2023 PSU Waiting for Decisions

Colleges & Universities Penn State
2221

Last year Penn State did not meet their deadline for a very small number of applicants and they came out with a new deadline - unlike this year where they haven’t given a deadline. This year, they have not met it for far more I believe because of the common app and EA. They should have hired many more people to work admissions if they already knew from last year that the number of applicants was high, and likely to go much higher with the inclusion of EA and Common App.

Re: Supplemental housing - This happens USUALLY if students accept last minute. January, February and even March usually does not get put into supplemental. I’ve known kids in supplemental that were upset and ended up loving it and not leaving when a double room became available. Especially if others in the room DO take the doubles - leaves an extra big room for a small number of kids. Some kids hate supplemental as well. For every example of one, you will find an example of another so it’s kind of a moot point. Regardless, February commits usually do not get supplemental. Even this year, because even after all of this mess - the number of students who attend will be near the same because they cannot accommodate more.

2222

@mattcccc When you accepted your offer of admissions, you would have received an email within 20-30 minutes. In that email were details and a link to eLiving, which is where you go to choose your housing options and meal plan.

2223

@mattcccc You now have a new Portal called LionPATH which is where all PSU details and information is located. It That is where your Financial Aid information will be, your class schedule, grades, and a ton of other information. LionPATH is where you research and choose classes, pay tuition, see your psu email and do all PSU business going forward.

2224

@CalinAmry I can only form an impression from what I am seeing on the page where decisions are posted, but my feeling is “a lot” are still waiting. Realizing only a very small percentage of applicants use these forums… even so, there have not been “waves” of postings indicating all the colleges have been covered - at least to my eye. There has only been one decision release per day (but not always at the same time of day) and not many per day as has been stated happened in previous years.

You know how when you watch fireworks, there is some sense of when and what the The Grand Finale is? (Sometimes we’re wrong!) But mostly it’s: 1) at the right time 2) it’s extra loud 3) and it comes faster. I haven’t seen anything like that on these forums.

My own feeling (my S is wait listed so the longer all this takes, the longer it’ll take to hear if he’s off the wait list) is that this will NOT be done this week. I do not think that the release I think we are expecting at midnight tonight will be the end. But I could be completely wrong.

I understand that those who wait feel they are the only ones left and their applications have been “lost” somehow. I don’t know what to say. This whole thing is just stressful and painful.

I wish you all the luck in the world though, at PSU or elsewhere!

2225

@CalinAmry P.S. If you do call (I certainly wouldn’t blame you!) and learn anything that might be of interest to others waiting, please share here! Thank you.

2226

From psu website under early action FAQ, no change yet to expected decisions timeline

“Q I received a Deferral decision. What if I don’t have a decision by January 31?
A You should have a decision in your MyPennState account by January 31. However, if that is not the case, give it a few more days for your account to update. It could be that we have made the decision, but it has not yet posted in your MyPennState account.”

2227

One thing is clear now, “Caveat Emptor” should be next to all decision dates in their FAQ, web site and common app.
,PSU does not care one iota about the applicant and PSU admissions do as they please, move the application process goal posts to suit their schedule and to cover up their ineptitude in handling this. Excuses, excuses and more excuses. Poorly run and hopefully not a reflection of the education one will receive. Emotionless and self centered with a sole purpose to up their rankings and desirability. Shame on you PSU admissions office.

2228

I think that it’s okay to be angry at the process. But I think it is unfair to characterize people who don’t have say in the process or the tools as “emotionless and self centered”. At any large school, I very much doubt that the people who make te timelines are the same people who are living with the fallout. Again, no disagreement that the process is bad.

2229

@greenbutton & @GmanCC Clearly if this is the result of wanting to improve rankings and desirability, this came from high level administration, I would think higher than the admissions office. I think the whole admissions team, especially those reading applications and making decisions, are sweating bullets and probably feel bad as heck for the kids.

I think “emotionless and self centered” might be good ways to term a whole lot of the policies. For example, I used to have my own web site design company and I did programming. It would not be too difficult for the the same database that feeds the portal to generate e-mails when decisions are made, student by student. To not use the technology available to improve the “applicant experience” IS kind of heartless I think.

Oops, posted before I had finished my thought. With the technology available, SO much more could be done faster, better, “more fairly”, and with more warm-and-fuzzy feeling for students - with perhaps the same human resources in admissions as there are now. It would take some IT investment for sure though. So yeah, NOT doing those sorts of things to enable PSU as whole to better serve it’s constituents is lacking at least empathy and is self centered insofar as PSU would rather disappoint people than make a one-time investment.

