2023 PSU Waiting for Decisions

Colleges & Universities Penn State
2261

@ziveli513 Haha! I feel like you’re speaking to me! What you don’t know is that I have a crystal ball. So I position it near my laptop and read the posts THROUGH the crystal and I can SEE THINGS others cannot. All the while looking at the tea leaves in my very-special-cup-of-tea which helps me “see” things! Haha. All this is just joking of course! But I am feeling just about that unhinged!

My S says his #1 choice is elsewhere, but when he worries as much as he does about PSU I wonder if PSU is really moving to #1 in his mind. So here I check and fret. At the very least, the process is interesting.

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@MyaCocoa I think we all have been trying to read the tea leaves but psu is serving bad coffee

How is that for a tortured attempt at wit and humor?
As always I enjoy your insights and yes humor is all we have to keep us mostly sane

I actually think the only people who should actually be “angry” at psu are those wait listed!

I haven’t been angry yet, just frustrated by all the randomness

If spots open, those wait listed have an acceptance to psu , is that correct? It’s space in pre major with stats, not stats alone ?

So any actual mismanagement of the admissions process regarding decisions made in a timely manner or connected to date applied most directly has been unfair to those wait listed

And the lack of clear instruction from psu as to impact of pre major selection being so relevant to acceptance

We will take wait list if offered btw, prefer that to 2+2 which we wouldn’t accept over other main campus awesome school offers

But I think calling admissions and expressing outrage about the process that those above them put in place is not going to help anyone get a decision or change any policy
Imo

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I accepted my wait list offer last week and just today, the portal changed from the wait list message to my application is under review. Has this happen to anyone else?

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@sgd1721 Yes someine earlier today asked about the same change to status from wait list I hope it means you are going to get good news!
Pure speculation of course but maybe spots are opening and so some wait listed aps are updated to under review
Hope so! Keep us posted please :slight_smile:
Good luck!

2265

Alright, here’s my S’s story long and sweet.

Applied EA through PSU application for Engineering at UP/Summer/Erie.

Stats=3.9 GPA, 1290, tons of activities, etc., I (Dad) went there for Chem E. Aside: the Common App and EA really messed things up, as I know dozens of students that just put it on the Common App with absolutely no intention of ever attending, and after acceptance, neglected to decline. Kinda makes me angry really.

Portal has been “Under Review” from August to “Deferred” (i.e., no to EA) in December, and back to “Under Review” since.

Best friend with lower GPA and SATs didn’t put Summer option, and got 2+2 a few weeks ago, reapplied and was accepted Summer at UP on 2/1.

S has multiple offers at other schools big and small, with scholarships, but wants to do Arch. Eng (which is limited in our geographic region to PSU, Drexel (extremely expensive and inner city), and Cincinnati (furthest away and inner city)).

S called admissions today and asked what’s up, and the counselor said that he should have had a decision at this point. Counselor didn’t know why there was a delay/glitch. S indicated that he would prefer Summer, and counselor said that she would change that to his preference and flag the application to a supervisor for review “in the near future”. S was told to call back by Friday if he hadn’t heard, and the counselor expected something should be done by then.

So, that’s where we sit. I joined this forum as the only place online that I could get straight answers, insight into the current and past processes, and commiseration. I don’t want to sour grape PSU, but it can’t be this complicated.

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@patlawyer wow, thanks for sharing ! Sorry no decision yet but it is so helpful to know my d isn’t only high stat EA August applicant still waiting

Good luck, I’m also thinking if no decision by Friday time to contact admissions
Thanks also for sharing the story of your son’s best friend who has gotten a second answer!!! acceptance already while we wait for a first

That’s the kind of direct info that is souring people slowly but surely
Though as someone posted earlier today psu institutionally doesn’t care, they have the numbers

I wonder What incentive did psu have to add common ap this year? Since they couldn’t meet the 1/31 deadline last year, due to high volume of applicants, why in heavens name did they choose to do common ap?

Anyone know?

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re @ziveli513 states "I wonder What incentive did psu have to add common ap this year? Since they couldn’t meet the 1/31 deadline last year, due to high volume of applicants, why in heavens name did they choose to do common ap?

Anyone know?"

From their press release: https://news.psu.edu/story/525893/2018/06/21/academics/penn-state-joins-common-application-2018-19

This press release says "The Common Application currently serves and supports more than 3 million applicants, teachers and counselors across the United States and around the world every year. In joining the Common Application, Penn State will gain access to students who may not have otherwise considered the University.

“We have been discussing the Common Application for several years, but needed to be confident that they could handle the myriad opportunities that future students have at Penn State,” said Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions Clark V. Brigger. “With 20 undergraduate campuses in Pennsylvania, plus our World Campus and considering the variety of more than 277 academic programs available to students at Penn State, we needed to be certain that future students could select from our vast array of opportunities,” Brigger said.

