Because of advice offered here DS applied DUS, and as we approach the start of college his interests are in flux so it really is for the best. At Admitted Students Day, one parent asked why anyone would want to choose anything other than DUS. This was after DUS did a great job selling themselves. The only downside is that the advisors are generalists. They can see on paper that you are meeting requirements for your majors of interest. But they cannot provide the detail the major specific advisor would have. They can refer you to specific advisor and you can switch to that advisor when you choose the major to pursue. They also had great stats about how few students change their major after leaving DUS to go to the major of choice. They talked a lot about making sure courses would count so graduation would happen in four years. Which is very important to the parents paying the bills!
At Pitt, the undecided majors are in the school of Arts and Sciences. It seemed more difficult to make a switch to a major in a different school. Possible but not as seamless as the path from DUS at Penn State. So we are leaning towards Penn State for the DUS program and support offered.
@ziveli513 I know you have a lot of people telling you to call in but seriously, if you don’t get a decision by this week i’d seriously recommend calling in yourself, and having a serious conversation with the admissions counselor on what is going on. Ask them to give you a guaranteed date that you’ll get a decision by and explain to them that it is unfair to be kept waiting because your child has a lot of important decisions to make and the sooner the better. They promised it by the 31st and it is currently the 12th of February. I’m sending positive vibes your way though and hoping for the best possible outcome for you guys. I visited PSU with my son last weekend and it’s a great place with great people, seems to me the admissions department in particular is a major shortcoming of their school.
On another note, my S is this close to pulling the trigger on PSU, he’s just waiting for his Virginia Tech decision to come out on the 22nd to make a decision. If he doesn’t get into VT though, he’s most likely going to go ahead and commit to penn state!
@vadad2019 thank you, I really appreciate your feedback and support
Good luck to your son, sounds like he has a great future ahead! Psu is a great school and congrats on his acceptance !
If we don’t get a decision by the end of this week maybe I will call again.
I did call last Friday after all
Though at this point because we have until April to decide between Pitt and psu with no penalty from Pitt for waiting, I don’t see the point in calling again now that I know her application is just fine
I’m now curious how long they will actually make us wait
Knowing it’s not just us after all.
Ok I don’t want to tag people specifically but I have a different opinion. I have attended SMEAL and Engineering Admissions tours 4 times over the last 3 years and I felt that they explain the GPA and test scores requirements very well. They are very clear on rigor and which classes are required for an admit. In fact most universities do with the exception of Villanova (but hey their average GPA was 4.2 so I really think I can give them a pass). I also don’t know a University that breaks out their #’s on their website by degree.
I think if you are still waiting (and this is just my opinion) you are clearly an “accept” type of student. That does matter regardless of the final decision received. I don’t feel any university would allow an applicant to wait extra time if they were not considering you for an acceptance.
Here’s the tough part: No university accepts all of the top bucket.
I feel PSU’s system is more noticeable because of the way they release decisions. Every year people question why for many reasons. I don’t believe it’s favoritism in any way, because all of their reasons seem to be diverse. I do believe it’s random when they review your file, and by random I am presuming it’s done through algorithms. My presumption is based on info provided to my daughter two years ago during her application process (and yes it may have changed but it appears to be the same)
I am surprised by the low # of students putting their acceptances on CC this year. Two years ago it was much higher, but that was the year of the new SAT and that could have played into the reporting.
I also don’t feel contacting Admissions will get you to jump ahead of someone that doesn’t call. Although it can give you peace of mind there is no problem with your file, understand the situation better, or maybe highlight an overlooked applicant. Yes, with 90,000 applicants I am sure a mistake can be made.
I really hope all that are waiting will receive great news soon!
@MyaCocoa there are several items I want to say. 1. If your child is willing to attend- I would call Admissions and ask to do an Accepted students day at both schools. He would really benefit “if” he decides to attend. 2. Regarding dorms for those coming off waitlists: well there are some ways around the getting a late acceptance a. If you and another roommate select each other - and the other roommate accepted earlier - you will receive your accommodations based on the earlier date. I will point out that you both need to request each other AND at orientation they inform you that sometimes people do not fulfill their promises b.If you request an SLO they are usually based on an application. c. Students are always looking for roommates because the person they originally chose decided not to attend. Although I find less males look for roommates and seem to choose the random method D. And I say this one with a warning- older students are always looking to get out of their housing contract- I would strongly suggest discussing the correct procedures with housing.
@skibunny2 Thanks for the good insider tips! I don’t remember if I had written this to you, but we did “Spend a Summer Day” at UP and he was pretty happy there at the time. We’d only really need to check out his alternative campus, which he chose as Altoona. Whether or not they would offer him that if he called and asked to be made a definite “now” offer, I don’t know. I think he really likes USC (So Cal) and is waiting for their decision date which is April 1. Since we are OOS to PA I think we are going to wait for their news (USC is truly a long shot for him) and then talk turkey with PSU if need be. We are far enough away that making a visit involves overnight in a hotel and so on. And then we’ll take your advice. I am going to copy it and e-mail it to myself so I can find it again when needed!
At this point I am just personally, selfishly, wanting to see when and how this process all ends - for all of us. My son only applied to 3 schools and he likes #3 just fine, which he applied early also and got in right away. We have our safety net. But PSU admissions this year is like a reality show you are ashamed to admit you watch, but can’t stop watching!
