Penn State Early Action for Fall 2024 Admissions

My son didn’t say anything about the portal changing on Saturday morning.

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Thanks for the reply! He’s always done well with English and Social Studies, but also did well with business courses. I think he might do well to start in Health Policy & Administration, as you suggested, or maybe the Communications College. Do you have any sense of the difficulty to get into those majors?
His grades have been on a steady increase since Covid (plus a family emergency during Covid). It’s that Sophomore year that has pulled down his GPA and as a result, I don’t think it captures his current capabilities or ability to handle the rigor at UP.

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It’s worth a try anyway (Health Policy&Administration, summer). If he retested and got scores in the mid to high 1300s, it could help, too.

Do you happen to know how helpful admissions might be, or might not be, if we called to discuss options/recommendations for reconsideration?

Congratulations, was it to UP campus?

Son admitted! Portal says: Sorry, we are unable to retrieve your application details. Please check back later as we are working to resolve this issue. But there is info for admitted students just under that and side bar loos different than before. We opened lionpath and admissions letter is there!!

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Congratulations which major

People answering the phones are just temps or students, and officially reconsideration for a new major doesn’t help (they’re trying to spread applicants onto the different campuses) so… you could call and ask for reconsideration for (newly chosen major)+ summer, then ask whether they’d want 1st quarter grades (only ask if they’re all As).

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Yes, UP campus. Thanks!

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I called and found out anything before 11/1 is considered EA. My daughter checked the portal 5 minutes later and SHE GOT IN!!

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No update for me this morning. Has anyone got anything???

The average GPA for UP admissions is a 3.68. With a 3.43, I believe he would be admitted to the Commonwealth campus regardless of the major he chose. DUS with summer start is on par with the other lesser competitive majors at Penn State, although DUS has gotten more competitive in recent years. I’m not sure changing would have any significant change in outcome but the advice @MYOS1634 gave is very good. They definitely know the ins and outs of college admissions.

Keep in mind that UP campus can be brutal if not prepared for the rigor. Altoona is one of the commonwealth campuses that is a 4 year college in its own right - and given that it’s 40 min from UP campus, the students there attend a lot of activities at UP Campus.

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Have any business school applicants heard yet?

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wondering the same!

Have seen no business EA admits on this

3.68 avg GPA to UP…do you know if admissions calculates GPA using their own algorithm? My son’s HS doesn’t report GPA on 4.0 scale…only 0-100. Mainly I was I was curious if they calculate differently grades in Honors/AP/IB courses.

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great news! congrats!!!

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there is weighted and unweighted. Unweighted is truly just your grades - and the weighting would take into account the Honors/AP and give the grade a “bump”.

That is why the SRAR is filled out - Admissions can “massage” the data easier than when a hard copy transcript was submitted. It is easier for them to “equalize” grades.

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Agreed. And the PSU website reports unweighted GPAs.

OOS Daughter accepted to UP for Human Development
3.89 unweighted GPA (4.2 weighted)
Test Optional
4 years of Latin, 5HN courses and 9 IB courses - course rigor strong towards her interest (IB Anthropology, IB Biology, IB Human Anatomy, AP Stats)
Strong XC (theatre, dance, swim, lifeguard and coaching swim and dance)

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