There seem to be a ton of kids that applied EA that have not heard back. Only thing to do is wait and contact the school when they open back up next week.
yes , thatās the oneā¦ ours was presentā¦ until it we received a deferralā¦ OOS/ DUS/ TO/ UP fingers crossedā¦out of state, division of undergraduate studies major, test optional, University Park ā¦ originally a Smeal applicant (Supply Chain Mgt), but changed to DUS and added Summer : this board is an amazing resourceā¦sonās classmate from last year was offered Smeal + summer + UP after 01 Mayā¦so hang on for a long ride
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Please stay youāve been very helpful!
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We are certainly calling on 1/2/24 first thing! This is so strange and a stark contrast to our experience with PSU admissions for my 2 older daughters.
S23 was an Architecture applicant last year (Penn State included). What we found/concluded is that MANY of the schools would evaluate the applicant for overall fit/criteria and if it was a āyesā then gets passed along to Architecture for evaluation - which then runs to its own timeline. This got particularly lengthy for schools that a portfolio was a component. Itās a stressful time for sure but in hindsight it went by relatively quickly. Just because your daughter has gotten acceptances at one place or another before a different school doesnāt mean they ālike her more or lessā - itās just that they run to a different calendar.
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Curious why an OOS student would go to the Harrisburg campus when it is 80% commuters. Canāt imagine many would accept this option from admissions. Time for a reconsideration email.
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This was a question I asked myself should my son receive the 2+2 option for Smeal being OOS. There were other schools that made more sense economically, housing and community wise so we decided that should he had been given that option he would have turned down the offer.
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Iām not sure the Commonwealth campuses are a best option for OOS students, with possibly Altoona, Harrisburg, and Erie being the exception. Those campuses are small colleges in their own right with lots of dorms, activities, etc. Itās like going to a smaller (@4-5k students) college with the option of going to UP campus later if they want. Many students start at Erie with the idea that they are going to go to UP after 2 years but end up staying at the Erie campus. There are even some engineering programs at Erie that arenāt offered at UP campus.
Keep in mind that ācommuterā doesnāt necessarily mean living at home and driving to campus each day. Erie requires freshmen to live on campus if not local, but Altoona and Harrisburg do not and do not have enough housing for all freshmen. So any student living off-campus in an apartment is considered a ācommuterā. Same with the UP campus. Any students living in one of those off-campus apartments across the street from campus are still considered commuters.
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Agreed. We live in a rural area, a little closer to State College than to Erie, and quite a few kids around here go to Behrend as their first choice, with no intention of ever going to University Park. Especially true for engineering students, some of whom are interested in the PSU reputation, but not all that interested in going to a school with 45k students.
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We are in the same boat as an OOS Smeal who was deferred. If we are given a 2 plus 2 option, is there a chance they would offer a DUS at UP instead? Or do we have to ask for it? And if not, once they offer the 2 plus 2 can we ask for DUS? Or is the 2 plus 2 final?
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My son got into Smeal UP. But you can request DUS or even economics as an alternative if you got 2+2. You would have to request it after receiving the 2+2 decision. There are lots of other majors that can lead to business track. Thereās details on this thread by amazing members with extensive experience.
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You have to ask for reconsideration. They donāt reconsider automatically. There are instructions in other posts on how to request reconsideration.
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You have to request reconsideration for DUS (or another major) at UP to be considered, but there is no guarantee your student will get it. My OOS Sā19 was assigned 2+2 Engineering at Scranton and his request for reconsideration for DUS at UP (with Summer start) was denied. At which point it was Scranton or bust, so he decided to move on.
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By now, DUS at UP is probably full or nearly full, though perhaps less so with a summer start. I would suggest that your son look through the list of PSU majors to see if there are any others he is interested in, that are not in Smeal. Some possible choices are listed in Dec. 20 (12 days ago) posts by @MYOS1634 and me.
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Happy New Year everyone!
DS is still waiting on EA decision, we stopped looking after Dec 24th and plan to contact the school today.
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Just sharingā¦called admissions (after being hung up on twice) and finally got through to a counselor. The admissions counselor said that the school of Arts and Architecture is behind on decisions and she couldnāt give me a date. She said just keeping checking the portal. They must be getting a lot of calls, the first two agents were quite rude but the last one (the actual counselor) was professional and basically said thereās nothing to do but wait.
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I called too (and was hung up on also!) My son had not heard back and his EA application to the BARCH program is still under review. Confirmed that his application did qualify for EA, BUT, was told the Architecture school takes much longer than other colleges within PSU to make their decisions. It will most likely be a 2-3 more weeks, but he is āstill in the running.ā
Also, if he is not accepted to the BARCH program, he COULD be invited to be considered for the LARCH (Landscape Architecture) program, which would add 6-8 more weeks to a final decision.
So it looks like it could be a long rideā¦
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Son got in Summer start Smeal UP. We were hoping to get Fall start but he is making up his mind to do the summer start. Thanks everyone for your guidance.
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Congratulations ! Itās a real achievement to get Smeal UP right out of HS (only about 5% do) and if you can afford the cost of summer, itās a real headstart that students benefit from and enjoy because they take their classes with their small cohort+they get to know each other, the campus, the area, and how college āworksā - and the classes are all part of their regular ETM classes so they donāt lise anything (I recommend taking 1 Smeal-related class and 1 mandatory class, calculus or CAS for instance) so they can take fewer credits during 2 semesters when they must take hard/weedout courses, to better position themselves to place into their major.
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Thanks for the recommendations. I will pass it to my son. Really appreciate it.
He is doing in AP Calculus AB this senior year. Does Penn state gives credit for AP classes or does he still need to take Calculus? We setup the tour on Feb 10th and hopefully will get more details about summer programs. I also heard something about LEAP and need to do some research on it.
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