Thanks for the info re: financial aid. That’s a shame. I won’t be applying to Penn State, then.
@annao2019 thank you, I think that’s news
I don’t remember seeing “waitlist” as an option before
That’s a bummer but it makes sense that 1/31 might not be the end of waiting for EA or even priority review now
So maybe as someone speculated in a prior post the cream of the crop of this unprecedented number of applications have been and will continue to be admitted
And the rest of us have to wait for the creamers to decline offers
Many of us could be waiting for a long time
The word “unprecedented” in the EA deferral message on the portal applies to this whole process
So anything goes, fasten your seatbelts folks we are still in for a bumpy ride
@ziveli513 waitlist has been used occasionally in the past few years - I will post some data below.
I would hope that 1/31 will be the end for the EA candidates … I think Admissions already has a big black eye by not anticipating the large increase. I hope they don’t make it worse! As far as waiting for people to decline - that doesn’t happen for a while yet. I would hope they could make decisions prior to then. You could always call admissions and ask if they will be using a waitlist this year?
According to the common data set, this is what I see historically: (this is all UP data)
'12-13 - no waitlist (class of 7,605)
'13-14 - no waitlist (class of 8,005)
'14-15 - no waitlist (class of 8,166)
'15-16 - 1,473 on waitlist, 0 offered admission (class of 9,045)
'16-17 - no waitlist (class of 8,445)
'17-18 - 2,168 offered waitlist, 0 offered admission (class of 7,832)
I still think they are slogging through the backlog of common app. I hope they are working overtime this month to make it through.
Thanks for info
No need to ask admissions I think since Waitlist is now on the penn state FAQ page as a possible decision ?
It was not an option in previous communications as to what decisions to expect
see link posted above from Annao19
I hope no wait list but it’s the penn state site that’s suggesting it!
Yikes
I am not at all surprised that they are throwing in wait listing this year. They wait listed last year too. But I think “usually” weight listing applies to those students who apply really late and they have to wait until others decline to see if there is space. But I WOULD be pretty surprised if any EA applicants are actually wait listed considering how early they applied. Hopefully adding EA and common app this year did not completely blow up their normal admission statistics. I’d hate to see the GPA for admitted students get too out of hand. We aren’t an Ivy League and I don’t want us to be…
I have been reading this thread since late November - I finally had to create an account because I can’t take this waiting any longer! D applied EA via Common App on 10/1. She received the deferral notice as well and honestly this thread is the only thing that has been keeping me sane! I am also on the Decisions Only thread quite a bit, but the most recent decision date anyone has posted was 1/4. Hopefully there will be a decision wave soon!
@lucyvanpelt penn state actually has some Pretty high waitlist admission rates (when used)
Refer to the following:
https://budget.psu.edu/CDSRedesign/cds.aspx?reportindicator=FreshAdmn&Location=UP&AY=20152016
For the 2015-2016 school year, there were 1,473 applicants accepting their spot on the waitlist and 1,445 were accepted leading to a 98% acceptance rate.
Promising, but then again it was 4 years ago and we can never know for sure.
From PSU admissions website FAQ
“What does a deferred decision mean?
It means that a student’s decision timeline has been deferred to our November Priority review timeline and the applicant will receive an admissions decision of admit, deny or waitlist by the end of January.”
Wait list is possible decision by the end of January
I think that sounds like EA and priority applicants can be wait listed?
I haven’t heard of many people receiving decisions since Penn State returned from break. I’m wondering what’s going on. No updates at all. Also I’m hoping waitlist doesn’t apply to those of us who applied early but I can’t be sure. I just want this wait to end and it’s not reassuring knowing that we may not even receive a proper decision by Jan 31st especially with how many applicants they have. I’m assuming the waitlist is to account for all of the extra applications they received due to adding the Common App and Early Action this year.
From psu “the applicant will receive an admissions decision of admit, deny or waitlist by the end of January.”
The applicants due a decision by 1/31 are EA and regular decision
And it says wait list
I’m afraid this is pretty clear and very surprising
In the past, the waitlist has been an opt-in decision. You had to say “yes! put me on that waitlist” which of course would increase the likelihood that people who really had better choices, or weren’t intersted anyway, would get out of the way of those who want to wait some more. I can’t remember what happens if you are offered waitlist and say no thank you — your decision is no? or would it go to whatever you put as an alternate campus? Does anyone want to go to any school so desperately they wait until March or April? I guess you would accept/deposit at your safety school and cross your PSU fingers.
I am nervous because my D applied to Smeal and, while her stats are very good, they might not be enough for an acceptance. If not accepted she wants to reapply to DUS, but every day that ticks by they most likely have fewer and fewer spots. She should have applied to DUS to begin with; she did not know at the time that Smeal was the most competitive college at PSU. Nothing she can do now but wait ?
