Academics at Penn State

The Pennsylvania State University, founded in 1855, is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s sole land-grant institution and its largest public university. Penn State’s land-grant mission embraces teaching, research, and public service in order to support the citizens of the Commonwealth, collaborating with industrial, educational, and agricultural partners to create, disseminate, integrate, and apply knowledge that is valuable to society.

Participants in the Penn State Education Abroad (EA) exchange program are enrolled as non-degree undergraduate students.
Undergraduate students are required to enroll in 12 credits per semester, with an average semester load being 15 credits. 

You will be enrolled in courses based on the requests that you submit in your Advance Course Registration Form in the EA application.
We cannot guarantee enrollment in any course. Academic departments do their best to accommodate your choices; however, all of your course selections may not be available. Please be as flexible as possible in selecting courses!
Course descriptions, pre-requisites, and credits can be found in Penn State’s Course Catalog.
Refer to Penn State’s Class Search for course availability in a specific semester.
Exchange students will finalize their schedule of courses after arriving on campus and in consultation with an assigned academic adviser.

Some colleges and academic departments at Penn State restrict enrollment in specific courses. The departments/colleges listed below may not be able to accommodate students’ requests. In many cases, level of ability in the area of study needs to be determined in person. Whether you can add these courses may not be known until you arrive and talk to the instructor/adviser. 

If you are interested in courses that are restricted or full, please list them on your Advance Course Registration Form. Although EA is unable to schedule restricted or full courses, our staff will share your selection(s) with your academic adviser for consideration. There are no exceptions to enroll in courses that are indicated to be unavailable (e.g.: Musical Theatre, Nursing).