@vamom4 is absolutely right. In at least some cases, including ours, it is crystal clear that applications were not reviewed - notwithstanding the fact that we also received that ridiculous form letter stating that it has been “reviewed”. My son’s SRAR was not listed as complete until January 3, at which point the portal changed to state that his application was under review - for the first time. By definition, his application could not have gone to the committee before January 3, meaning the letter they sent was untrue.
The thing that infuriates me about this situation is that, rather than simply taking responsibility for the delay, someone in the admissions office decided to tell every impacted applicant they had received an initial review, even though this was patently false. These poor applicants are then left to needlessly question their qualifications when in fact, at least in many cases, this mess is the result of a bureaucratic screw up that nobody in admissions is willing to own up to. And yes, as someone with no past affiliation with PSU, it’s left a very poor impression of the university as a whole.
@vamom4 I think you misunderstood. Your EA applicant may be with the people who applied after November 1st, but that would put them in the priority application pool of applicants who applied by Nov 30. They will have their decision by Jan 31st. Nursing requires ALL applicants to apply by November 30. So they are in the Priority Pool. There will not be any nursing students applying in Dec, Jan, Feb…
For everyone else, Students who applied by Dec 31 get their decision by Feb 28, students who applied by January 31 get their decisions by March 31. Your child who applied EA will not be in the pool with kids who applied in January. They were moved to the priority pool which will hear by January 31st. Penn State has NEVER been a first in, first out school. They have ALWAYS been a random decision within the pool (for reasons I’ve explained here a bajillion times). But everyone, of every application date, is not in the same pool. This is their first year for EA. I know it’s frustrating, but it’s not as bad as you think.
Let’s share some positivity while we wait! D applied ED for Marketing 10/1 and now she’s in the deferral group for 1/31 (supposedly). Since she applied to PSU she has been accepted to the business colleges at SDSU, Pitt, and Temple. Penn State is still her first choice, and it’s been very stressful waiting for her portal to update, but these other acceptances have kept her spirits up! How about everyone else?
@marniefaerie FUNNY STORY TO FOLLOW. Well, my S only applied to 3 schools. He was accepted promptly at his 3rd choice (their early application). Then, he’d hoped to hear from PSU and if they had said “no” by Dec 24 he was planning to add a couple of safe schools by Jan 1. As it worked out, he was in the deferred group and decided his 3rd choice was more exciting than anything else he could apply to. His 1st choice won’t get back to him until April 1 and that school is SO selective it probably won’t even be in contention. But you never know!
FUNNY STORY HERE: So come to find out, my son didn’t supply his SSN on the Common App and so neither PSU nor this other U showed that we had turned in the FAFSA because that links through the SSN. Fixing this omission is easy on PSU’s portal. Boom, done. But for the other U, they want you to download the proper form, print, fill, scan to digital, and upload in one of only three formats. Tedious, outdated, and we don’t have a home printer anymore because we used it so seldom the ink was always dry when we needed it. So… I downloaded the form, opened it on my laptop, flipped it sideways, sized it properly, and wrote on my screen with Sharpie to fill in the 3 blanks that we needed (just name, ID, and SSN). I took a picture, converted the file to the type they wanted, and uploaded! I am wondering if they can tell and if they are laughing in admissions there!!! I myself find me very amusing!
@MyaCocoa That’s so funny! No matter how well we think we plan, there always seems to be a scramble in the end.
Today we noticed that financial aid at another U posted in my Ds portal that they never received her non-custodial parent CSS Profile, yet we sent it back in October! We had to take screenshots of the confirmation emails and send them to the school, but their “deadline” was on January 9th - a week ago! Here we are at the beginning of a 3-day weekend, and I’m hoping we don’t lose out on aid because for some reason they never received the original form and now it’s “late.”
This whole process has been very stressful overall! I am learning a lot though, so when my next D is ready to start her college application I’ll be a (semi-)pro!
My son applied to 4 schools. He was accepted in Sept. to Embry Riddle for aerospace with a great scholarship. But that was his last choice as 1)his brother goes there & 2)we live in Florida and he doesn’t want to stay here. He got accepted last week Early Decison, at his 1st choice of Univ of Colorado, Boulder. He’s still waiting on Univ of Southern Cali(USC) but we won’t find out from that one until April 1st. USC is a stretch as they’re very selective. His sister is a grad student there, so hoping the legacy thing can help, but not hopeful. So at this point, PSU is low on his list, but still waiting. I’m just in shock how admissions is handling this mess. Hoping the snow coming won’t slow this down even further. (I haven’t seen the weather to know exactly where the storm is going). All I know is my mother-in-law called my husband to tell him they’re getting snow in NEPA. Just about a week and a half left. it’s be nice if it was sooner for all those still waiting.
