So in that case would we be able to switch to DUS at orientation after receiving an acceptance? I read on on the DUS website that enrolled Penn State students can switch at anytime.
@collegegirl2023 yes
Yes you can switch to DUS during orientation.
Letâs see if the process gets further delayed with the âblockbusterâ storm weâre supposed to get over the weekend. 
@spqr70nj lock all the AOâs in for the weekend. make them work and make decisions. Iâll deliver pizzas!
If I asked to change my major to DUS before I was deferred - and they changed it about 2 weeks ago- after I have been deferred from Smeal. Am I still deferred until January 31st, or am I being completely reevaluated for my major and have to wait even longer?
Under my application status it changed from âdeferred to priority groupâ to âyour application has been changed, please come back soon for an application status updateâ
I am wondering if this still means I will hear a decision back on Jan 31st?!
My rolling decision hasnât come out, why is Penn state taking so long ?
Is DUS more competitive? Yes, if you are talking about more competitive than, say in 2015. Is it more competitive than SMEAL? Which is the area where almost all of our advice to apply DUS comes inâŠthatâs a big NOPE!
DUS is often a safer bet than Smeal. But DUS fills up too. Thatâs why we ALSO say to call admissions and ask what is your best option at the time you call. In September, almost always good to do so. In January, still good if the odds of you getting accepted into the major you chose are next to nill.
As far as Penn State not thinking you are passionate about your major if you change itâŠI wouldnât worry about that. A HUGE 80% of all students change their major, many SEVERAL times before graduation. They know this. They donât care if you change your major, they will just evaluate you for what you choose.
As much as Iâd love a second major option on the applications, can you only imagine how long admissions decisions would take then?
@ChineseInUSA This has been asked and answered in your case. You are an international student and your application deadline isnât even until February. While you MAY get your answer with priority decisions, considering they are so backed up, you also very well may not get your decision until with the International Students.
Yes, @loulou2, PSU would greatly benefit from a second major option on the application, similar to how applicants have the option to request to be considered for summer start if they are not accepted for Fall. Imagine how that would reduce all those phone calls that admissions receives from denied students asking to change to DUS. I canât quite understand why PSU hasnât already added this option. Itâs impossible it hasnât occurred to them.
Student applied EA Nursing and was advised via portal in Dec that decision would be handled with Priority applicants du to overwhelming demand. Yesterday received email to confirm SS# so could âprocess scholarship, financial aid and receive tax info.â Sounded like accepted but portal still says application being processed with priority applicants. Did any other applicants receive this type of email?
.Nope. My daughter applied EA for nursing in August. Still no word, even though she is an excellent candidate.
Called to confirm all was okay with her application today. Admissions told me that everyone who applied before November 1 has been combined in the pool now with everyone who applied after November 1. And that it is not first in first out, that they randomly select applications to review and decide on.
So, students who applied in November, December and January may get their decisions BEFORE those who applied in August, September and October.
Re: SSN. MAKE SURE PSU HAS IT. If the âVerify SSNâ button shows up on your portal, they donât have it. Once you provide the number, the button disappears.
We filled out the FAFSA late and have been waiting to see it show up as received on the portal. When it did not, I had my son call admissions yesterday. They transferred him to financial aid. Financial aid could NOT verify that he even existed by his PSU ID that we were reading right off the computer screen. I took over on the phone since I was aware of certain dates and facts I thought could help. Back to admissions we went. They verified my sonâs existence, but couldnât explain why financial aid doesnât know of him, EXCEPT to suggest he didnât put his SSN on the Common App when he applied. âVerifyingâ (that is, providing) his SSN was easy via the portal. We hope that this links up the departments. But of course my fear is that such missing info/computer glitches, etc. could affect my sonâs application review. I mean, he needs to be visible to be considered! I hope this helps some folks! Honestly, the word âverifyâ threw me. I thought it meant to double-check something that was already done. In this case it means ânot doneâ.
I guess then being Early Action doesnât matter anymore and is pointless now. Although this does explain why Regular Decision applicants have been hearing before Early Action applicants. I guess the statement made by admissions reps that Early Action will hear first in January was false. Oh well the wait continues a bit longer.
Still waiting. Applied EA back in October, so havenât been waiting as long as some of you have. Think they should complete EA first as was stated on the website . Maybe they will rethink their approach for next year . Good luck everyone .
Once again, just a somewhat educated guess, based on experience with 3 large, popular, competitive Universities this yearâŠapplying EA, if your stats are not in the high end of a Universities published admissions averages, does not mean you will get Early Admittance. The chance of being deferred and pooled with Regular Decision applicants is highly probable for those EA applicants that have lower stats. As businesses trying to build the strongest admitted classes, these Universities go through the first cut, choose the students that fit their current class profile , which coincide with the University overall growth strategy and their view of students that have the greatest chance to succeed. They then re-pool and start the evaluation process again. Canât blame the Universities for doing this, yet better communication about the process would help. PS. those more experienced than I with this process may have more variables to add so my apologies if I was not completely comprehensive and accurate with my hypothesisâŠNothing wrong with applying EA if your expectations are tempered in advance, particularly if the stats donât fall within the range published by the University through Naviance, College Board, etc.
@pama3115 While for a lot of universities, the scenario you propose is true, that is NOT what has happened here.
What you are missing is that very competitive candidates are not having their much earlier applications reviewed, while LESS competitive candidates who applied later are. Merely because, according to the admissions office, they are randomly selecting which to review, instead of reviewing the applications in the order in which they came. They could at least review in pools, such as âbefore November 1â and âafter November 1.â
This is not about someone not being good enough to be accepted early. Those deferred were not deferred because they were inadequate. They were deferred because nobody had even had a chance to look at their application.
This is about poor management in the admissions office, which is why so many are annoyed.
@vamom4 Some people may have already read my post(s) on this (so sorry for repeating myself) but I am not remembering your ânameâ so Iâll post this for you. I thought like you are thinking, that they didnât even get to my Sâs EA. But then we got this letter that referred not once, but twice, to the ânextâ decision they were going to make about him. This left my husband and I wondering what âpreviousâ decision they had made about him. So for me itâs about his chances of getting in IF he was already reviewed once and they did not find him outstanding enough to take EA. From where we sit, itâs not at all clear what, if anything, was already done with my Sâs app. Itâs just confusing and more worrisome than it should be.
@myacocoa Admissions told me today that my daughterâs application was still awaiting review. It has not yet been reviewed at all. The deferral for her was just a âwe didnât get to it yet even though we got it in Augustâ thing.
@vamom4 @myacocoa I donât disagree with your (vamom4) additional information provided and thank you. This may be true for some, but as myacocoa shared, the letter received has a completely different message than the portalâs reference to record applicants and not being able to review them all in time. Our letter clearly stated that the application and materials HAD BEEN REVIEWED. QUOTE: âWe have evaluated your application materials and are deferring your admittance at this time. The deferral will not negatively affect your admission evaluation.â I wonder if other peopleâs letters were the same as this came out days after the portal changed to âŠ.paraphrasing, we ran out of time"