For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admissions representatives at colleges all over the country (the subject line of the e-mail is “Three quick questions”), and then I hope to hear back from them. When I do, I’ll post them on Apply with Sanity. It’s that simple.

The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique but that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.

This response is from Katie Immel, Admissions Counselor at Penn State University.

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to Penn State University?

We have 20 campuses that are all on one transcript, meaning we are one university. So students are able to tailor their education to fit their needs. If they want a big campus, we have it. If they want an intimate campus, we have it.

Naturally every college wants to recruit the perfect student--high grades, high test scores, involved in their community, leadership...everything. But what kinds of imperfect students tend to flourish at Penn State?

I would say passionate leaders do very well at Penn State.

When people come to visit Penn State, what's a place off campus that you recommend they check out while they're there?

Mount Nittany—gorgeous mountain for hiking.

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Photo by Angela Elisabeth.