AskPSU: The Newest Student Networking Tool

Admit it, as college students we’ve all had burning questions that needed to be answered, but we weren’t quite sure who to turn to. CATA bus drivers can’t tell you which dining halls are the best and you definitely can’t ask other professors which instructors NOT to take. So who do we turn to? Behold, your newest resource: AskPSU.

AskPSU is an open forum for Penn State students to ask and answer questions by using other students as a resource. From which campus dorm is the best to live in to which bar has the best drink specials, AskPSU covers all the bases of student life.

AskPSU was created in October of 2014, while its mother site, AskU, was founded in 2013. AskU has a reach of four major universities: Texas A&M, The University of Texas and Louisiana State University, with Penn State as the latest addition. Although each university has its own website, AskU is primarily a phone app, available for free on iOS and Android.

So how did AskPSU come to be? AskU’s Chief Executive Officer Tyler Mandry says it all started in his freshman dorm room.

“I went to a university with a very strong culture of being welcoming and encouraging. Everyone was always willing to help if you asked for it,” says Mandry. “The problem is, when your only friends are freshmen, you can only find out so much from them. One day as a freshman, I couldn’t apply for a scholarship without waiting in my dorm on hold for over an hour to get help with the application. That’s when I came up with the idea for AskU.”

The company has taken off as students across the country now use AskU as the ultimate hub for information. The forum is used by the students, for the students rather than relying on a third party for answers. Students can create an account and post and answer questions freely, with trusted information from students who are in your exact position.

“When we finally built AskU at our university, we found it was more convenient to get information there,” Mandry adds. “The information was better, because it was from students who actually experienced things from your perspective.”

So far, over a third of Penn State students use AskPSU as a resource, with traffic increasing at a rapid pace. In the future, Mandry and his team hope to expand to other major universities across the country.

You can keep up with AskU on their website, AskPSU’s website, and by following them on Twitter or Facebook.