In addition to providing another option for applying online, the Common Application provides 24/7/365 support for students applying to Penn State. The Common Application also connects applicants to financial aid and scholarship tools, digital portfolios, virtual mentors, a virtual counselor, and a library of resources for counselors, advisers and recommenders working with students to complete their college applications that includes Spanish language translations. “The decision aligns with Penn State’s priority of access and affordability and will ultimately make the application process easier for high school students hoping to attend our University,” Brigger said.

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I am so sorry for all of you waiting. What a mess!

I have been following since I have a DS who will be applying next year. We are in PA and while he has his sights set on some very specific/ specialized reach schools he has decided that if that doesn’t work he “will just go to Penn State with all the rest of his friends” (his words).

I am so disgusted by all of this. PSU is the golden child of PA higher ed system but it is one thing after another. Now it is an admissions fiasco. Our neighbor has amazing stats (1490 SAT/ 31 ACT/3.89 uw GPA) and has some great EA acceptance but was offered 2+2 at a COMMUTER campus (??) back in December. We are all shocked including her alum parents. We know others still waiting on their EA acceptance as well as others offered Commonwealth campuses.
Our school is a top public in the state and according to Naviance has over 100 students accepted to main campus and more than half attending every year with at least one Schreyer HC. This year there are a bunch of angry and confused kids/parents; many still waiting and others offered branches.

The effect? They are all eyeing Pitt as their in-state option instead (and to a lesser extent Temple, WCU, and IUP). Pitt is welcoming them and they are excited at the prospect. These are bright, talented, PA kids who will thrive and PSU is pushing them away. None of the kids we know will even consider a Commonwealth campus over their other choices in hand but would have likely attended PSU if offered College Park. Many of these kids are using it as a safety but the odds are that they will not get into their top 20 reaches. I think it is unwise but as long as OOS people are lining up to attend and pay the huge price tag, PSU could care less.

I hope they get it sorted out before next year since mine is not a city kid so Pitt doesn’t look quite as attractive to him.

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as a fellow pa parent I couldn’t agree with you more @bamamom2021
Thank you so much for sharing the feedback from your school and neighbors shocking outcome for high stat student
Makes no sense. Helps so much to hear we EA since 8/15 are not crazy to be disappointed for weeks and weeks now with the outcomes we have experienced from our revered and popular homegrown penn state

Not just problems now with another missed deadline, but decisions given out randomly and unfairly in some cases or not yet even to EA applicants, like your examples, all along

My d was accepted to Pitt after 6 weeks last fall, it’s now tied with Penn state for her first choice if she gets accepted to UP

She’s a city girl and loves Pittsburgh , the more we research and compare it to UP the more we like it, hope things work out for your son next year wherever he goes. Best wishes

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My DS has a 34 on the ACT, NMSF, OOS, no financial aid requested and still sitting on “under review”. He applied in November. So not sure they are favoring OOS students that can pay. I think they are just overwhelmed. We should just be patient. Having said that, PSU should improve communication a bit. Not hard to send a quick email to everyone with an update on where they are in the process.

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:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

@bamamom2021:
That’s the effect I expect for strong applicants from PA who were waitlisted or “offered” 2+2; There’s simply no reason not to offer Main Campus to a kid with a strong GPA and a 1400+ SAT. Regardless of major that kid will be successful at University Park. (We don’t know the rigor behind that 3.89uw but a 1490 is a pretty strong indicator that it IS a GPA with strong rigor.) Beside Pitt and Temple, other strong colleges in Pennsylvania include Lafayette, Franklin&Marshall, Lehigh, Dickinson, Gettysburg (more selective than PSU except Engineering), Muhlenberg, Allegheny. I’d definitely choose them over WCU and IUP. The perplexed kids may want to email these colleges and see if they can still apply, especially the last 2 but, why not, Dickinson and Gettysburg (you never know?!!)
Your neighbor could always call and ask to be reconsidered for Summer session (if they can afford it) and/or for DUS or another major.

Calling Admissions would be normal. Even if it’s not their fault - and you could state that plainly, “I know it’s not your fault” - the people who pick up the phones should have a mass of calm phone calls expressing displeasure and asking for that displeasure to be borught to the attention of the Dean of Admissions.

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@bamamomof3 I too hope they get it all sorted out for you for next year! I wonder thought how many students considering Penn State are also interested in Pitt for the reason you mentioned. They are vastly different campus environments and usually, kids like one or the others. IUP is a beautiful campus but is a part of thePA higher ed state schools which have been plagued by financial troubles. Same with WCU. Penn State is not a part of the PA higher ed schools (actual state schools), but is state related. They only get 5% of their budget from the state (like Pitt and Temple) - thus the much higher tuition than IUP or any of the other PASSHE schools. Penn State is the largest college in Pennsylvania. Maybe that means they will have more admissions back up and headaches, but at this point, that’s no excuse.

