Welcome to this official thread dedicated to YOU, rising/current HS seniors hoping to join the class of 2031 and attend 
Penn State University Parkā in the Summer or Fall 2027ā¦Welcome to your parents as well 
The next six months are going to be tough but weāre all in this together.
Share news, questions, remarks: this is your thread.
Two weeks before the application opens!
Time to get familiar with the University
1/ youāll be asked to choose an alternate campus in case youāre not admitted to University Park (ie., the big campus with 50,000 students). You can choose any branch campus nearest your home OR choose a more residential campus with 4-year programs, ie., Abington (very āsuitcaseā: many students go home on weekends, but nice dorms), Altoona (pretty, residential, students go to games at UP on weekends), Harrisburg (close to the State capital and Hershey World), and Behrend (topnotch for science& engineering).
YOU DO NOT have to attend the alternate campus if youāre not admitted to UP. You can always ask for reconsideration or simply choose to attend a Pennsylvania community college or PASSHE university such as Bloomsburg or Shippensburg.
Typically, if your GPA is below 3.5 and/or if you donāt have 15+ honors&AP/DE/IB courses (total) youāre likely to be admitted to a branch campus for your first two years.
2/ Majors!
There are more than 100 majors. Take the time to explore ALL the colleges and what they offer. (I once read a study where half the students congregated into only 5 majors, with the other half splitting over 100. Guess which had the better odds of admission?)
Interested in Biology? Itās not just in Eberly but also in Ag (environment) and HHD (human health).
Interested in Engineering? Itās not just in College of Engineering but also in EMS, IST, and Ag.
Interested in Communication? Beside Belisario College of Communication, look for majors in Ag, HHD, CLA, IST.
Interested in Business? Look at what CLA, HHD, EMS, IST, and Ag offer.
Spend time looking at what most applicants overlook - and increase your odds of admission by showing youāve done your hw and arenāt just going for the most obvious.
3/ Schreyer questions are available
2027 Essay Question (500-800 words)
Identify an important global or local issue that you believe does not receive sufficient attention. Why is this issue often overlooked or under-addressed? Analyze possible paths forward and propose a realistic strategy to raise awareness and advance solutions. Finally, evaluate your proposalās potential to create meaningful change, considering its feasibility, limitations, trade-offs, implementation challenges, and possible unintended consequences.
2027 Short Answer Questions (50-200w)
Good luck to everyone. My son is there now and is loving it.
MYOS1634 is a wonderful resource.
Agreed! @MYOS1634 is an amazing source of information! My class of 2025 kid will be a sophomore -and Iām following along for my class of 2028 kid 
Great advice above about checking out other schools within PSU - definitely going to advise my 2028 kid to look around.
Aaaannnnd.. the app is open!
Hello! Could you make a suggestion for a related major for a child interested in the music industry, specifically venue management. Business minor would be helpful. 4.1 few aps. Few honors. Few regular classes each year. Strong music industry and contemporary rock performance experience. 1360 SAT. Thx for any guidance. Loved PSU but not sure theres a good fit for him as Smeal seems like a BIG stretch.
Whatās their unweighted GPA ?
What APs?
Whatās their highest level (by graduation) in foreign language? Math?
For the music industry in general, the Telecommunications&Media Industries major with the Audio&Video specialty would seem the most appropriate, trying to gain experience through jobs in the various on-campus venues (BryceJordan Center, Eisenhower, Pavilion theater) or State Theater on College avenue. They could add a business minor to the major&work experience. The Hollywood semester Spring Junior year would also be open (students have internships in various places in Hollywood, which could include any venue, while taking industry-related classes+World Campus gen eds). The major is in-demand in the industry and a good way to get your foot in the door.
PSU UP, with this major and assuming the unweighted is ~3.7-3.8, would be a target imho.
āVenue managementā seems VERY specialized that early in their pre-career but if they want to study management specifically (as opposed to working on that field) would indeed require a Management degree from Smeal, meaning getting into the college right through the EA period then getting into the major during their first year.
