<p>I think my daughter has a fair shot at getting in.
Though I’m not sure if she will get in to Smeal as a freshman. Would she be better off applying undeclared?</p>
<p>She may miss out on scholarship possiblities her freshman year as an undeclared as many of the colleges in the university offer scholarships to freshman not just the university itself.</p>
<p>If mom’s not sure she’ll get in then she might not be competitive for the scholarships, anyway.</p>
<p>What particular majors are the most difficult to get into???</p>
<p>is Actuarial Science hard to get into??</p>
<p>For Smeal, you don’t declare your major until sophomore year. And the majors are controlled by GPA thresholds. I think Finance has the highest (3.2?)
Overall, Smeal and the Engineering school are harder to get into than the Division of Undergrad Studies (DUS).
Smeal used to offer a significant scholarship through the Mitte Foundation but that has been canceled for new students. Not sure of any others.
If her numbers are on the borderline, and she REALLY wants to go to PSU, you may want to consider applying to DUS. Of course, there’s always the risk that she doesn’t make it into Smeal after freshman year. So, she should be OK with going to PSU even if she doesn’t make it. She’ll probably do fine but there needs to be a Plan B.</p>