@MYOS1634 I am looking up and seeing there are several summer sessions and some are quite early. What is the date by which one must accept (or not) an offer of Summer Start? I’m not readily finding that answer.
I understand the academic reason. Is there also a revenue side (another semester of housing and at least partial tuition?) If so, if the student is otherwise a strong candidate, summer start seems like a ‘tax’ for entry onto UP. Sorry to sound cynical, I’m trying to make sense of this.
@Provincetown I think I might have this strategy figured out! There is Maymester (starts May 5), 1st 6-week Session (May 12) and then the 2nd 6-week session (June 24) - the last of which is probably the only one most HS kids can get to, given when HS lets out. Even if PSU doesn’t require a decision until the Universal Date of May 1, logic has it that most families who really intend to do Summer Start are going to Accept or Deny pretty quickly because it takes time and energy and money for families to plan for this (vs. fall), especially if this is an unexpected change in admission status. (I know personally I am working up mentally to “lose” my S in the fall; a couple of months early would be a shock to my system for sure!)
So pushing kids to Summer Start whether for academic reasons or not may well yield some firm answers as to enrollment (or as firm as answers ever get). I think PSU is desperate right now to estimate their yield, and they probably have been trying to do that for some time now.
Anything that might “push” kids to indicate more quickly their intentions is what PSU needs right now. I think the Wait List was a similar maneuver.
This is very much turning into the “long game” with all the complexity of a chess match.
Arrival date for summer leap program is June 24th. This corresponds to psu’s Summer II session which runs through first week of August. Don’t look at Summer I as those classes start in May and are designed for upperclassmen who are currently in school.
@MyaCocoa says “So pushing kids to Summer Start whether for academic reasons or not may well yield some firm answers as to enrollment (or as firm as answers ever get). I think PSU is desperate right now to estimate their yield, and they probably have been trying to do that for some time now.”
I think you are right. They may be desperate to estimate it, but the cost of this method of estimation would appear to fall solely on students (and parents) not their own institution. So more money in their pockets, I guess? Good for them.
I wonder how much a 6-week summer session plus room and board costs? I tried to calculate the fees based on information online, but it’s only laid out on a per-credit basis and I’m not sure how many credits a Maymester might be.
Just putting it out there Summer start doesn’t always get granted. We asked reconsideration for Summer start for my son. They came back with the same decision - start at a Commonwealth Campus. We’re OOS and my son’s stats are currently 4.0w/1290 SAT with APs, Honors, and Dual enrollment courses. It all depends on the admissions counselor that picks your child’s file.
@Provincetown No disagreement there! The phrase came to me earlier from my undergrad economics: “Capturing the consumer surplus.” I can’t legally run a grocery store and charge the lady in the fur coat $50 for a pie and the lady in tattered clothing $0.50. If the pies are normally $10, I would LOVE to capture that rich lady’s extra $40, but that’s illegal. But essentially Penn State can charge more to families who are most anxious to get to UP by sending them to Summer Start. As long as all parties to the transaction understand what is happening…
One reason I don’t want to rush my son to Summer Start is that we are not “desperate” - at least not yet, and maybe never. It’s the principle of the thing, too. I think my son is “good enough” to go directly to UP with no extra preparation. From an financial perspective though, we would be far better off financially going to PSU and Summer Start than either of his other options both of which cost far more than PSU and require flights to get to. So my stubbornness could cost money. Won’t be the first time I lost money on principle!
@provincetown I calculated the Summer start for OOS at around $12k with housing and meals for two classes. ?. And that doesn’t include any incidentals.
@spqr70nj Understood. The cases I found on Facebook all just said they didn’t want to wait and were offered Summer Start without having had to express any interest in it.
But looking at your case as you just stated (I would not have recalled otherwise), you are OOS and there has been lots of discussion here on how Commonwealth Campuses often don’t make sense for OOS, especially computer campuses, and paying OOS tuition to be somewhere you’ve never heard of. So it is possible that this was a way to get you to DENY earlier. It’s still an answer for them and still helps indicate how many slots they have. On the other hand, if you love PSU and want them at all costs, you’ll jump at the existing offer and that is also still a valid answer for them to move forward with.
And if you’ve said before I don’t recall… will your son attend PSU?
I don’t mean to imply that this is what happened to you specifically. I am trying to make sense of these seemingly erratic and oddly timed decisions, and to figure out what we might need to do for our S.