The majors in Ag, CLA, or HHD donāt really seem to āfitā since theyāre respectively more about businesses or about human resources or health/hospital management. They could however look to see if any of these majors would be more suitable.
Is there any advantage/disadvantage in using Common App vs. Penn Stateās direct application to apply? My daughter has already completed her Common App - for Pitt, we found that their Pitt application has an advantage in being able to upload a resume/document of honors/activities whereas with Common App youāre restricted to 10 activities; limited characters etc. From my quick google search it doesnāt appear that PSU has a similar option for resume/honors upload but wanted to check before deciding which method of application.
With the CommonApp, you can choose to send your general CommonApp Essay. It saves time, especially for a student who doesnāt like to write!
Once youāve sent the CommonApp to PSU, a My Penn state section will open where you can upload your STARS (self reported academic record - basically, you copy your unofficial transcript there. Make SURE a parent checks it line by line because thatās 2/3 of the decision and many students have made mistakes when copying, forgot to indicate a course was Honors or AP, etc)
With My Penn State App, you can tailor the essay to ways in which youāre a good fit for your major and for Penn State, telling little stories about your experience and interests. In addition, if you apply to Schreyer, you can then reframe your CommonApp essay to form the basis for one of their essays.
However, the essay counts for very little so itās only useful of youāre borderline or if you apply to Schreyer. In almost all cases the student can just use the CommonApp essay so might as well use CommonApp.
My Penn State App allows you to upload a list of activities in addition to the personal statement.
In all cases submit by October 15 since it takes a while for the self reported transcript to be downloaded on their end. Two years ago quite a few students missed the deadline because theyād uploaded the STARS too close to the deadline and it was downloaded after the deadline. Last year I donāt think this happened but why risk it? Basically all students have their HS transcripts at this point and can complete the STARS NOW.
Thank you! Can you suggest a best approach for major on her app specific to Penn State? Sheās a pre-health universe kid. She feels like she knows the ballpark, but unsure if she ultimately wants speech, PT, OT or even nursing (sheād backtrack accelerated ABSN if so). Sheās likely not competitive for nursing at UP and as sheās not entirely sure she wants that direction, sheās nervous to select that more competitive major. Is there a best major/school selection in the pre-health universe she should be targeting to increase her chances for Fall 2027 UP admission (sheās open to summer start).
92.67 gpa on 100pt scale (6 AP/7 Honors) test optional; sheās earned college credit for Bio, Chem, Algebra, Calculus, English Lit etc. Associateās degree will be earned alongside HS diploma (52 credits currently and 3.7 college GPA); Sheās taking Stats (dual enrolled) & Anat & Phys elective this year to focus on pre-health; 2 sport captain and all-region all star in 1 sport; leadership program grade; hospital volunteer; school clubs/extracurriculars
Definitely a major in HHD!
What about the BBH major with a Kinesiology minor
Thereās also
Note: itāll help her admission to professional programs if she can take Spanish through Spanish for Health Professions.
Excellent suggestion and she was thinking HHD. Her sister applied Nutritional Science HHD with very similar stats and was admitted Fall UP back in 2025. Is Biobehavioral a better pathway than Nutrition? Her sister ended up Communication Science at Pitt so sheās been very exposed to the idea of SLP and likes it. I havenāt looked to compare head to head or how many seats in each major. The Spanish for health professions is a great idea too!
You are amazing! 8 honors classes, finishing w Honors Calculus. 5 APs-Chinese, Economics , Music theory, AP Lit and AP Lang
We think the unweighted is 3.5
Thank you so much for your detailed response.
My son will apply directly to Smeal, via the MyPennState application, Early Action. Letās say he does not get into Smeal. Does the answer come in 2 parts? Could it say, you have been admitted to Penn State, but not to Smeal (which would then require him to submit a different ānon-Smealā major)? Or would it simply say you have not been admitted to Smeal, leaving it up to him to then try whatever you do to have PSU reconsider you for another major?
