@spqr70nj My oldest son is a VA Tech graduate in mechanical engineering, class of 1993 (yes, I’m that old!). The only other school he applied to was WVU, where he, like your son, was offered a scholarship.
@spqr70nj my son was accepted to WVU w a scholarship offer too. We are waiting for VT as well, but it’s sort of moot now. He was accepted to his dream school,Texas A&M (Engineering) and this fall he will be an Aggie.
PSU wait listing him for UP made our decision so much easier.
@spqr70nj so sorry u didn’t get the answer u were hoping for. But other options for your son sound great!
And on a completely selfish note, u did get an answer on a reconsideration while my EA
d application under review since August still no decision today
that’s aimed at the psu admissions not u of course
All the best nj!!!
@ErRnMom Thanks! And congrats to your son! I told my son that he has to weigh in those scholarships. If he plans to pursue graduate studies afterwards, then he has to minimize the debt he takes on as an undergraduate. Definitely with the scholarships WVU offered he would walk out debt free. Plus this whole process kicks off again in three years - I have a 9th grader who has medical school ambitions. ?
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Thanks @ziveli513 ! Yes, their decision did incorporate the fact that he asked to be reconsidered for UP. It was just an off-year as most expressed so he just needs to move on. Good luck and hope your daughter finds out soon!
@spqr70nj one last question, was your son gpa 3.978 uw? It seems crazy he didn’t get in when u see posts with similar stats on decisions only that got in
And he was offered a scholarship and honors college at wvu
So hard to figure out where the line is for psu this year
@spqr70nj , dang! So sorry it didn’t work out. WVU is a wonderful school and you really can’t beat that offer. For as much as I love PSU, you can’t pass up a debt-free bachelor’s degree–and it’s a reputable program.
Anyone else still not hear back yet? Do you think I should call admissions? I’m afraid they’ve forgotten about my application.
@ziveli513 according to his guidance counselor, the gpa is weighted.
@CalinAmry still waiting too. Admissions has said on phone and on website that though decisions are made “by 1/31” portal updates can take up to 2 days
So don’t worry, it stinks but probably your ap is ok
But admissions also said if more than 2 pass and no update then contact admissions
Hope we hear soon 
Just got an email from university of Florida. Decision day is feb 8. All freshman applicants who got info in by 11/15 will have decisions available to view online after 6 pm on 2/8
Decisions will also be mailed after feb 8 to all applicants
How civilized lol. It’s my d 7th choice, we just wanted a warm place as an option
@ziveli513 Yeah, most universities are punctual and pretty efficient when it comes to admissions decisions. I honestly believe that this whole “2 days to update in portal” thing is not acceptable, Jan 31st is already a later date than they promised, and then they want to extend it even further by saying that it might take a couple days to update. If they said the 31st, then I expect it to be in there by the 31st, not on February 2nd. Out of all my son’s colleges he’s applied to, i’ve never seen admissions handled so poorly, ever. PSU is one of his top schools, i’m hoping for his sake that it’s a positive outcome as he’s now been invested in this since September.
@vadad2019 thank you for sharing your perspective, that helps a lot! This is my first and only child to go through this process. There will be those who say oh but other universities are worse, but who cares at this point. Clearly other large universities are able to do admissions efficiently, why not psu
Hope u have a positive outcome for your son!
I’m guessing they’re going to have worse yield than usual: even those admitted are discouraged at this point since not one but TWO self imposed deadlines have passed and they haven’t been able to complete their side of the deal.
I understand they’ve been overwhelmed by way more applications through Commonapp+EA. But they had to allocate a budget to hire more people to get things done.
Penn State the university can offer a great experience but no applicant could be blamed for feeling burned or uninterested at this point.
That means so much coming from you @MYOS1634 still trying not to be soured and hoping though late Final will still be good news
@jlhpsu I hope this isn’t too personal a question, but I am wondering what in particular was hard for your son to shift from Altoona to UP. You mentioned rigor, and I’m assuming that was just how hard the classes were. (Are they really that different at UP?) Did school size also play a factor, for example? Or other things? My S put Altoona has his alternate and is wait listed for UP. Just looking for more information from your experience so we can learn and maybe make the right choices, if it comes to 2+2 for us. Thanks in advance.
