Changing my Penn State admission?

Hi, Zack here.

I applied to Penn State for a Mathematics major. I’ve found I was admitted, but I was disappointed to see it was only to Worthington. This was surprising to me; while I only have a 3.3 unweighted GPA, I have a 1540 SAT (800 Math, 740 Reading) and a 36 ACT.

I’ll be honest, Worthington is possibly THE last thing I would resort to, for some personal reasons. I likely won’t go to Penn State if it has to be Worthington. However, while I didn’t indicate it as I should have on my application, I would go in undecided or summer start (or both) if it meant going to University Park. I’ve vaguely heard of some stray cases where calling the admissions and explaining this could get it done, but have no solid knowledge of it ever happening.

Is this a possibility? How likely would it be to work if at all?

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I haven’t really used this website thoroughly.

I also thought I got into University Park for Accounting only to find out that I got into Erie. Pretty disappointing and depressing if you ask me.

Yes, people do successfully get reconsidered, but it’s not guaranteed because there are many people already applying to DUS/summer ahead of you.

GPA is 2/3 of the decision at Penn State, so it is disappointing but not unprecedented to be offered a branch campus. I hope your request goes well if you ask admissions to be reconsidered.

@FutureCollege321 , don’t be depressed. Erie’s Black School of Business is AACSB accredited, an honor reserved for the top 5% of business schools worldwide…only UP and Harrisburg have this accreditation among PSU campuses. Erie is also one of the larger campuses – larger than most regular schools and likely still have on campus housing available. Many PSU engineers start in Erie and opt to stay there instead of transferring so the academics at Erie are excellent, especially business.

@Vedvart1 , yes you can call to be reevaluated for summer DUS; however, you may not get in. I don’t know your weighted GPA so it’s hard to tell. Plus, if you request to be reevaluated, you will go to the bottom of the pile and won’t be considered until after all the kids who applied by 11/31 AND put DUS as their first choice. The likelihood of seats still being available are very slim. There are kids with GPAs in the mid to high 3s that are being rejected right now. I think so many of you guys caught on to the summer/DUS option…so what was once an easier way to get into PSU is now more competitive because so many kids picked it. Good luck with your decision.

@Sophley If I ask for reevaluation, is there a chance I lose my Worthington admission to people going through the admission process now, or will I still be able to keep my Worthington admission?

Basically if you don’t want to go to Worthington anyway, you don’t lose anything by asking to be reconsidered for dus summer, highlighting your test scores - but yes you’d lose your spot at PSU Worthington if you didn’t get into UP.
(Although Worthington is the equivalent of an open admission college that would be a cc in other states so getting back to Worthington shouldn’t be too hard. It’s not like Altoona or Erie which are very competitive branches.)
In PA, PSU favors gpas and Pitt favors test scores so you would likely be better off with Pitt. But you’ve got nothing to lose now.
Hopefully you applied to colleges with good math majors. Use common app search to see what good colleges have feb 1st deadlines. I know Dickinson has a Feb1 deadline to catch kids rejected from NESCAC ED2. Its moderate, despite the prep school contingent not too preppy, moderate, walkable small town.
Considering your grades, you’re probably better off at a smaller college with small classes where professors engage with you.
(You can always transfer after a couple semesters if your GPA is strong).

@MYOS1634 just curious do you know anything about how they admit nursing majors at UP? On the acceptance thread I have seen one person that said she got admitted. Do they hold these all until 1/31 if you applied prior to 11/30? It is so nerve wracking.

@MYOS1634 A few questions:

First, I just recently found that my school might have miscalculated my unweighted GPA. While my transcript says 3.3, it actually works out to 3.54. Would this have affected my application or would the SRAR have avoided that miscommunication?

Also, a big reason my GPA is so low is that I had extenuating circumstances (depression in 9th and 10th grade) which dragged it down. My unweighted GPA for 11th grade was 3.64 (calculated the same as the 3.54, not a mistake). Would explaining this help the reconsideration?

And will waiting a week or two to ask for reconsideration hurt my chances? I’m still waiting on Pitt, and I don’t have any fallback schools.