I think that you were right in your first post, 3.5 is going to be too low for Smeal, especially if couples with 1360 (which is a great score Btw!)
Can he look into the option I outlined?
He could of course roll the dice, apply to Smeal, then if not admitted ask for reconsideration for that major (or another one he liked).
If heās not admitted to Smeal UP, heāll be offered Smeal at his alternate campus (he must check one on his application; he can choose whichever is closest to your home and commute, or choose a more residential campus, ie., Altoona, Harrisburg, or Behrend, or mix both with Abington which has a campus and nice dorms with many students during the week but most students go home on weekends). This is called 2+2: heād follow the same path as Smeal premajors at UP and move there after Sophomore year.
Heād hear by December 24.
If he doesnāt want to attend another campus for 2 years, he can ask for reconsideration and ask for a different college&major (see post up thread). That process means heād hear back in January or February.
Ok. Thank you. Iām trying to find how to recalculate his gpa. What i found online from college essay guy says essentially all As means 4.0. Then add .5 more for honors courses. Only core courses considered. +1.0 for AP or Dual enrollment. Divide by number of courses and voila. Heāll have 5 years of Spanish and will take 2 more dual enrollment as a senior(SUPA CALC and SUPA Economics). He has all As for grades. And when I do the math as described, I get 4.0uw and 4.39w. He still has to give the SAT another shot in August because I told him he should use all heās got in that regard considering grades, rigor and test scores are the focus. Would a 1400 work for Smeal? I just donāt know anymore.
Dad is alumnus (Engineering) and comes to PSU each year to recruit those kids. Brother is a sophomore, Engineering premajor. Everywhere I read, that just does not matter at all. Nor do recommendations. He wrote an essay for the supplemental prompt, will submit via mypennstate.
Obviously heās got his sights on PSU. UP. We are OOS. The new direct admit changes so much and who knows how many spots weāre talking about. Itās a bit nerve-racking. I suppose I could advise him to check yes for LEAP. Im aware of how great that is. My other son did not check it, did not submit test scores, and grades were not at all like his brotherās. But I did advise him to request DUS, knowing some type of Engineering would be attainablefor him, if accepted. And w Early Action, he was. Canāt promise that route with Business. Wish they could speed it all up by listing a 2nd non-Smeal major choice.
BTW, arenāt 4 more satellite campuses closing by 2027?
Yes, in 2025 it was decided to close 7 campuses that didnāt have sustainable enrollments (weāre talking 300-500 students) - especially since there was overlap with PASSHE (the pfully public university system).
In addition, thereās been long term development of the University Park campus, with the freshman class going from about 7,000 to 8,000 to the current class of 9,000.
They changed LEAP this year and it wasnāt as good as it used to - lots of kids flailing without the āpridesā, Pride coordinators replaced with RAs who didnāt do as much or werenāt as evenly involved/enthusiastic, etc.
Yes, all As means 4.0 unweighted.
A 4.0 with calculus, economics, and 5 years of a foreign language +1400 SAT absolutely make Smeal a target or likely (not a sure thing but definitely within reach).
Appreciate your info and input here. Do you think heās strong enough without test scores submitted? He is a good test taker but that darn SAT has been tricky this summer. Luckily, the college board just released some harder practice questions this week.
Can you speak to the EBF major at all?
And back to Smeal, would it make sense to choose a āless competitiveā major? How does that matter really, when youāre not really technically āinā without the proper ETM gpa yet?
She applied Biobehavioral Health within HHD using Penn Stateās direct application. Itās her first application in and sheās so excited. She loved Penn State when we did Spend a Summer day a few weeks ago. She applied Fall 2027, open to Summer start. She realistically wouldnāt consider a branch campus if offered but if she needs reconsideration, does her new major choice need to be in a different school or can it also be within HHD? I read that the baseline admission metric for all majors within HHD is the same for entry so Iām assuming sheād have to pivot to a major outside of HHD if she couldnāt be offered fall or summer start UP.