@jlhpsu Hi I’m the same person as @MPCH0822 ( I don’t know why I cannot login my account, so I created a new one)
I want to apply hospitality management.
My first preference is university park the second preference is berks because only berks has hospitality management.
Is hospitality management a competitive major?
Will the 2+2 plan show up automatically on the page once they accept me?
Or I have to request to change campus after two years of studies in commonwealth campus?
The differences between branch and main campus is that at branch campuses your classes will be smaller and less fast-paced, and yes if you meet the basic requirements you’re guaranteed to “move up” to PSU UP.
Another difference is career services, which are much more extensive at UP, and some opportunities that are more likely there (such as working in their hotel or restaurants).
You can start your major at ANY campus that appears as an option when you enter your major, even if they don’t have your exact major, because general education and basic classes are likely common to several possible majors, and finish at UP (2nd choice, after starting UP/finishing UP).
Some PSU branches really are like CC’s in other states (most particularly California, or some of the residential/dorming CC’s in the SUNY system). Not Harrisburg, Altoona, and Erie, which are full 4-year colleges on their own. That’s why you should one of them as your second choice.
Grades, etc: your guidance counselor should explain what percentage in your school get a 70,what percentage get 60, what percentageget 55, 50, 45,40…
don’t try to create a GPA, although you can say " in my country this score is recognized as a high A" for instance.
@MYOS1634 so do you know how popular/competitive hospitality management is?
Is berks a good campus?
PS: I will take the SAT in March and apply PSU in late March
@MYOS1634 But I found some branch campuses also provide 4 years degree.
Take hospitality management as a sample, both UP and Berks provide 4 years degree.
If I start my degree in Berks, I can choose stay at Berks or go to University Park in junior year, right?
@MPCH020822 Yes, if you start at Berks, you can choose to stay there or go to UP in your junior year. Berks, with about 2500 undergraduates, is the 5th largest commonwealth campus, after Harrisburg, Erie, Abington, and Altoona. Berks has on-campus housing for 800 students, so there are a substantial number of resident students.
Berks is ok.
You want some students to live on campus because as an international student you’ll depend on the activities organized there and the people in the dorms.
What country are you from and what’s your GPA (actual, ie., France/ 14, Italy/8…)
For hospitality experience /internships matter a lot.
Applying in March would be harder though because most spots are taken already (students applied in August and are starting to hear).
@MYOS1634 I’m from Hong Kong. I don’t have gpa cause Hong Kong’s high schools don’t have this system. Our grade system is kind of a mess. There’s XX/100 or Lv1,2,3,4,5,5,5* in public exam. The passing mark is so flexible, depends candidate’s performance, it change every year, something 40/100 is a pass, sometimes 50/100 is a pass. If you get 60 something or 70 marks, you’re already a top student in the city. Isn’t it weird?
In my high school, I have no class rank and no ABC grade, only scores (xx/100). In the score, 80% is come from my term (semester) exam, and 20% is from my daily work ( is it the same at USA?)Also, every subject has it’s own score, but there’s no total score or a sum up.
As I know 70 sth is a pass in USA high school, but in Hong Kong 45 is already a pass. You may think 50or 60 is a bad score, but actually you can get into top universities in Hong Kong ( like Hong Kong university, top 50 in the world) with this score
So I have no idea how Penn State evaluate my high school work
I don’t have internship experience, but I studied a subject called ‘hospitality service in practice’ and got a certificate from American Hotel and Lodging Educational institute. Does it help?
Also, I got a 7/9 in IELTS ( Hope it can help)
Will the acceptance be much lower in March? Is hospitality management a popular major?
@MPCH020822 You may be okay applying for Berks campus in March. It may be too late for UP, but you can try. I don’t think Hospitality Management is one of the more popular majors, but I don’t know for sure. You could call or email the Berks Office of Admissions and/or the Hospitality Management department to ask about application timing and popularity of the major, though I don’t know if anyone will respond or give you any definite answers. Or you can request information and ask your questions by following the link below:
@kidzncatz Then that’s not a big deal, as I can go back to main campus after 2 years, right?