@marniefaerie I hope you get it all fixed up OK! One reason I am so stressed is because I only have one other child and we are having a lot of problems right now. So S’s admission(s) are what is keeping me looking forward to good things. So the delay is extra hard. I would like to think I’ll get to do this again, but the way my other child’s grades and attitude are right now, this might be my only shot to have this experience with a child. So I suppose you could say right now all my eggs are in the S basket! Rightly or wrongly, I’m looking for a PSU pick-me-up to brighten my currently tough days…
@caymangirl38 My S is waiting on USC (Cali) as well! For him, it is also a stretch. PSU is #2, but in reality it might be #1. So the wait for USC is tough, but at least we always knew from the beginning about that wait. My S has already been accepted to the U of Denver (3rd choice) but he said he’d be happy if that is where he ended up. I had been trying not to mention our schools by name (I don’t know why) but when I saw your post I couldn’t believe how similar! We live in Ohio so I will be shoveling (snow) this waiting day away!
@caymangirl38 I felt the same way. They are predicting to get hit with heavy snow 10-13 inches. I’m in Central New Jersey and the heavy stuff is north of me. Based on last night’s release of decisions (or lack thereof), looking like the next release could be overnight Tuesday into Wednesday unless the local area shovels out before work on Monday.
@spqr70nj I’m pretty sure offices are closed on Monday because of the holiday. Maybe a day of service will be good for all of us to keep our minds off the waiting!
I know they keep saying all EA and priority will have an answer by 1/31, but is there any change the answer could be another deferal for the EAs?
I understand that they were not prepared for the amount of applications they would receive, but after telling a number of us that the deferred EAs would be processed first, if it is true that they are just added to the priority pile and reviews are random, that is pretty unprofessional.
D19 has dreamed of going to PSU for years and it’s still her #1, but she is starting to become disenchanted with all of this, and some of the safety net schools are beginning to look much better
@Psu2023dad I hate to be a Negative Nelly, but since you brought it up… I did find myself saying to my family earlier today that I am wondering if we’ll even hear about S’s early EA by Jan 31. If they are on holiday Monday, that is only 7 working days left. Almost no decisions seemed to have rolled out since 1/2. Either they are holding them back for mass release, or they are way, way, WAY behind.
My S only applied to 3 schools. The other with EA already accepted him. And while S failed to put his SSN on the Common App so that FAFSA could be matched up, the school that accepted him managed to find and match his FAFSA anyway. PSU and the other school we are waiting on could not do so without us jumping through some last-minute hoops. The school he’s accepted at was his #3 of 3, but to my mind it’s quickly rising to #1. They said what they meant and did what they said… efficiently and seemingly without a big struggle. So I know exactly how your D feels.
Others here have said not to read to much into this mess, other than that PSU is a big school and there will be “big school” issues throughout. In other words, your D will always have to look out for herself when arranging meetings with faculty and staff and such. This is my first rodeo (with a kid) so I don’t really know what to think.
Honesty! PSU bashing is unbelievable on this site. I know there have been some unforeseen glitches but to totally condemn a school because they are overwhelmed with the number of applications, EA and deferrals (which was listed as a possibility for EA) is ridiculous. D17 was admitted at the end of January two years ago and never did I blame the admissions for the delay. I was just extremely grateful she was accepted!! @MyaCocoa you should have filled out your application appropriately and included SSN # not their fault you didn’t fill out the application properly.
FAFSA match with SS# does not delay admission. It could delay scholarship offers but not financial aid. You will have plenty of time to get that sorted out after acceptance.
I agree the bashing should stop, I for one would hate to have the pressure of being an admissions officer today given the number of applications and the stress.
@SAD1010 Excuse me? I am the parent. I did not fill out the Common App for my S. He filled it out and apparently didn’t know his SSN or where to find it in our files. Why are you blaming ME for not filling out his application properly? And no one is bashing PSU. We are sharing our feelings while we wait. I have never once said PSU was a bad school or said anything bad about the people working there. Also, please note I was validating the concerned feelings of the father who posted before me. Excuse me for supporting another worried parent on this forum! It is possible to read something you don’t agree with and just move along, since you apparently have no worries of your own about a school you already know to be great due to your D17.