2230

I’m hoping to get some advice from some veterans. If you have any time to assist, might you contact me through direct message? Thank you!

2231

@greenbutton. I am in complete agreement with your summary of the last two days. To call admissions representatives emotionless and self centered is unfair and frankly sounds like sour grapes in many cases. It is the exact same process every year. There are delays at every large university. We need to take a step back and gain some perspective.

2232

I’m curious, is there anyone who applied EA still waiting for a decision?

2233

If someone applied EA and didn’t receive a decision today at midnight, i’d call admissions tomorrow for sure. I was told it would be out by Saturday at latest so to see some people still waiting is ridiculous. Hoping that everyone waiting gets all their decisions this week, this has been said many times before but I seriously feel like delivering decisions so many days past a date that was already extended is just unprofessional and absurd.

2234

Woke up, checked portal, deja vu.
No decision
My d Applied EA. Still “under review” , since 8/15
???

2235

InthePSUmix- I agree that the employees shouldn’t be judged harshly, but it isn’t sour grapes. And no, this is not happening on such a ridiculous scale at other large universities.
It is beyond absurd that students who applied in the summer are still waiting.

2236

I think of sour grapes as when one’s disgruntlement is not justified; this certainly is.

I keep looking to see if ANYONE has posted they found some result on their portal overnight and nothing yet.

2237

Yes now it seems the question is how many EA or priority review didn’t get decisions by 1/31?

Maybe just a few so hard to gauge just from forum thread

I think it’s posdible that we are still in psu window of their disclaimer on the website that if a decision isn’t posted in portal yet it may just be taking “a few days” to update

Admissions office was closed on 1/31 due to polar vortex (???) so technically they are delayed by one day
If decisions were still being made on 2/1 to try to meet deadline, counting business days we are still within a few days due to archaic portal update system

Hopeful still, would appreciate an empathetic Facebook or twitter mention, would probably stave off some of the phone calls I’m sure

I don’t think the grapes will be sour
They are still out of reach
and have turned into raisins.
But I still want them for my d ???

I’m not calling admissions either, I’m zen, blessed that d has options because we planned that way. numb at this point ???
Namaste

2238

I called admissions. They told me personally that the reason is taking so long for me is because I changed my major… but honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t even know I changed my major. She said we should hear by next Monday but we all know they will probably push back that deadline too.

2239

@CalinAmry at least you know there is not a problem with your application, thanks for sharing admissions reply
Would you mind reminding we who wait here still what your situation is, what major, when did u switch?

Because there are several posts from applicants who have received a 2nd decision after asking for reconsideration in January

And one post I recall from a parent whose student switched to DUS in December and has gotten accepted in January

My d switched from chem to DUS mid November, maybe that delayed her, but again at least 3 reconsidered people requested in January have gotten their answers in January,

But since date applied seems to have so little to do with decisions I don’t get it

So we still have the randomness of decisions and wait lists plaguing us
What frustrates me is not delayed answers and missed deadlines
but decisions that at least appear so random that they again at least appear to be unfair

The “modified rolling admissions” process psu uses has bothered me since November when my d hs classmates with very similar majors, slightly lower stats, applied a month later than my d 8/15
and they got accepted within a few weeks

With all I have learned here about unweighted gpa and high schools being rated for rigor etc, I went back to Naviance

Last year almost 70% of applicants from my d pa hs were accepted
On the naviance scattergram my d is way up in the green check cluster for kids accepted from our hs
With her 4.0 uw, 5.1w 1340 sat

I believe I am really reading apples to apples comparisons from the examples in this thread and the decisions only

I don’t get the random

We have seen posts with similar anecdotal stories
That’s what’s hard to process as a parent

If the decisions seemed more fair to applicants and dates applied let alone posted stats, it would be ok to accept delays

2240

@ziveli513 I certainly understand the frustration.

I would encourage your daughter to call. They missed their deadline - this is an excellent teaching opportunity for her to advocate for herself. Help her with a list of questions:

  • has a decision be made?
  • when will my portal be updated? — if I don’t hear by {date: Friday?}, is there an Admissions officer I can speak with?
  • was I still in the EA pool?
  • does deferred mean you ran out of time or were my stats such that you wanted me with the priority group?
  • I am concerned that I would be behind the group when it comes to housing (if you know she will commit) - how does this delay affect that?
  • can I get your email address:
  • and then follow up with an email confirming all this (from her)

Good luck.