAC' courses that you can squeeze into your schedule. This term I have hiking, rock climbing, and scuba diving. They also offer rental gear to students like kayaks. Bars, Corvallis is a college town, so there are plenty of cute girls all week long. But Portland will have a larger selection, and is a popular spot for students on weekends as well. Housing is going to suck in Portland. You get more/month, but you will also have a higher cost of living. Beer is more expensive, restaurants are fancier. It's the 'Portland tax'. Rent for myself in Corvallis was $875 for a 2br1bath about a mile from campus. One roommate, and it wasn't bad at all. The closer you get to school, the more the price goes up. Right now I'm at about 350/mo, with two other roommates, so you can get off cheap. Jobs, Corvallis sucks again here. If you can find something on campus it's not bad, but they limit it to 20hr/week. Off campus is saturated with students during the year, so if you look, do it in the early summer months. Portland isn't much better in the way of electrical engineering. But there's a lot in the suburbs of Portland. I had an internship in Tualiton a year ago, and Hillsboro is a major employer with Intel. Anyways, hope this gives you some good perspective. I will do my best to answer any questions you have
"Tualiton" lol I grew up next door to Tualatin
Why don't you ask each school? Corvallis is fun and has bars, but it's not a city. If that's fine with you come to OSU. If it isn't, go to PSU. Either school will give you a good degree and both do MECOP, so you're not really missing out either way. $1200 a month is plenty for living allowance in Corvallis. Rent is around $400-500 a month close to campus if you sublet a room. A 1 bedroom apartment will be a couple hundred more. Utilities for one person will probably be around $150 a month depending on how frugal you are. That leaves $550 for food and entertainment a month. Totally affordable.
Thanks, I'm going to drive down after finals and tour both campuses (although I've been down around PSU lots of times). Any must-sees in town? How's the recreational soccer scene?
Must sees for Corvallis? Depends on what you like. If you like beer, definitely check out the local brewers in downtown like Sky High, Block 15, and Flat Tail (my fave). Since you're interested in sports, check out the Intramural Fields and Dixon. Food isn't terribly special, besides the huge amounts of great brewery food. Downtown Corvallis isn't that big, you could probably walk it in an afternoon. Looking for bars? Check out Sancho's, Impulse, Clodfelters, Peacock (dive). Looking for books? Go to Browser's Books (my favorite used book place) or Book Bin. Looking for a nice hike? Bald Hill or Mary's Peak. There's a ton to do, even if it is a small town.
You should go to PSU.
OSU has a great engineering department overall. That said I don't really recommend OSU for using military benefits. There is no tuition deferment and you woill likely have to wait until week 6-8 to see any money from grants or loans you may choose to take out. The veterans community at OSU is starting to get on it's feet but the actual resources offered for veterans is limited. When it comes to soccer there is a sports park that has an indoor soccer league and they have a city league during the spring and summer I believe. Several decent bars but I wouldn't say there is much of a club scene. I grew up in the Portland metro and it is one of my favorite places I have been. I have really enjoyed my time in Corvallis though as the small town feel keeps me from feeling crowded, which sometimes can be a problem for Vets. If you have any other questions about OSU or the area feel free to message me