@airway1:
You can’t start with the required subjects at other campuses. Communications, on its own, can be started at a branch campus, but OP’s son would start in the following language courses (roughly) Russian 200 (upper intermediate) or 401 (advanced) or 410 (Heritage Russian for Russian speakers who can’t read/write Russian), and in Chinese 110 (intermediate) due to his summer abroad.
It’s not possible to do Russian 200/401/410 and Chinese 110 at branch campuses. Some campuses offer Russian 1 or Chinese 1 (or might even offer both) but they don’t have sophomore-level classes.
This ^ might not be clear to Admissions officers, BTW.
But OP’s son wouldn’t be in language classes with freshmen.
Between Russian being a heritage language and Chinese being studied at high level (cf. selective summer study) already, we’re not in the more “usual” situation of a kid who wants to try Russian 1 and Chinese 1 to see which one he likes best (and is likely to drop one).
BTW OP’s son should also do Paterno Fellows in my opinion… has the grades and the intellectual curiosity for it.
That’d make his basic first year like this:
COMM 160 (Basic News writing), Russian 401 or 410, Chinese 110, English 137H, science or math
COMM 100 or 110, Russian 200/402/412, Chinese ?, CAS 138H, gen ed honors seminar
v.
Com 160, Russian 1, Chinese 1, English 30, science/math
Com 100 or 110, Russian 2, Chinese 2, CAS 100, gen ed
^that Myacoca’s son isn’t in already “doesn’t compute”. UP is always trying to get these prize students who want to major in these rare, difficult majors, especially if they already have advanced skills, and have them also in Paterno Fellows if they qualify.
That’s why I absolutely can’t believe admissions on this. Have they somehow not him down as an advanced Chinese/Russian major and/or only as “Communications”? (Even Communications + Russian+ Chinese with advanced skills should have fast forwarded his application). Has his application been lost somewhere or something improperly coded?
To give you an idea, the corresponding Spanish classes would have an enrollment of 22-27, as per lionpath, v. these with enrollments of 10-15.
Advanced kids who want to take Russian and Chinese classes are much sought after and there’s no “line” to get into the classes they need. Those majors aren’t full, those advanced classes are yearning for students, professors love students with advanced language skills.
Same thing with Paterno Fellows - Schreyer is really trying to get more CLA kids with advanced skills because of the balance they want in Schreyer seminars.
This makes no sense and that’s why I’ve been insisting on calling back.
“How many other applicants do you have who want to double major in Russian and Chinese, ready to start in Advanced Russian and Advanced Chinese?”
(My guess is zero, ie., he’s alone in that lane, and someone’s dropped the ball and/or made a mistake somewhere).
@Trillian9955 : legacy doesn’t play a big role in Penn State admissions, unless the family has been very involved in PSU life.
However this year has been a mess, which is why I wouldn’t be surprised to learn of “random wait lists” and “mistakes were made”.
But the higher ups in Admissions need to know about it.
You can be sure the Legacy kid’s family made it known but others need to make noise, too.
Note however that despite a surge in OOS applications they don’t have a corresponding surge in OOS deposits.
What’s scary is if deposits are up and they accept the same number as last year at 35k with applications at 100k that’s a 35% acceptance… huge drop … what’s crazy is that top 50 schools are becoming so difficult to get into that it’s cascading to other schools…USC 11%, BostonU 18% and others…
Sigh. My point about the legacy applicant was not that she should get into psu up because she was a legacy
But that it was sad that though her stats more than qualified her and beat others who applied later with lower stats
That she wouldn’t be attending psu up after being third gen back to great gran
@MyaCocoa I am so sorry to hear about USC. I really hope your son is ok. I know it’s hard for them to realize that their acceptances are not a reflection of their potential. @MYOS1634 stated it so well- your son is unique in his choice of major. Yes I agree that Admissions is just not “seeing” his application correctly. PSU loves students like your son because they are rare.
And wow I am so impressed with his language abilities- they are remarkable.
@MyaCocoa did the application allow him to select all 3 majors?
If this was my son I would highly recommend to him to write a letter to the Dean of Admissions explaining that he is currently trying to understand his path through a Commonwealth Campus with his required majors (including his current level of courses) as he is awaiting his waitlist decision. I would also include the info re summer program.
After that is sent I would have him (or you - his decision) call and try to speak with the Dean of Admissions directly.
Yes you probably will not get a decision over the phone, but whatever you could possibly do to enable him to have the best choices might be the best choice.
@MyaCocoa I did try to PM - yeah I don’t think that worked correctly- sorry.
@MyaCocoa My son did not get into USC either (although we knew it was a long shot, and this year they were especially competitive). We thought PSU was his 2nd choice after USC, but after visiting SoCal he fell in love with the area, so is now also giving serious thought to Pepperdine’s offer. Good luck to your son!
@skibunny2 and @OnHisWay My son is doing OK. He had gone out beforehand and gotten 4 giant Kit Kat bars, his “depression food”. By bedtime he was already cheered up! He was recalling how I he worried that USC’s communications program had a different/“wrong for him” focus. So he said maybe it was a good thing he didn’t get in.
Nope, the application only had space for first-choice major. I think some of us had that discussion, oh, about 100 pages back! Can you imagine how complicated it would be for admissions if students were allowed to put more than one?
In our case, though, without that information a complete picture doesn’t form.
I did write to the “Dean” of Admissions (easier than his actual title!) today, FWIW. We’ll see. I couldn’t get a phone call through due to a gatekeeper answering “his” line; I should have figured that would be the case.
@OnHisWay In hindsight, we maybe should have considered more options in CA. My son wanted to see USC, despite my doubts about LA, and like you said, once seeing it… I actually feel sad for myself that I won’t be visiting USC again. Between the weather and the lovely campus, one does want to return! It is what it is now, though.
If your son got into Pepperdine, great! I’m kind of jealous that, like I said, we didn’t look at other CA options.
@hannah1789
Don’t expect anything anytime soon. They started the wait list in January and many students who applied by the deadline are on it.
Hopefully you have a decision already where you can deposit by May 1st.
No, Penn State is Modified Rolling, and this year has been terribly messy, as you can guess from the fact this thread has almost 200 pages; in any case, the priority admission date was November 1. There was another deadline November 31. After that, answers are on a case-by-case basis - typically. This year, even students who applied in September or October didn’t hear within the specified time frame.
@hannah1789 actually, imo take heart, could be sooner than later!!
because it’s modified rolling admission, and because penn state admissions counselors have said over and over its “random” and because many of our students who applied got decisions that seemed not to be tied to date applied at all, you may hear sooner than later
You see the one thing we have learned from the hundreds of pages here, is that this year anything is possible and no one knows
Check your psu portal daily, psu doesn’t email
Keep making other college plans if you can and consider all your options while you wait
Fingers crossed you get an answer soon
What are your stats and your pre major choice?
And which campus, did you already apply to UP or a branch?
Those facts affect your chances
@MyaCocoa stay right here so we can find you to keep getting our good vibes and best wishes.
Your sons wait defines this thread like no other and I’m sure others are following your case
but others need to make noise, too.