In searching December 2018 posts here I found several mentions of 70,000 plus applications being reported by admissions
Including “My accepted D received a letter today from PSU about visiting campus from admissions. In the letter it says "…from over 75,000 applicants this year.” That post was Dated around 12/18/18
And I saw several posts from December 2018 advising that EA deferrals 12/22 to 1/31 were not actual deferrals but probably a pause due to high volume
Seems in hindsight that was a misunderstanding from the unclear psu portal imo
It seems we EA still waiting were reviewed and evaluated in that very large pool of applicants and we were deferred
I thought there were others who posted earlier on this thread saying they had talked to someone in admissions and been told that they simply could not get through all the EAs, so those they could not get to were being deferred to priority. At this point, who knows? We’ll all just have to continue to wait and see what happens.
The postcard my DD received in mid-Dec. with “Decisions are just around the corner!” stated “We have begun reviewing and making decisions on the more than 35,000 applications - including yours - that were completed by our early action deadline of November 1, as well as our priority filing date of November 30.”
That’s interesting. Admissions sent out letters with different numbers. How weird is that!
And yours sounds like EA was in with priority applications from 11/30 on
the postcard we received didn’t have that detail about the 11/30 group I think
though I don’t have it any more
I’m sure we were all hoping admissions would work through the weekend to get all decisions out by the 31st. Last admission posts on the other thread were decisions made Friday night.
Yep my postcard says the same as 242mom indicated above- 35000. Back then said decisions around the corner. Now I got the check back soon portal message. Seems like my idea of soon may not be the same as Penn States. Wondering when we will hear about admittance and how this may affect honors. My son thinks it is interesting that Penn State emailed him to apply for honors back in October and we got a holiday email from honors but he got deferred as an EA and we still wait to see if he has been admitted. Hopefully the wait is almost over. In the meantime the excitement of large envelopes from other schools and scholarships goes on and if his number one choice Penn State turns him down at this point he will be fine. Good luck everyone.
We got the same email about applying for Schreyer Honors and thought that was a good indication of a positive outcome. However, I think it was a mass email as Schreyers does not utilize SAT scores as part of the evaluation process. If you are admitted to PSU then they look at your honors application material. Too bad general admissions for PSU doesn’t look at your 3 honors essays.
Thanks pama3115. You know we would have saved the time and money and not applied for honors if we had known this would go on for so long and they sent the email to everyone. We didnt apply for honors at other places cause time was running out and my son was over the essays at that point. Think Ill hop off here and check the deadlines for honors at the schools where he has been accepted. I like the way WVU did it as once you were accepted the honors college invited you to apply if you were in a certain range. Thanks for all the help. Appreciate the support through this process.
I’d just like to say to the people who are saying the defered applicants “are no longer EA.” While we are in the RD pool now, if you log into your portal it still says “requested EA: Yes”
@Lenoir So true with WVU. My son’s was admitted into the Engineering program and Honors College. He had nothing extra to do as it was considered based on his academic results.
@mattcccc I agree with what you say the portal says because that’s a fact about when you applied and that fact doesn’t change. However, based on everything I’ve read, the mailings we’ve gotten, the portal, my own logical deductions… if you were deferred en masse before Christmas, you rolled into the RD pool where you are now competing against them and the date you applied no longer matters. Do they change the portal? I think not. It’s still a fact you applied EA in good faith.
To everyone who wrote about the last dozen posts… I get the distinct impression that “the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing”. So as some folks pointed out, right after the holiday PSU’s Facebook updated to say “we are back and rolling out decisions”. But very little appeared to happen for three weeks. So the way it feels to me, someone from admissions updates Facebook (with all good intentions) and then there is some meeting about how things will actually be getting done… and that makes the Facebook post not-so-true.
I don’t get the feeling that there is one person who writes or approves or OKs all the messages coming out to us. The messages seem too disjointed for that, but that’s my own opinion and impression. I am sure the workload is spread out among a lot of people.
@ziveli513 and also referencing my last post… I don’t think the posters here are wrong in that they are not repeating correctly what they were told when calling admissions and so forth. I actually think different staffers are saying different things at different times. Or, more like the portal (which verbiage is written by humans after all) any staffer(s) might say something in a somewhat confusing way. I am guessing at this point (and well before this point) there was a lot of image management and CYA going on. Not everyone is adept at saying truthful things with multiple interpretations!!!
While we can ALL repeat things incorrectly, I think we are all very highly invested. I think if we write something here that is “wrong” we were more likely told “wrong” or in a “very confusing manner”.
Hi everyone, I’m super worried about getting into Penn State! It is my top choice and I can’t see myself going anywhere else! I literally cried when I got the deferral message on 12/22. I applied EA on 10/24 and have yet to hear back…
SAT: 1320
GPA: 3.8
Summer: Yes
Major: Divison of Undergraduate Studies
Out of State
Applied: PSU application
Extra:
Captain on Varisty Soccer, Basketbal, Track
2 APs
13 Honors
3 jobs: referee, waitress, camp counselor
National Honors society
I recently checked on the Mypennstate portal and the message changed from the deferral message to “under review.” What do people think? Should I prepare myself for a waitlist or acceptance/denial? I only applied to 3 schools thinking I would easily get into PSU on 12/24 but now I am extremely worried about not getting in:(
@meena4114 I’m just a mom here for the first time so I don’t have any special knowledge. My son was EA, deferred, and now wait listed to UP. My feeling is that the wait lists are done. My (again, just my feeling) is that you are in for acceptance or denial, and I would guess based on your stats you will like the outcome! So try not to worry. That has been awfully, awfully hard I know. Jan 31 is truly close now. I wish all the best for you! I wish Penn State had a crystal ball and knew who had their heart set on it!
with regards to Schreyer application - the application is reviewed concurrently. They just wouldn’t have the time to wait until Admissions has made a decision and then review them all. Before they make the offer of Admission to the Honors College, they ensure that the candidate has received an offer of admission from Penn State.
So, just because you are waitlisted doesn’t mean that Honors is off the table - they look at very different things. Schreyer may want to offer you a spot, they can do that if you are offered UP or another campus.
good luck all. I know it has been a very frustrating year. I hope that answers come quickly.
@ziveli513 I agree with you about choice of major. If you look at the stats on the accepted students page and look at the major chosen, and then look at students with high stats that are being waitlisted you will see a lot of engineering business and DUS. My daughter applied EA and was deferred (whatever that means) until last night when she was accepted for Summer session. She applied to the College of Agriculture as an Animal Studies major not as a strategy for getting in, but because she truly wants to major in animal studies. Her stats are lower than the students who are being waitlisted or offered 2+2, or who still haven’t heard at all. I believe her admission to UP was solely because of her chosen major. Just my 2 cents for whatever it’s worth.
@jackbnimble I think you are absolutely correct. While the Common Data Set lists the average GPA for UP at 3.58, that is because they take in an average of ALL of the majors. Business, Engineering and Nursing are three of the very competitive majors at Penn State and often their admits have MUCH higher stats than a 3.58. In contrast, majors in the College of Ag or Liberal Arts can often gain acceptance with a lesser GPA than the average. It’s really supply and demand.
Congrats on your daughter being admitted! Penn State college of Ag is one of the best in the country!