Did you enter your correct grades in the SRAR?

@MYOS1634 Yes, straight off my transcript which has them correct. It’s just the GPAs listed on the transcript which don’t follow from the rest; I can’t remember if the SRAR asked for a GPA or not.

Also (sorry for all the questions) would it be better to call or email the admissions office? I feel a call would be better but the depression would be easier to explain in an email.

They dont care about the depression - it’s a large university and your GPA is 2/3 of the decision. If you copied things properly then they have your correct GPA. Call, say you have a 3.54 GPA t a competitive high school and 1540/1600 sat, would like to be reconsidered for UP statistics (or IST Data Science which is 2/3 math basically).
For holistic review you should apply to Muhlenberg, Juniata, Goucher, WheatonMA, perhaps St Lawrence.
Call tomorrow and say specifically 3.54 GPA in competitive high school, 1540/1600 sat, UP (ist data science, or statistics. Greater odds with IST I think.)

Or apply to West Chester or IUP where you might get a scholarship, for your SAT score.

@MYOS1634 Would there be a similar chance saying I would like to reconsidered for Undecided? I had been going for General Mathematics. Also, might they re-place me in 2+2 or just flat out accept/reject?

@mommdc: unfortunately general math is as rarefied as IB :(, so that wouldn’t work as well as a flagship. Temple, Pitt, some flagships that still accept applications may be possibilities.

@Vedvart1 : apparently DUS is full. So, data science or statistics may be your better chance as I don’t think either is full right now. This is assuming you have taken calculus and received a B+ or higher, and have all the pre reqs. You could also risk it as DUS but it may be riskier.

@MYOS1634 If I were to ask for reconsideration, how would it work? Could I ask to be considered for DUS or Data Science, or would I have to pick one to ask for? And could I also ask to be considered for the Summer Program in the same request? If I ask for any of this and still don’t get to UP, would I be able to go to Worthington still, or would I have to re-apply next year if I’m not accepted to any other schools?

And is there a way I could ask for a change in branch campuses, e.g. Erie or Harrisburg instead?

Hi guys, i just got my admission. I found out I got admitted to Altoona for Finance instead of University Park. Is their Business School the same as UP or is it different? I honestly don’t know anything much in regards to how the different campuses work so I don’t know if Altoona is a “good thing” or not. If anyone could please explain the differences to me it would be highly appreciated. And if there’s a better business school (campus) than Altoona but not UP is there a way I could transfer to it? Like to Erie? Thanks!

You could ask “Data Science/IST Summer session, or DUS/Summer session” but they’re likely to tell you to choose just one. If they ask you what specialty in Data Science, say “Applied Data Science” (but you have till sophomore year to choose between the three tracks so it may matter to admissions but not once you are in).
https://ist.psu.edu/students/undergrad/majors/ds
https://datasciences.psu.edu/
https://ist.psu.edu/students/undergrad/majors/ds/ads
If you’re reconsidered, you may be offered UP or denied (Data Science is only offered at UP).

@misspat17 Altoona’s business school is different, but if you do the 2+2 and get into Smeal at UP, you will graduate with a Smeal business degree. Keep in mind the entry to major requirements for Finance are very tough - but if you meet them then you can go to UP campus after 2 years. Altoona is a commonwealth campus about 45 minutes away from UP. It has about 5000 students, but the rest of it is pretty much like a typical college. My son goes to Altoona and my daughter goes to UP. For you, if your goal is finance, then I think Altoona is a great choice because you can get the weed out classes out of the way with a higher GPA usually because of the low student to teacher ratio and the smaller classes.

^^^misspat17, Altoona is a highly popular campus because of how close it is to UP. But, I’ve read in other posts that maybe the business schools at Erie and Harrisburg have great programs too. I believe you can call the admissions office and ask to be considered for Erie or Harrisburg if you prefer those over starting at Altoona for your 2:2. Both Erie and Harrisburg offer housing options as well. Hope that helps!

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@penguinblues That only applies if you are staying at those branch campuses for all 4 years. If you are doing the 2+2 then it doesn’t really matter.