Because the new comment on PSU’s website is specifically directed toward “Deferred applicants” and states “…the applicant will receive an admissions decision of admit, deny or waitlist by the end of January” there will be deferred applicants who end up waitlisted. Especially since they’re so backed up right now. Bottom line, If the website says it’s a possible decision for deferred applicants, it’s a possible decision for deferred applicants. It seems as though Penn State has so many apps they’re taking who they wanna take when they want to take them regardless of application timelines and will put the rest of us on the back burner. It’s still very disappointing though for students like me who may end up waiting for 5 months to hear from their dream school.
I must’ve misread that part then. In that case it seems anyone can end up waitlisted regardless of when they applied. I will continue to check the portal hoping for an update. I have no idea about the procedure for the waitlist this year as PSU has used it on and off throughout the years. I just hope the admission stats don’t get extremely higher than previous years due to the increase in applicants.
So I did some searching around and found this on a Penn State thread about waitlisting from 2007 so I am not entirely sure how relevant this is now but it’s worth a read.
(University Park, Pa. – As the number of applications to Penn State’s 20 undergraduate campuses point to another record year, and interest in the University Park campus stands at an all-time high, the University has, for the first time in its long history, established an admission wait list for Penn State University Park.
“We are receiving applications at a record rate, which is testament to the quality of the Penn State experience and the value of the Penn State degree,” said Randall C. Deike, Penn State’s associate vice president for enrollment management and executive director for undergraduate admissions. “The University Park wait list will be limited to high-achieving students who submitted complete application materials after Nov. 30, Penn State’s recommended application filing date. We will send a letter about the wait list to these students in the coming week.”
The wait list will allow the Undergraduate Admissions Office to continue working with this select group of students, keeping them under consideration for University Park admission if space becomes available, or working with them to find an alternate starting campus within the Penn State campus system. Placement on the wait list is determined by the Undergraduate Admissions Office. Students may not request placement on the wait list for University Park.
The Undergraduate Admissions Office hopes to notify wait-listed students as soon as possible about admission to University Park, but students will receive a final response from the office no later than June 1.
If space does not become available at University Park, students will be contacted regarding an offer of admission to an alternate campus choice. At that time, admission to some campuses may be limited, but admission counselors will help students explore their Penn State options and identify a campus with the best fit for them.
“An important message that we want students to receive is that there is a place for them at Penn State,” Deike said. “The Penn State experience does not always start at University Park, but our unique approach to the undergraduate experience affords students the opportunity to complete their degree at the University Park campus.”
If at any time, students do not wish to remain on the wait list, the Admissions Office can immediately offer those students admission to a campus other than University Park. If students choose this path, they will join the 60 percent of Penn State students who each year begin their degrees at a Penn State campus other than University Park, and after their sophomore year, complete their Penn State degrees at University Park.
If students on the wait list have questions, or would like to discuss an offer of admission to a campus other than University Park, they may contact Penn State’s Undergraduate Admissions Office at (814) 865-5471.)
Did anyone apply directly to penn state, early action, get the deferral notice in one of the last rounds before winter break, and are still waiting? Do you still have the deferral notice on your portal? Does the deferral notice stay there until a decision is made or when penn state is going over you it will switch back to currently under review before a decision is posted? I haven’t send any recently admitted stats posted on the acceptance page are they still doing nightly waves? Have they started them yet? If not does anyone know when?
@User7531
I applied directly to Penn State Early Action like many others on this thread and got deferred the last round of decisions in December. Still waiting with deferral message on portal. According to Penn State they started making decisions again since they came back from break on Jan 2 but I have yet to see any admissions decision posts.
@user7531 same for me as @collegegirl2023
No change, just checked portal
My d has good stats, lots of kids from our hs get accepted at UP and DUS major give her reasonable expectation she will be admitted under normal circumstances
But if spots have filled by 1/31 with higher stat students who likely will decline eventually according to common data set actual enrollment stats and we get wait listed on 1/31 this will truly be tough
Making a choice to wait instead of accepting her 2nd or 3rd choice (grateful for those choices but still) will be very difficult
But I think she will choose to wait, sigh
And 98% of the 1900 roughly wait listed last year were admitted if I read correctly post from @annao2019 ?
so waiting is probably reasonable if penn state is your #1 choice
Hope springs eternal, and my d is still blissfully unaware, just knows 1/31 is new deadline
She’s busy having a great senior year and studying hard for block schedule finals
I’m the portal checker , she wants to wait for the packet in the mail, more exciting she says
?
@ziveli513 I wasn’t aware there was a packet. I thought acceptances only come through the portal??? (But my S is deferred so what do I know?)