@spqr70nj remind us, uw gpA? Major? Thx
If you look at the sticky at the top, it has info about LEAP - that is the summer start for freshmen. You can also google LEAP Penn State and everything is there - which courses are offered, cost, etc.
I won’t go into details about how LEAP is structured - it is explained above. I will just reiterate that it is a great program for many kids.
Obviously, there is a cost - the cost of attendance, the lost wages from a summer job, impacts to family vacation… however, we “encouraged” our kid to do it. Just like we will “encourage” her siblings. It is a great way to adjust to a large campus, roommate living, eating in cafeterias, navigating classes, friendships, etc. it is less stressful than fall and a nice way to boost the GPA by having 6 credits of good grades. They also come back in fall ready to hit the ground running and are not overwhelmed. There are outliers that didn’t love summers, but by and large, kids love it.
I cannot even try and fathom what is going on at admissions, I don’t think they know, so don’t even try and apply logic. They probably are dart boarding it, for all the sense it seems to make.
@ziveli513 Admit to Engineering 2+2 - 3.9786uw /4.0w (GPA as of end of Junior year). Senior grades for 1st and 2nd marking periods have been all As in all APs, Honors, and Dual Enrollment courses.
@MyaCocoa He has decided to pass on PSU. I asked if he wanted to entertain DUS and said no way. I don’t blame him as we can do that locally at Rutgers. Felt bad but as you expressed with you child, he has the grades for UP and is on the high end of their scale, so it would have been UP or nothing. He’s at peace with that decision.
@spqr70nj so surprising he didn’t get summer, or even fall UP to start Engineering most be a very tough college as pre major
I recall he had other offers so you were moving on. Thanks for the info, always helps to see uw and w gpa
@spqr70nj I don’t mean to imply you should or shouldn’t because no one has to say until May 1, but for my theory to work I need to know if you actually have already told PSU your decision. I can’t stop trying to logic this out! If you don’t want to say, that’s OK too.
Agree with @lucyvanpelt My kids did LEAP and loved it and don’t regret a thing. My daughter loved UP LEAP so much that when my son started at Altoona and was admitted for fall, he CHOSE to start during Altoona’s first every LEAP program. He wasn’t sorry. For both my kids, it was a great introduction to college life and gave them a leg up on credits and introduction to the campus, etc…
It was an extra cost, but for SOME kids (not mine because they changed majors), their HS dual enrollment coupled with summer start allowed them to graduate early. My daughter’s roommate double majored and graduated in 3.5 years.
If I have any more kids that go to Penn State I will encourage a summer start. But the benefits have to be weighed for each family against the costs.
@ziveli513 Agreed! That’s why with some of the folks that posted on the admit thread with lower stats it’s a head scratcher. Either they are not being truthful with their actual stats, or admitted campus, or they just had a accommodating Admission counselor reviewing their files. When I spoke to a counselor back in December, she said that he’s definitely UP qualified and therefore we switched to Summer start. Whatever - it’s beyond our control.
I have booked a trip to WVU where he was admitted to Engineering and Honors College with a substantial scholarship. Also waiting to hear back from a few other schools including Va Tech, Syracuse, Rensselaer, and NYU. I’m pushing for WVU since they have been hounding him the most. Feels good to be wanted. ?. Fortunately he has been accepted at all the schools he applied to so far. Do they even reject kids these days? Lol. I think the process is so different from when we all applied to schools many moons ago.
@lucyvanpelt Yes, all good points about summer start! Also, kids can get some required coursework done and have a lighter load in some other semesters later because they already took the classes in summer. My daughters friends liked their summer start. I do not see it as a way for Penn State to gain financially, regardless of whether it may or may not be, but rather a way to let more students into main campus from the start. I also believe high stat kids who wanted to start in summer but are only offered fall is a way to make sure that their stats (high stat kids) helps increase Penn State’s Fall statistics - just a guess though 
@myacocoa We have not responded back to PSU yet. We’re not in a rush to tell them no.
@spqr70nj many many moons ago lol
Yes I’m so glad for our kids that they have other offers, feels good to be wanted as u say
And takes the sting out of psu mysterious decisions
@spqr70nj I get it. I’m not burning any bridges either until we know all we can about S’s options. And at this age, too, thoughts and desires can change quickly.