This is the official discussion thread for Penn State Class of 2028 RD applicants. Ask your questions and connect with fellow applicants.
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What is everyone’s opinion on the Smeal Sapphire Leadership Program? Is it worth it? Does everyone get invited to apply? Didn’t even know of its existence until I received an email about it…deciding if I should apply for it or not.
(Context: Smeal admit for Summer 24 at UP)
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Also wondering the same thing. Daughter was invited to apply, she’s a OOS smeal fall admit.
Prestige/Honors program.
We had a great accepted students day on 2/10. My daughter can’t wait until summer session starts!!
Thoughts on admission via the 2-2 program with Berks campus? My daughter was disappointed and may not even consider it anymore…
What major? Are you Instate? How many AP+honors? What are her other choices ?
Out of state. Business. I’d guess 6-7 AP as of end of junior year and 4 honors. still waiting to hear back from a bunch of schools but right now her top admitted choice is Indiana University.
If Indiana Kelley is direct admit, forget PSU.
If not or if perchance psu were less expensive than Kelley, email psu and ask for reconsideration/summer start/DUS.
But sounds like Kelley is your best choice, just email psu to say you aren’t interested. 
Congratulations anyway
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i just heard back and got into university park for CS! super excited 
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Congrats! When did you apply?
i applied around christmas! probably between 12/23-27
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hello everyone, id like some advice.
so I have not applied for penn state yet (i know very late) but I was waiting on 1st semester senior grades to boost my application
my stats: 1420 sat (640R, 780M)
2.4UW, 2.8W
10 aps, C in pre calc (10th), D in calc bc (B 1st sem > E 2nd)(11th), and I have a B in ap stats and A in ap cs right now
i had a very tough time with mental health in 9th grade which i mention in my essay, and again which impacted my calc grade from 1st to 2nd sem.
i am planning on applying for eng, but should I try an easier major instead?
My opinion is you would face extremely long odds for being admitted for engineering, especially this late in the cycle.
You may want to consider a strategy of CC to transfer.
With the grades you mentioned and those SAT scores, it looks like you have the aptitude for engineering and if engineering is your passion, you should try to stay with it.
Maybe take a reduced load in the first semester or year, and maybe take 1 or 2 summer classes this summer to move in slowly.
If executive function/time management is a limiting factor, consider which schools give good support to improve those skills.
Flypigs.
Penn State weighs GPA A LOT more than SAT score and with your GPA your odds are almost nil unless you apply to Behrend as a reach and Abington or Berks. Perhaps apply DUS/Undecided.
(University Park is out of reach.)
Your essay should be about something you’re proud of.
I wouldn’t write about mental health because colleges are wary of these issues, especially since they impacted your grades. Focus their attention on something else.
You could try applying to Temple or one of thr PASSHE schools, you may have a better shot.
I do have a passion for engineering, i forgot to mention my main ec was robotics which we received a state level award
My problem was always time management as i did most of the work on our team as the leader, and i ended up sacrificing grades and sleep for it
Is UP really out of reach? My grades have been on an upward trend since 9th grade (although I did have a D in calc last year, C in honors chem, and a D in a semester psychology class) but the rest of my grades were Bs
According to the common data set, 2% of admits have a GPA lower than 3.0, inclusive across all majors. You can expect engineering to be among the most selective, and, I would hazard a guess that some of those with low GPAs are recruited athletes.
So, it looks pretty remote to me.