So you don’t need to go to Berks because they have hospitality management. You can do the first two years of almost any major at any commonwealth campus and then go to university park after two years. If you are not accepted at UP campus, your acceptance will show what campus you were accepted to. The 2+2 is an option. It won’t say 2+2 because some students stay at the commonwealth for all 4 years. But, if you want to go to UP after 2 years, you can absolutely do that. Work with your advisor to take the right classes so you can move to the UP campus at the start of your junior year. 60% of all PSU grads start at a commonwealth campus. It’s an extremely “normal” thing to do at Penn State.
@MPCH020822 Yes, that’s correct. As @jlhpsu stated, if you’re sure you’d want to go to UP after 2 years, you can go to any of the commonwealth campuses for the first 2 years.
@jlhpsu The only reason I mentioned Berks is that it is the only campus other than UP that offers a degree in hospitality management. So the OP could choose to stay at Berks for all 4 years rather than move to UP. At any other commonwealth campus, transferring to UP (or Berks) after 2 years would be necessary. Some students do prefer to stay at the same campus for 4 years.
Then I’m so curious that why penn state is competitive as everyone can go to the main campus from the commonwealth campus
The average SAT score of commonwealth campus is way lower than the main campus, it’s just about more than a thousand, so why penn state is so competitive?
@MPCH020822 Many students want the “big college experience” starting their freshman year. They want the excitement of big football games, Greek life (fraternities/sororities), parties, and all the other activities a large campus can offer.
with this simple reason?LOL
Other reasons: quality/size of career services, research opportunities, being with stronger students, living in dorms, prestige.
Ugh, I hate these reasons. It’s such a false perception on the part of many of these students about what the commonwealth campuses can offer. They all get lumped together and it’s not so at many of the campuses. In many cases, in the commonwealth campuses, you have MORE opportunities because there isn’t the competition. For example, at Behrend, you can do research as a freshman. their dorms are beautiful, it’s a gorgeous campus etc… Also, the “stronger students” at UP is also not true. Many high stat students CHOOSE to start at a commonwealth for a variety of reasons ranging from smaller classes, better advising, lower cost, more opportunities for engagement with faculty, etc…
The commonwealth campuses are not a dumping ground for students “not smart enough” for UP campus. That is a huge misconception.
It’s all ridiculous because everyone graduates from Penn State regardless of which campus - But I get it. I went to UP campus also but not for any of the above reasons. I went because I WANTED a BIG school. The commonwealth’s couldn’t compete in that regard. But my husband went to Altoona and has had a fabulous career. I hate to see students dismiss the commonwealth campuses out of hand.
@jlhpsu ok I sort of agree with you especially in regards to the caliber of students- there are extremely gifted students at all campuses.
The part I do not agree with is the “opportunity at Commonwealth campuses are not the same re research, interviews, corporate exposure, etc. BUT most students do not utilize these in their first two years- so are they really making a decision based on their actual experience? I am from OOS four years ago I had a different concept of commonwealth campuses- I thought they were similar to our State’s community colleges- I was wrong- they are equal to UP but (depending on your major) may limit (or expand) your additional activities (most freshman do not get internships, research etc) but it can also provide these opportunities (some students soar in smaller environments).
I strongly encouraged this path to one of my children (he chose UP and was accepted), but if he wasn’t accepted he would have chosen the Commonwealth campus. He also spoke with several admission reps over the last two years and “gets” that sometimes it’s your application that opens the opportunity for a different path- there are a certain number of students in each “bucket” that get selected this way- so it’s not “you get the bad draw”, “you’re not smart enough yet”, “you need to prove yourself “, etc.
It’s this is your path.
Separately, He was also told that yes lower GPA and SAT/ACT students that would not be accepted at UP do get accepted to Commonwealth campuses because historically those students have succeeded there.
So although it’s a numbers game they try to figure out where a student will be the most successful.
By the way, what is the acceptance of commonwealth campus?
( Aiming 1200-1300 in SAT)
You can look at the Common Data Set for each campus to see what the acceptance rate is for each campus. However, I will tell you, they are very high. But the average GPA of those admitted are usually in the 3.3 GPA range.
what if I have low GPA… actually there’s no gpa system in my city at all
It’s very difficult to a get good grade in my high school, as my high school grade can only indicate my exam performance.
( 80% from exams, 20% from daily mark including quizzes, homework, projects…)