@MyaCocoa Honestly, UP can be very overwhelming. If you aren’t a kid that is proactive in getting resources or can handle being in large classes, you may struggle. My son did really well at Altoona. It wasn’t so much that the classes were easier, because they were difficult, but there were 20 or 30 kids in the class, so if a kid was struggling, the professor knew them by name and was more easily available for help. At UP, my son has to trek all over campus to find resources and go to office hours, etc…and sometimes, he just doesn’t do it.
At Altoona, everything was contained in that campus and he could stop in for office hours on his way home from class because often the professor’s office hours were in the same building as the class! Altoona has about 4-5000 students. My son felt like part of a family there. He’s floundering a bit at UP both with seeking out resources for help and in finding his niche. He’s lonelier for sure at UP than he was at Altoona. He lives off campus and He’s shy -so he finds it harder to maneuver the social aspects of UP campus. At Altoona, it was less intimidating and he had no trouble getting to know people.
He likes UP, don’t get me wrong…it’s a fun place, but his grades are nowhere near what they were at Altoona because I think he gets lost in the shuffle and is too timid to reach out. I, personally, have advocated for him to return to Altoona to finish his degree. He wants to stick it out at UP. I love the Altoona campus though. It’s absolutely great if you want small personalized attention, especially in the weed out classes. Those professors were proactive in making sure their students were on top of it. Not so at a big campus like UP. My son knows that I will have no problem yanking him back to Altoona if he doesn’t figure out the maze of options that is UP. I love Penn State. I am an alumni, my husband is an alumni, my daughter will graduate in May and become and alumni and I have a niece and nephew who are there as well. I love it…but it’s not for everyone. It really takes a specific kind of kid that can maneuver it. My son is not one of them…yet.
@jlhpsu Thanks for the good info. So it kind of is “all the things” like I thought. My son is not a big fan of walking. It’s weird, but he’s always been that way. But I figured college would get him over that. So I had wondered if the campus size, social options, and all the rest just get “too big” for some kids. I kind of feel like my son will do what he has to do, because that’s how he’s been the last few years: He sets a high bar for himself and then goes for it. But it’s nice to hear more about Altoona. Can you tell me more about the campus, the look/feel, stuff like that?
We did visit UP, but if 2+2 becomes an option to Altoona or elsewhere, we will definitely go visit there as well.
@MyaCocoa I think Altoona is a very pretty campus in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Altoona itself is a bigger blue collar town with lots of restaurants etc…there is a business district and a “downtown” , but the campus itself is in an area called Juniata which is residential. Having a car on campus is allowed freshman year and I think is a help for getting to the mall etc…
There is a lake that is central to campus and the ducks are very friendly The sidewalks are tree lined and the classroom buildings are nice with modern amenities. Dining hall on campus is nice. There are four dorms. Two traditional dorms where the kids share a hallway bathroom. And Two suite style dorms with four students to a suite and they share a bathroom. They also have air conditioning. My son lived in one of the suite dorms and loved it. Not all freshmen can live on campus. There is not enough housing for all freshmen, but the off campus housing options are often adjacent to campus and walkable.
There are lots of clubs on campus, a newly renovated athletic building and it’s only 40 minutes or so to main campus so kids do go up for football games and concerts and are active in some UP activities such as THON etc.
I was very impressed with the personal attention there. It’s a smaller campus but very pretty. My husband spent his first two years there way back in the 80’s and we just both really like that campus. My favorite commonwealth campus is Altoona, followed closely by Erie and Harrisburg. Not that I’ve seen them all, but I’ve seen a bunch!
I got accepted for UP Fall 2019 DUS! Beyond excited right now as my stats were extremely borderline and I thought for sure I was a summer or commonwealth admit. I’m just so glad I changed from Smeal to DUS, definitely worked in my favor. Thank you to everyone who helped me go through this process, it’s been long but now definitely worth it. Best of luck to everyone else waiting on decisions still.