Academic colleges at Penn State grant our degrees and are generally organized around their subject matter.
Colleges at Penn State should not be confused with campuses:
Campuses: Where students take classes, and in many cases reside. We have 20 undergraduate campuses.
Colleges: A college grants the degree once those courses are completed. We have 11 colleges at Penn State University Park and 6 others throughout Pennsylvania.
Most degree-seeking Penn State students attend a campus and are enrolled in a college.
Students interested in choosing between majors in a single college, like the College of Communications, for example, should enroll in that college and use the help of an adviser there to decide on a major. Students interested in exploring a variety of majors spanning different colleges should consider enrolling in the Division of Undergraduate Studies, where they will work with advisers who will keep them on track toward academic progress while they investigate different majors.
Eleven academic colleges offer degrees that must be completed at the University Park campus:
- College of Agricultural Sciences
- College of Arts and Architecture
- Smeal College of Business
- College of Communications
- College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
- College of Education
- College of Engineering
- College of Health and Human Development
- College of Information Sciences and Technology
- College of the Liberal Arts
- Eberly College of Science
View majors available from each academic college.
Students interested in majors in these colleges can (with a few exceptions) start their education at any Penn State campus and then transition to University Park following their sophomore year.
The six remaining Penn State colleges, located throughout the state, offer majors that are typically completed at campuses other than University Park. These are:
- the Abington College (Penn State Abington campus)
- the Altoona College (Penn State Altoona campus)
- the Behrend College (Penn State Erie campus)
- the Berks College(Penn State Berks campus)
- the Capital College (Penn State Harrisburg campus)
- the University College, which includes:
- Penn State Beaver
- Penn State Brandywine, formerly known as Penn State Delaware County
- Penn State DuBois
- Penn State Fayette
- Penn State Greater Allegheny
- Penn State Hazleton
- Penn State Lehigh Valley
- Penn State Mont Alto
- Penn State New Kensington
- Penn State Schuylkill
- Penn State Shenango
- Penn State Wilkes-Barre
- Penn State Worthington-Scranton
- Penn State York
Students interested in majors offered by these colleges may usually start at one campus and finish at another, or stay at one campus for all four years if their campus of choice offers the major they want.
