@marniefaerie 
It has been quite a journey here together these last few weeks
I’m glad we can all lift each other up
I am so sorry that psu doesn’t make it crystal clear how tough smeal is (crystal!) so many have gotten stuck there on edge of admit
I’m hoping your student gets in UP as reconsidered for DUS. Maybe the log jam has broken since we got our decision and more decisions will come soon
Yesterday weather closed the office, ugh, but I’m hoping you hear good news soon
???
@ziveli513 there are open tours for perspective students before April. You may want to do that. I would think you could make an appointment to talk to someone in DUS too. We did something similar at Pitt since S was accepted in September and no accepted students day till the end of November. You could put together your own visit if your D doesn’t want to wait.
@musicmerit excellent suggestion!!! I am nervous about waiting too long to decide which to commit to because of psu housing system
Thank you!! Self guided tour sooner is a great solution
Hope this weekend my daughter will get her psu good news package in mail, then knowing she’s admitted, She can finally decide
@marniefaerie and anyone else still WAITING for something…
I called admissions today myself to ask some questions. I learned some things that might apply to people here still.
- They believe all EA and priority decisions have been addressed at this point.
- There is a wait list for Summer Start.
- There is a wait list for DUS.
- She said more than once that all the wait lists are lumped together at this point - if I understood correctly.
- There were 4,000 students wait listed. In previous years, she said, they were able to admit 60% of those waiting. This year she doesn't know what it will be like.
My take-away from this: Make back-up plans, B, C, and D for your kid!
@MyaCocoa thank you for sharing this information. Not at all what we wanted to hear, but it’s good to know where things stand at this point. What does it mean that all wait lists are “lumped together”? Students are randomly pulled from waitlist as space opens? Im glad to hear that the EA/Priority applications have been addressed (almost 2 months after promised for some). Hopefully we who wait will hear some good news soon! ?
@STEM2017 mine is Jake. I’m sure all the tour guides are great. This is my second child there. My first graduated last year with Econ and IST degrees. She got a great job with ATT. My second is a soph in IST and already has a internship line up this summer at a consulting firm. He started in DUS. My daughter says she wished she started in DUS. I say all this for any one that might be on the fence or those that have questions about DUS. Penn state not for everyone. It’s competitive for everything, many times there are crowds or lines, but it sets the kids up for success. It truly is a great school (any there are many others great universities). I hope you all get accepted, but if the decision isn’t positive, there are many great schools to call home. If you get Jake as a tour guide, tell him his dad says HI!
@marniefaerie I wish I could remember more clearly and/or be more clear about the wait list. I’ll try to remember and just say it how it was said. It sounds like there are students waiting for everything - UP (fall), DUS, Summer Start. While she made it clear that all those options had students waiting, it sounded like there was one big mound of 4,000 kids “waiting”. (I’m sure not paper mounds, but that’s what I picture: big mounds of paper drowning desks!) So say some spots open up for one of those areas, they pull some applications from the Big Pile and see if any of those kids can fill the openings that have occurred. My impression (repeat, my impression) is that there is not much more order to how these are pulled. That is, she did not ever indicate those who applied first would be pulled first, or that those with the highest stats would get dibs.I got the impression that those 4,000 waiters would be sampled randomly.
She said more than one there is only one big wait list.
I have NO idea how things can be random when they are digital and you can always sort and filter. Maybe that’s why I like mental my paper pile, because that’s truly random them. Maybe. If you shuffled them. If not, those who came in last are on top. Eeek! My head hurts.
One reason I have that notion (random) is that this is how it seemed to be for us EA folks once we were rolled to regular/priority decision.
That said, as I will now think out loud, those who are waiting for a “second” answer after changing to Summer Start or DUS are now waiting because there is a wait list? So does that mean that those students are also now technically part of the “wait list” if they were not already part of that?
I definitely got the impression that the only way to get an offer RIGHT NOW would be to accept a campus other than UP and officially be removed from waiting once and for all. But once you get that other campus offer there is no going back.
I even tried to explain that my son was looking at a triple major after talking to counselors at length during our visit and that THE ONLY campus he can do that at is UP. That is why we will not consider another campus at this time. Who knows what could happen if we get down to plans E, F, and G.
I’m just trying to figure out if he’s likely to ever get off “wait” and if we need to deposit elsewhere at this time so THAT experience (say, with housing) is not all messed up.
So why are they still accepting applications? Shouldn’t they stop now that PSU is waitlisting?
Oh oh oh! @airway1 I remember now she did say that all the EA and regulars are done, but not necessarily what has come in since. So I suppose that was a reference to rolling, and also you are referencing rolling admissions?
I have no idea about that. Is it always a risk that if you “roll” you miss out? Or is it like our pediatrician’s office: They are “full up” unless you have an “emergency” and then you get one of a handful of time slots set aside each day for that purpose? I really don’t know anything about rolling for this year, or any other year. This is my first rodeo with a kid as it is!
I don’t think PSU admission office has reviewed all the regular applications, because I applied as regular before Nov 30 deadline but still under review.
@ChineseInUSA I have forgotten, are you an international applicant? If so, the other dates don’t apply. If you are not international, all I can say is that I just repeated what I was told. I never said I personally believed they were done!
@MyaCocoa son was rolling was surprised when he got accepted mid Jan but made a point to call show our interest early on… he is happy let’s see how things work out
My DS applied priority Nov 15 and his app is still under review. At this point, he’s honestly lost interest. I think I’m more disappointed than he is. ?
@MyaCocoa @airway1 In the past, there were kids who applied in December who were denied or waitlisted who absolutely would have gotten in had they applied earlier. I don’t remember the name for them, but I remember the description of them being the “aww, darn it, I didn’t get in EA at my first choice, better scramble”.
So this year, there were 4 deadlines:
EA - Nov. 1st - SUPPOSED to hear by 12/24
Priority - Nov. 30th - SUPPOSED to hear by 1/31
Regular - Dec. 31st - hear by 2/28
- Jan. 31st - hear by 3/31
rolling after that.
At this point, I would guess that anyone in regular is at the back of the line.
@Deanamo1 I would encourage him to call. But if he isn’t interested, then don’t bother?
Congratulations @ziveli513!!! I’ve been checking every day to see what your results were. I’m so happy for you both! Good luck on her making the final decision! I know it was very exciting for us when my daughter finally committed to Penn State:) All the best to you and your daughter!
@carolynap Thank you so very very much! All the best to you and your daughter too!!!
@Deanamo1 I’m so sorry. I really wasn’t sure I believed what I was told, though I think the lady herself might have believed it. It is very disappointing and very hard, and I know right now I am super overly involved in trying to think through things and help S investigate the best options possible for his future. As parents we get SO invested!
@lucyvanpelt OMG until just now I thought Priority WAS Regular because I had seen people write it like they were one and the same. My brain can’t take more confusion! Glad you have a handle on it though!
@ChineseInUSA You are an international applicant. Different timelines and different deadlines
At this point they’re probably still happy to take applications along with the fee and just accept kids to 2+2 spots, which are seemingly infinite. Some will take them, some won’t.