PSU World Campus - conferring campus

I had always assumed that the World Campus is just considered one of the many campuses in the PSU Commonwealth system. Everyone gets the same diploma, but someone getting a degree or certificate online would not be able to claim that it is from the prestigious University Park campus. But today I had a conversation with a Penn State representative and learned that World Campus - despite its name - is a delivery platform shared by all campuses in the system, and not an independent entity. The degree I was looking at is offered by the UP campus, and thus I would be totally comfortable calling myself a PSU UP graduate despite getting the degree through WC.

This may be old news to many of you, but I wanted to share because I have seen confusion around the PSU system in the past.

 

Thanks for this information. I earned a Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems from PSU World Campus. University Park's Geography Department is considered to be the best in the US.

 

We've been through this before, but here it is again:

1. Penn State is officially divided into "Colleges" for degree-granting purposes -- not "Campuses". So all Penn State diplomas have a "College" name on them.

2. As far as Penn State is concerned, the "Campus" is irrelevant -- only the "College" matters. So even if you are a traditional B&M student at University Park, your diploma won't say "University Park" on it. And if you are a non-traditional World Campus student, your diploma won't say "World Campus" on it.

3. Many Penn State "Colleges" are located at the University Park campus. Some of them offer online degrees through the World Campus delivery system. For example, it looks like the World Campus GIS Certificate is issued by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, which is located at the University Park campus. So you could say that the GIS Certificate is a "University Park" credential.

4. Other Penn State "Colleges" are located at other campuses. They may also offer online degrees through the World Campus delivery system. For example, the World Campus MPA degree is issued by Capitol College, which is located at the Harrisburg campus. This one is not a "University Park" credential.

Bottom line: a traditional B&M Penn State degree may -- or may not -- be issued by a College at the University Park campus. In exactly the same way, an online Penn State degree may -- or may not -- be issued by a College at the University Park campus.

 

I've seen the previous threads and they have been very helpful as to campus vs college. But I am trying to figure out which college offers the online Bachelor of Science in Business degree with Accounting concentration. It says it is offered in conjunction with many campuses, but that does not tell me which college offers or what its accredidation is. I am impressed with the Penn State name, but there is Smeal and there is not Smeal. It is only one factor, but when you try to compare different programs Penn State generally means Smeal. Am I better off going with UAB (Collat) or Washington State (Carson)? There business schools seem to have a more direct connection to their online offerings.

 

Focus more on the degree itself - is it a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration...or a Bachelor of Business Administration...or a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Management...or a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in General Studies with an Accounting concentration...that will make much more of a difference than the street address of the college granting the degree.

Potential employers will focus more heavily on the degree itself (as in the examples above) because that will tell them the level of comprehension in the discipline - the campus is irrelevant to that review.