For those of you in HSs where lots of kids applied to PSU… or if you’re on the accepted students FB pages and so on… has ANYONE heard of ANY decisions at all coming out the last few days? The CC page for that hasn’t shown any new admits for a while. I’m just trying to figure out if there have been any daily portal updates or not.
@MyaCocoa My d had another classmate get acceptance letter in msil yesterday
Great student, top stats, DUS, applied EA last November
He’s going to Pitt though, psu isn’t his top choice
@skibunny2 might you explain the basis of your statement “I think if you are still waiting (and this is just my opinion) you are clearly an “accept” type of student. That does matter regardless of the final decision received”.
And by “accept” do you mean to just to the UP campus or to any of their campuses?
I believe Altoona has a 92% acceptance rate. That’s essentially open. So if 92% of the remaining pool is an “accept type student” then that’s pretty much on par with how things were back in December, no?
And why does it matter?
I think it’s understandable to imagine that the admission office is the singularly inefficient and overburdened portion of the system. I’m not sure that one can infer that based on a curated view of the institution from one or more university-sponsored curated tours.
It’s now February 13th and I’m still waiting on my first decision as well… UP, DUS, fall semester with summer start indicated, applied in early October. I too called last week, the woman gave me no information besides “They’re still working on it” and referred me to the general email address, admissions@psu.edu. Still no response to my email a week later. If I do not receive a decision by the end of the week I plan on driving to state college myself. They’ve missed their deadline, I’ve reached out twice, showing up in person might finally give me an answer hahaha. It’s a 3 hour drive for me but would be worth it as PSU is my dream school, can’t ignore me if I’m physically there and ask to speak with someone.
@annao2019 oh no. SoooooSorry you are still waiting
Outrageous ???
Just like my d, not on bubble, no apparent reason why waiting fir first decision when others have gotten second in January!
I think there are just many many that have still not been actually reviewed for decision since now we are mixed in with priority review who also had the 1/31 deadline
@annao2019 it’s curious that they can’t be troubled to send out an email or general notice on their website. It seems a simple thing to do, as a matter of respect and professional courtesy.
I think that whomever said (above) that PSU is playing a numbers game even they don’t understand is correct.
It is well past the time they should be making a “public” statement as to what the heck is going on. But maybe they can’t, because the truth would be, “We don’t know WHAT to do at this point because we can no longer predict our yield.” Ya’ll will have to wait until we GET a clue.
@Provincetown I was thinking the same thing. Don’t they atleast have an automatic response system? Back in December, I also emailed the admissions counselor I had during my information session when I went on a tour. She gave out her business card and said she was “happy to help if you have any questions” She hasn’t responded to that email either! No one is answering me ???♀️
I keep jumping on here to see if any of the other (long tortured) first decision waiters received anything, and I have to say that the patience of many here far surpasses my own. Heck, I’m with @annao2019, my S and I were close to jumping in the car and going to the admissions office (until he received the decision last week).
@MyaCocoa, I 100% agree. I know it was great for PSU to obtain an additional $50K in application fees through the use of the Common App, but holy heck did it create a mess. As I think I stated (far, far) above, and as others here have said, so many kids just applied EA through the Common App for poops and giggles. I personally know of about a dozen or so of my S’s friends/classmates that applied with absolutely no intention of going to PSU. I don’t blame the kids, but I do blame the Common App process and PSU, especially when you have other EA/Direct App kids that haven’t even heard yet. It’s a real shame. With over 90K applicants, it reduces many serious candidates to the proverbial needle in a haystack.
Oh well - hopes and prayers to all those still waiting. Sincerely.
@PatLawyer I don’t think that it’s just the adoption of the Common App by PSU that has caused these issues we’re seeing. My DS used the Common App to apply to multiple schools. However, each one of the other schools required 3-4 supplemental essays. Imagine our surprise when we found out that PSU did not require any supplemental essay via the Common App. I won’t be surprised if many kids applied to PSU because it didn’t require any additional effort from them.
@annao2019 Admissions ignored two emails from us and last week rushed my son off the phone after he had received the ‘final’ reconsideration notice and wanted to ask a question about it. In fact, the welcome package for the 2+2 commonwealth campus arrived within 2 days after the portal notification which leads us to believe there was no true reconsideration. We got their game plan.
@Provincetown funny how I thought that I was clear! I meant UP. To be utterly clear my comment was stating that all that are waiting should feel proud that their stats are in the “accept” range regardless of the decision that they finally receive.
It was a confirmation of their achievements.
I guess I should have been more specific but I am also unaware there are students waiting for decisions from branch campuses
I for one do think it’s annoying for students to apply to schools they have absolutely no intent of attending. It’s not “blame” but just selfish. This is where parents need to “parent” and guide their teens. Like, hey, the world doesn’t revolve around you and a little consideration goes a long way. I don’t think this is why UPS is having so many issues, but I’m sure it’s a contributing factor.
@Leigh22 I have to respectfully disagree. As we’ve all learned by now, college admissions are a crapshoot at some level and students feel pressure to apply to more schools, chase merit etc.
The Common App drives up application numbers across the board, so PSU was pretty silly not to require at least one substantial supplemental essay, to reduce the number of disinterested kids and have a somewhat more manageable applicant pool.
But don’t blame the students. It’s not selfish behaviour. They are applying to a wide range of schools because they are encouraged to do so. A lot of “blame” also lies at the feet of college admissions offices who market to kids and try to drive up application numbers so they can look more selective (and move up in the USNWR and other rankings.
Call me cynical:-) And know that I’m not singling out PSU here, this is an issue across a huge cross section of competitive schools.