Decent yet affordable State University

YSU is a great college for anyone who wants to get a graduate degree from a State college for a reasonable price. The locations of the university isn’t the best given that 2 nearest cities(Cleveland and Pittsburgh) are more than an hour away. The curriculum is good but could be better.

The course curriculum is very outdated. Recently some changes have been made and some new courses are added but still some room for improvement.

TOEFL: 91/120. Didn’t require GRE because did bachelors from the same university. Required LOR and CV to apply for graduate assistantship. LOR should be from someone you’d worked with professionally (even unpaid work).

Has gotten tough for students to get placed recently straight out of college. Most of it has to do with the overwhelming competition given the number of students that came in during post covid intakes.

Without any scholarships, one can expect to pat <30,000 for tuition for 4 semester graduate program tuition.

Graduate assistantship reward: 10,000 stipend/calendar year, Waived tuition.

With a lot of international students coming in recently the ratio is not great, about 1:50. Most of the faculty members are very approachable and easy to interact with. Graduate Advisor, Dr. Alina Lazar is one of the best professors in the department. Got to learn a lot from her.

Campus location isn't great. There’s not much to do outside of campus if you don’t drive. Campus has a decent infrastructure and provides all the basic amenities any student would expect from a school. Great wifi and study lounges/cafes around the campus. Library is also good and the hours could be better but they extend the hours near exam week. There’s a decent selection of clubs on campus to participate in the Youngstown Downtown is walkable distance to go to on weekends.

There on campus apartments which are between $650-850 for private room. These are more luxurious and newly constructed mostly. Then there’s a a lot of off campus apartments nearby(mostly walkable distance) about 800-900 for a 2 bedroom apartment. Most international student prefer these and share it with other students.