As a freshman at Penn State, you will most likely be living in East Halls. This area of dorms are home to freshman, and freshman only. It is the center of new student life at the beginning of the year. East Commons was also recently renovated and it is really nice in there.
This sounds great, right? Well, what a lot of upperclassmen may tell you is that living in east basically sucks. They will say that it is far away from everything and its a pain to go anywhere from east. I'm here to tell you that what they are saying isn't necessarily true.
For starters, I will agree that at first, east seems far away from everything. But in reality, it really isn't. It is the closest residence halls to Beaver stadium which is SUPER convenient on game days. It is also the closest dorms to the famous Berkey Creamery, Pegula Ice Arena, The BJC, and its only a 7 min walk from the Thomas building where you will most likely have a class or two. But, the most important reason why east isn't really far from anything is because there is a CATA bus stop right in front of east halls. This is the most amazing thing ever and insanely convenient. Just hop on a loop or link and easily get to your class all the way down Curtin Road or take a quick trip downtown to the Waffle Shop.
Another reason why you should want to live only in east halls your freshman year is because it is basically the entire freshman class in one area, so it is really easy to meet people and make friends. It makes it a lot easier when you are going out at night or trying to meet up before going to a tailgate or go into the games to say "let's meet in Findlay" or "let's meet at *insert east dorm here*". Living in a different residence hall, this could get difficult if all of your friends live in one area.
Living in East was such an amazing experience and I wouldn't trade my experience there for anything. All I can say is make sure when you put your housing information down you requested east renovated and east traditional to optimize your chances of living in the center for everything freshman.