My son was accepted to IUP and loved the campus, but wanted a PSU degree so decided to start at a commonwealth. 60% of all Penn State grads start at a commonwealth so it’s a very common thing to do and very beneficial to a certain type of student. But some of the kids I’ve seen accepted 2+2 rather than UP campus is ridiculous. Clearly they could be very successful at UP from the start. I truly hope Penn State has figured something out this year and they do better next year. I have a sophomore in HS so I have two more years before I deal with PSU admissions again. For that, I’m thankful.

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@Provincetown thank you for the common ap press release

absolutey mind boggling, psu knew what was coming…
I was wondering if any press releases have come out in answer to the 12/24 deferral of thousands of EA applicants
Seems like many people would be upset then and again now since another deadline has passed, has any press coverage popped up ?
Someone should hold psu accountable from above

2274

I just wanted to thank all of you for helping me get through this process. We’ve been waiting since my daughter applied in October. She was accepted right away to the other schools to which she applied and put in their honors programs, but Penn State has taken their good old time. We were told like all of you that we would hear by January 31st at the latest, but that deadline came and went. I checked the portal first thing this morning and she was ACCEPTED!!! We’re very proud of her, but still not sure Penn State is going to be the school for her as she’s majoring in Art/Graphic Design. Since Penn State took so long to get back to us, we’ve really researched her other schools, Millersville & Kutztown. Now I realize they don’t have Penn State’s name but their Art programs are fantastic. Anyway, I wanted to say a big “Thank You” to all of you because I have been reading all of your posts and they’ve helped me so much! Hoping all of you receive your decisions soon!!!

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Congrats!!! @carolynap!!! There is hope! Decisions still coming out for EA

Millersville is nearby, beautiful campus, friendly people in a small town and not far from lovely Lancaster pa where we live

Lively art scene in historic downtown Lancaster, we are a small city but filled with cool cafes and an exciting live music scene too

Good luck with whichever choice your daughter Makes!

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@ziveli513 Thanks so much for your input on Millersville! We are going to be making a pros & cons list and now you’ve added a bunch of pros to Millersville:) It is a beautiful area. She really loved the campus! Thank you & good luck to you as well!

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@CarolynAP thank you! Keep us posted, would love to hear the final decision. :slight_smile:

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Congratulations!!! Graphic Design at Penn State has an excellent reputation, especially wrt professional placement. Finally good news.

Since I was rooting around the catalog for someone else, I found an interesting tidbit that may be useful for Smeal premajors or premajors who have minimum GPA requirements.
Smeal requires 12 credits of foreign language proficiency. Placement is not up to the student: if they had 2 or 3 years in HS they’re placed in Level 2 and must complete levels 2+3, if they had 4 years they’re placed in Level 3. These classes are quite intense and require a good amount of work.
HOWEVER there is another option: you are allowed to bypass that placement if you take an intensive version of the whole sequence (6 credits a week), starting with lessons for true beginners and all the basics. This is especially valuable for students who had 3 years in HS because they have to take 2 semesters of foreign language anyway. The “intensive class”, in other words, allows a student who may have had 3 years in High school yet take a Foreign Language class for beginners. If you’re assiduous, you can easily get an A or A- and that A is worth 6 credits right off the bat (hence balancing any B- in TWO 3-credit classes or ONE C/C+). That frontloads your GPA with limited risk and effort. Then, second semester, you take another intensive class which you’ve been prepared for, and finish your language requirement in the same amount of time as if you’d taken the “regular” sequence which starts a big step higher.
This exists for French 111-112, German 011-012, Italian 010-020.
In addition, if you know Spanish/Italian/French/Latin well, you can take ONE semester of Portuguese 197: Portuguese for speakers of Romance, and complete that 12th unit proficiency in one semester.

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@MYOS1634 Is that only for Smeal majors? My son is a current sophomore in a B.A. program at Penn State but he hasn’t had a spanish class since sophomore year of high school. He’s putting off the language requirement because he literally remembers nothing from HS. He has an advisor appointment on Thursday about this so maybe I can tell him to ask about this? This language requirement is stressing us all out a lot!

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No, it’s open to all majors. However I don’t think Spanish has that option :(. If he reached level 2 or 3 he’d be placed in level 2 and would need to review a lot. An intensive class in a totally new language would likely be very difficult. An alternative is to take a new foreign language from level 1 and take the three semesters. For a Spanish speaker I assume either Italian or French would be the easiest. I heard Swahili is relatively easy and is beautiful.