The letter did confuse me as well. I agree that the admissions office is probably just overwhelmed with Common app and Early Action. There have been so many portal crashes so far as well. I’m just hoping to hear sooner rather than later so at least I know applying Early Action rather than Regular Decision was worth it. Although all we know is we will hear this month so the wait continues just a little longer.
Can’t wait to see this year’s yield. It’s so easy for students to apply to a dozen or so colleges via the Common App. How can PSU distinguish serious applicants from those who aren’t serious?? They’ll get more apps, but who knows if the students they accept are as serious as those who would have typically applied direct to the school. By substantially increasing apps, and only increasing acceptances by a small portion, PSU will be able to report “record low” acceptance rates now, which makes them appear more selective and desirable.
Hopefully this doesn’t blow up in their faces. They could end up with too few or too many enrolled students.
@Sophley My son is ready to drive to State College, PA from Central Jersey to show them in Shields Building how serious he is about attending Penn State! ???
@Sophley Very good point. The University/College Business Strategy as the landscape becomes increasingly more competitive cannot be ignored. Pure economics…increase in demand for perceptually less spots available drives up ability to charge higher prices. However, I have noticed that the smaller, private schools who specialize in specific majors/disciplines have adjusted to compete against the PSU’s of the world. Example…….
My son just received a telephone call from a Regional Admissions Director of a well known but smaller school with an outstanding engineering program, personally informing him of his acceptance and receipt of a Presidential Scholarship. What a departure from the typical Portal Update or Packet in the mail (which they told him was on its way). This puts the cost of an OOS school less than what we would pay as an in state PSU attendee. Not sharing this to brag at all. It just made us realize how our kids headed to college are treated as commodities for some of the larger well-known Universities. As a Penn State family and both parents being alumni, we loved our experience and respect the University, but it makes you re-think priorities. Isn’t the college journey all about preparing for a successful future and growth as a person, not what name is on the front of your sweatshirt. Don’t get me wrong, PSU does provide an excellent education as well, but there is something to be said for a University showing how much they want to help you and are committed during this important, formative phase of life.
@pama3115 , I totally agree. We are a die hard PSU family, but one of my kiddos fell in love with Bucknell because (at least thus far) they treated him like gold. Ouch. I’m not wearing orange.
I agree with the above as well. My daughter really wanted to go to psu. Applied early September and was pretty let down by the university when they didn’t let her know by dec. 24th. I have to agree that their excuse to need more time to review her application is bs but understaffed in the admissions office. We will still wait of course but she feels like this is a precursor of what might come for her if she does attend. Funny enough Pitt sent an acceptance letter unexpectedly on dec 24 that she was admitted into their business program. It’s funny the students parents etc are the ones paying these outrageous tuitions , aren’t we the customer? Seriously…students should go where they feel like they matter. Just my opinion
This process is like a career based job interview. Go where you are appreciated because a diploma regardless of where it is earned has equal value. As long as the experience has meaning and provides personal growth, it’s a win!!!
Has anyone’s portal changed from the deferral message since receiving it??? Specifically early action applicants who had all required materials and application in before November 1…???
system crashes are common in places that are interfacing many vendor products, so it’s not a surprise that the first year of Common App would seem to have more. As far as determining who is a serious applicant, I don’t think any major university (publics and flagships, etc) bothers much with gauging interest too much, at least not for admission decisions. Perhaps for mailing stuff.
Admissions, like most of PSU is terribly understaffed middle to bottom. It’s not just the adcoms, it would be the mailroom, the dataentry, the phone people. It will be interesting to see what th shift from priority decision to early decision was. Did 30% of apps ask for EA? Or 75%?
Big schools aren’t personal until you are at College level. I have two PSU grads and I always tell people if you aren’t self motivated, mature, balanced and organized, a big school is a very sink or swim proposition.
Accepted ! Finally. Thank you God, good luck to all.
@Sgmom Can you post stats and which college did you get admission to?
@kansha
Major: International Politics
UP Campus
IB Predicted 4
strong leadership and awards
IB Predicted 40
@Sgmom was it early action and when did you receive the decision?
My S’s portal still says under review. He applied EA, but changed his major a few days after applying. First major was for music school so there was an audition involved. The portal said even though he submitted for EA, the audition process made it RD, which we totally understood. However, once he changed to Smeal, the portal listed his new major, but still said his audition date was missing and he didn’t qualify for EA. We were in touch with Admissions, and they responded that his EA status would be reinstated and not to worry. They removed the audition from the to-do list, but didn’t change the EA status. We emailed her again a week later, and she said it was fine and that he was considered EA (but she still never updated the portal). Do you think this warrants a phone call from me? My S just doesn’t have the ability to call because of school, so I’m wondering a) if it will look bad to keep asking the same question over and over, and b) if it will look bad if the parent is the one calling? He is competitive for Smeal, but I keep reading here that majors are filling up so I don’t want to be a nag, but I don’t want my S to lose out on an oversight on their end.
“This process is like a career based job interview. Go where you are appreciated because a diploma regardless of where it is earned has equal value. As long as the experience has meaning and provides personal growth, it’s a win!!!”
@pama3115 I don’t agree with this. All degrees are not equal and where you go to school definitely DOES matter for some courses of study. Meaning and personal growth are important, but so is finding employment after college.
Penn State is a big school with big school problems that all big schools have. It will NEVER be able to give you the personal attention that a small private can. It’s impossible. The small privates do that because they need enrollment. It’s not personal there either, I don’t think. Just like it’s not personal that Penn State can’t personally reach out to every individual accepted. In the end, it’s ALL business (even at the small schools). Penn State has a line a mile long of kids who want to go if someone decides they don’t want to. Smaller schools do not have that line and therefore must be more proactive in getting students to attend. Besides the numbers game, it’s really about each student deciding what environment they will thrive in and which University offers the best education and professional outcome for their life goals. And that will be unique to each individual.
“big school” environment isn’t for everyone. There is literally no hand holding, no ego stroking, nada…And that’s true for the entire 4 years.
All that being said, Penn State should have never instituted EA and Common App in the same year. It’s a cluster and it’s of their own making…
@Propinquity4444. I think at this point Early Action is “over”. Those whom they could not get to or didn’t make the “cut” - like my son - was pushed to Priority, in spite of the fact he applied October 22. After pondering this for hours a day for weeks, I think now there is one big pool being evaluated against each other and that pool will hear by January 31 and, it seems to me, not really any sooner. Those are my thoughts based on the portal message and a letter we got, which I took rather negatively. I think my post on that is at the beginning of page 18 if you are interested.
DEFERRED- CAN’T WAIT ANY LONGER
SAT: 1230
GPA: Around 3.0 (Not given in my school) (Fair mix of C’s, B’s, and A’s)
Rank: n/a
Extra:
Full IB diploma (7 IB classes)
Lived in Chile for 12 years, have lived in Italy for 4 years (though born in Maryland). Volunteer for 2 week service trip to Africa. Volunteer at a homeless shelter twice a week (every other month). Tutored a kid (part-time job). Drummer. Did boxing 11th grade. Go to the gym three times a week. Participated in soccer 9th and 10th.
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Applied date: 10/22
Applied Early Action?: Yes
Decision date: Not given (deferral)
Major: DUS
Campus: University Park (first choice)
(Also I’m a legacy)
I’m so nervous, I keep and keep on refreshing the site.
No, our portal still has the same deferred notice. I checked it several times today, I’m tired of waiting.
Did everyone who got deferred and applied Early Action still have it listed as “Early Action:Yes” on their portal? This wait is really dragging on. Also I still have the deferred status too.