@annao2019 no news for my d either! I was so hoping you would have good news!
From @Sophley “And yet, there are many parts of the university that are understaffed and because we live in the middle of nowhere, finding people can be a challenge because the university doesn’t pay well.”
Unfortunately a skewed yield is not going to help those salaries. If there are more rejections than anticipated, then there will be less in the budget to give raises. If they are over-subscribed, then the staff/profs might be stretched quite thin.
From a senior leader perspective, there will be a plausible story “Hey, we’re learning, it was our first year on the Common App so our yield was off. We’ll do better next year.” So I am less optimistic that the senior management who made the big-picture decisions will field any consequences.
I admire the parents who are using this opportunity to work with their children as a learning experience. Whether it’s @Patlawyer who is teaching his son to stand up for himself, as well as the other parent who is shielding her daughter from the day to day worry and allowing her to finish out her senior year in peace. Although everyone is responding in their own way–and differently–it’s so nice to see that at the end of the day it’s about the kids that really matters.
Yes, the press should hear about it soon if they haven’t started working on a story yet, especially since they love the “big university messes up” story trope. They’re now 15 days late and STILL haven’t finished what they were supposed to. And we KNOW it’s because someone didn’t hire enough people, not because Admissions staff would be playing Candycrush on their phones. If they offered sufficient pay they woudn’t have trouble attracting workers; they should have planned for the influx or adapted when they saw the numbers October31st, period. The only thing that can be done is to call on behalf of all these students.
@MyaCocoa : I totally agree. (Even if they have released some decisions, something has gone wrong.)
According to various online sources, with my daughter’s stats, she was supposed to have had an 85%-90% chance of admission to University Park. Instead, after much delay, she was admitted to Altoona, which as an out-of-state academically-focused student, she would never consider attending.
I am actually thankful. I feel like we dodged a bullet on this because the whole debacle makes me cautious about the bureaucracy of the university in general.
I’m going to try calling again today. Nothing left to lose! It’s a shame they don’t consider demonstrated interest… I’d send them pictures of me in Beaver Stadium a decade ago 
@vamom4 I completely agree with you that this psu admissions process went wrong from the start from the admits I saw in the decisions only thread and anecdotally kids from my hs who were accepted while my d, again not on any bubble by a mile, was waiting from 8/15 -12/22 “under review”
I have to believe that for individual students and their families, like yours, the admin of the whole university is suspect
Though obviously many thrive and prosper and succeed at psu main, there is a strong element of kool aid drinkers that comes through when alumni defend (my spouse included btw!!)
The veterans here are properly disappointed, but no one seems to be acknowledging that admissions missing deadlines and having delays isn’t new this year
It’s a pattern, 2022 thread shows disappointed posters
And yet psu added Common ap
Now we hear understaffed and underpaid so it’s an admin problem that is being overlooked
So sad really! We love psu and we expected excellence
Unrivaled after all …
Go @annao2019 go! Too bad you can’t Send them a photo or description of your great grandmother at Psu too!!!
???
Good luck, let us know after you call if you can ?
@vamom4 I totally agree with you about the apparent randomness and disorganization of the process this year. However, in all fairness, your daughter did apply to one of the most competitive majors at UP. Admission to UP nursing is much more difficult than admission to the university as a whole.
@ziveli513 how thoughtful of you to remember ? I’ll add any new information!
So last night my son and I sat down (at his request) to look at all the schools in scope. As we reviewed Penn State, his first choice school, we saw what was on the table: 1) accepted into engineering but 2+2 campus, 2) application was delayed at first and then needed to be reconsidered, 3) zero aid - no merit nor financial, 4) attitude of the counselor He spoke to last week. I asked if he wanted to call back and ask for DUS consideration (although both of us question if it’s really worth it for him as OOS). I think he’s becoming at peace because he responded ‘absolutely not’. He’s focusing on his other options which until now had been clouded by PSU and is realizing the personal sacrifices he would take on if he continued that pursuit such as large student debt and the bureaucracy we read about there.
@annao2019 your story of legacy back to great grandmother is memorable and poignant ?
Hoping best for you!
@vamom4: this result isn’t a reflection on your daughter’s achievements but a reflection of how badly this year’s admissions have messed up.
@ziveli513 : yes there were a few acceptances in the Feb 1-3 window last year, which might well have been due to computer glitches. Nothing systemic like this, nothing on that scale. And it’s beyond choice of major or summer session choices.
