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Differences of AIP and Penn State
College is a huge step in a student’s maturation and serves as a stepping stone for future endeavors. All colleges educate their students but depending on the type of school, the rate of maturity differs. This past weekend I visited Penn State University Park with friends and realized so many differences between Penn State and The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
The biggest difference I noticed is that at the Art Institute we do not have a meal plan but instead we cook our own food in a full kitchen. Penn State has many cafeterias to choose from but only a mini fridge and a microwave is allowed in their rooms. They have a card that they can choose to put money on that is only used with the school to pay for their food. I think that having to make our own food at AIP gives us a head start for living by ourselves after college. We know how to make everything ourselves and we are getting used to having to time manage school, work, and cooking meals. Sometimes it would be a lot easier to just walk to a café and buy food, but in the long run I think it is better to be prepared earlier.
The other main difference is that AIP is located in the middle of downtown Pittsburgh and has no campus, unlike Penn State, which has the largest campus in Pennsylvania. It is such a big change to go from living in a city to just living around college students. I like that everyone is in one place, like at Penn State, but I feel that by living in the city you get used to living around so many different types of people, not only college students. Even though colleges are very different from each other, they all have their positive and negative aspects, all depending on what you value and want to gain from your college experience.
