I assume no one has heard anything back about the pre-medicine major.
I am a college counselor and the mother of an applicant. On a call for school professionals they said that Penn State does not look at the essay in the general portion of Common App. If they are going to read the essay, they only look at the one in the Penn State portion of the Common App. However in the vast majority of cases they donât look at the essay at all, they simply have too many applicants.
2 Likes
My daughter received admission on 12/4 to Eberly College of Science - pre medicine major. She applied on 10/28. Seems random when people are hearing as there doesnât seem to be anyone else from our high school that has heard yet. My daughter did not submit scores but does have a 4.0 unweighted and 4.7 weighted GPA. Good luck!
For those who were accepted , are you receiving an email when the portal is updated with the decision?
NOPE NOTHING NADA
Kept Checking portal
1 Like
Iâll just repeat here my criticism of Penn Stateâs process. Who else has a 45-day window of doling out decisions in dribs and drabs, and doesnât provide any notification to applicants other than through the portal?! 
3 Likes
Texas A&M was the same. had to keep checking the portal.
She was randomly checking all her portals and it was there - I donât believe she got an email. Snail mail came 12/5 so it might have been in the portal a couple days before she saw it
1 Like
The worst! Doesnât give a great âfirst experienceâ with the school.
Yup with Auburn and UCF we got an email AND a text alert that there has been an update in status with your application.
1 Like
Sweet kiddo, I donât know enough to advise, I am a hyper researcher about everything so I can tell you what I would do is look at last years Penn State thread (maybe even for the last 2 years) to see about majors. I also know from Rutgers that agriculture and education are considered easier majors. My kiddos loves loves loves math- and will probably want to do finance but I know finance is hard so he applied math. If he was dying to go somewhere it might have been advantageous for him to put âmath educationâ down to be a future math teacher. (in my sonâs case he has a language disorder and would not be a great teacher so we didnât go that route). I just hope so much for your son that he gets what his heart is set on.
1 Like
One more thought, I have no idea what upcoming test dates are, but why not super super study for the ACT or the SATs for which ever is the next test and give it a shot? Most schools- not Penn State but most schools superscore so not much is lost if he doesnât do well, and he could do better. And it gives him a little hope?
A number of schools gradually roll out admissions. Sometimes once a week. Sometimes randomly. Sometimes on seemingly haphazard dates.
2 Likes
I have the same question. My sonâs school only uses weighted. But weighted to a 4.0 meaning straight Aâs if every single class taken was AP would be a 4.0, straight Aâs in college prep classes would be a 3.7. There is no one at his school with a 4.5 etc. So a 3.4 could really be a 3.7 on someone elseâs âunweightedâ normal 4.0 scale. Itâs super frustrating in the world of grade inflation. I would feel so much better if they recalculated.
Way upthread I recall someone suggesting education or sociology as âeasierâ majors for admission, and definitely selecting summer session.
My daughter received her letter of acceptance and a packet of info in the mail from Penn State one day after her acceptance appeared in her portal.
2 Likes
No email to check the portal, I saw people posting acceptances here and told my daughter to check. A day later we got a nice acceptance letter and info packet in the mail. All PS applicants at my daughterâs school have heard back except business majors.
1 Like
But essentially, Penn State does - with the SRAR. You put in the level of class and the grade. So, if you have all Aâs, it will be a 4.0 unweighted regardless of what your HS says.
1 Like
Be careful, though. I know that in the past, people have put down education and gotten into UP and then tried to change right away to something else. Education admissions is onto that and if you apply Education - and are borderline stats - and have no extra-curriculars that point that direction, they will do a deeper dive. No summer camps? No teaching kids? No coaching experience? (whatever the âeducation equivalentâ of your interestsâŠ)
1 Like
That is really helpful, thank you. I didnât know how many schools actually take the SPAR and recalculate versus using the SPAR as a way to have a standard format for a transcript to just make reviewing applications more uniform and efficient.
3 Likes