Let me position a Hypothesis based on some basic facts about PSU Admissions that most veterans/alumni know:
- OOS students want to attend UP (they typically have offers at several good universities so branch campuses aren’t even on their radar)
- only exception to the above rule, OOS students who knew going in that UP was a high reach and/or really want to escape their state (typically, NJ) ; in that case, a residential branch will do, but it means any branch campus beside Altoona, Erie, and Harrisburg is not going to get takers
-instate students are pretty attuned to the difference between UP, residential branch campuses, and other campuses. A kid who’s taken 7APs and has a 3.8 uw/1450 is not going to take a branch offer over Temple or Pitt Honors. - it’d take major financial incentives (ie’., Full tuition scholarships for instate applicants/instate tuition instead of OOS for OOS applicants) to get the above groups to branch campuses they won’t consider - but we all know PSU is very stingy with financial aid.
Consequently, either the branch campus offers are ‘soft denies’ which don’t make sense or they’re an attempt at ‘filling the branches’, something concerted to see whether the above observations can be made to become untrue and force-boost some branches’profile without offering financial incentives. In which case it’s probably backfiring.
@spqr70nj I don’t blame him! I’ve been a PSU fan since day 1 but I wouldn’t do 2+2 either. It’s a great plan for some, but OOS doesn’t seem worth it if he has offers to start at a main campus elsewhere. Plenty of great schools! Best of luck
@MYOS1634 Last year thread 2022 shows posts from various people into March who called admissions about decisions delayed for weeks
Decisions promised but not given
Or posted waiting past early February without notices
Maybe not systemic but only a fraction post so must represent more of than a few , just like this year
Not too many are posting now either
Not trying to be argumentative , you are more experienced of course
But I have also noticed posts that mention issues in past years for various reasons
Maybe this year we are just more visible
After all if I weren’t posting and a few others still waiting here on cc, who would know that there is a “systemic” problem now?
These boards aren’t reflective of the whole picture though. They skew toward Engineering and Business, for instance, and OOS applicants. But I’m not offering my hypothesis based on these boards only, alas.
Yes there were answers not provided in March 2018… for students who had NOT applied by the priority deadline 2017. Remember that students can apply as late as January and February. Some are still applying as we’re talking. Internationals’ “priority deadline” was Feb 1st!
Last year, the priority deadline’s response date was kept overall for students who’d applied by Nov 31.
This year is different - as the far larger number of applications should indicate.
@kidzncatz Yes, I absolutely realize that nursing is a more difficult major to get into. However, a girl at my daughter’s school with far lower stats who applied months after her got in. I suspect it all came down to who was lucky enough to have their application randomly selected for review first.
I am not at all bitter about it, more amused by the chaos and sympathetic to all caught up in it.
schreyer decisions coming out of Feb 19th at 3:30pm EST ! Received an email today
@Me201923 yes, received the email from Schreyer Honors this morning!
Well, hopefully the Schreyer’s notifications will clarify decisions for many. When students realize they aren’t getting what is, in essence, one of the few merit scholarships available to freshmen, they will move onto their second choice – hopefully.
Oh wait, no. Now they have a wait list for Schreyer’s kids too. So we can dangle them along as well. Ugh.
What a cluster FUDGE!
Hello All! I’ve been following this for months, and just wanted to add my support and best wishes for everyone still waiting. Especially @ziveli513 daughter since freakin’ August! When she does get in, we’ll all be jumping for joy. Also Anna and myacocoa’s S. Hang in there. I’m so frustrated for you guys! I just wanted to add that a few years ago, while sitting at a soccer game (before I had college age kids) I was listening to parent talk about the whole PSU admissions thing. They said that PSU takes a bunch of apps (randomly?) and basically compares them to them the other apps in that specific batch… and also to other apps from your HS. Not to the entire applicant pool. So if that’s true, it’s almost the luck of the draw as to who your child’s app is pulled with/compared to? Also, PSU always had the reputation of going straight by the numbers - they don’t look at recs or senior grades at all. I think the whole “holistic” thing is new for them… maybe that, in addition to CA/EA is why it’s taking so damn long? It’s just crazy.
Anyway, just wanted you to know that there are probably lots of us staying up past midnight every night so we can check to see if you finally get an update to the dreaded “under review “ …
??