Funny you bring up Syracuse University, that is where my first son ended up five years ago following the 2+2 engineering at PSU Scranton decision. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, it all works out. After graduating in May with an Aerospace Engineering degree, he is sticking around an extra year for his master’s. In the long-run with the scholarship and grant money, it was less expensive to send him there than Penn State or our in-state Rutgers. This is the same plan for my third. He applied ED so we are still waiting, but Penn State would be a serious contender if 'Cuse falls through.
3 Likes
Branch campus change is def a doable option. Call the branch campus you want to switch to. Altoona is generally the toughest, but over the phone they can generally tell you. I know of this because I talked to the Scranton admission office the other day and they were willing to accommodate if needed.
1 Like
Penn State adheres to the national decision date of May 1 so she would have to confirm attendance by then by accepting her admission. It used to be for Penn State that housing was determined in the order of housing deposit but that is no longer the case so there isn’t really a benefit to confirming earlier. You can still attend accepted student events without depositing.
1 Like
That is a terrible way to find out. I’m sorry that happened to you and your son. You should definitely let them know so they can clean up the communications in the future.
2 Likes
Long long ago, I attended a PSU branch campus for 3 semesters, lived at home and drove the 13 minutes back and forth to the branch campus. I was crushed to not go to UP initially. Didn’t have the dorm experience, etc.
That said, I made great friends at my branch campus and saved a lot of money. In retrospect, it was all fine. I was able to have a job and save money as well.
If you are in state, branch campuses will save you lots of money…and avoiding debt is important.
It all depends on your goals for your time at college
3 Likes
Agree with this thought - it all works out. Regardless of the timeline and frustrations now, kids end up where they are supposed to be and all of this hurry-up and wait will seem a favorable memory when you see how fast the next 9 months go and your child is out of the house.
The commonwealth campuses can be a great option. Either to save money or to get a slower roll out to college, which many kids need. Altoona, Harrisburg, and Erie are 4-year colleges in their own right with a lof of typical college activities and experience - albeit at a smaller scale than UP.
2 Likes
We applied early action also and haven’t heard a peep. We are just waiting until 12/24.
5 Likes
Should I fill out the FAFSA before accepting my offer of admission?
1 Like
was hoping to hear something today, even tho i knew those chances were slim on a sunday lol. guess ill look tomorrow!
1 Like
I would imagine Monday portal updates are slow … it means they were working on Sunday. I would not be obsessive for at least 24 hours.
Is the Fasfa open? I didn’t think it was open yet for 24-25 sy.
Nope…by 12/31 
2 Likes
Wait they are working today?
Not a chance.
1 Like
Yes, they are. All of December are 10 hour days for college application readers (or whatever is 4 weeks till Decision date).
My guess is that the last batch will be announced on Dec 23 with readers delivering final verdict on Dec22 and people in charge of collating the info finishing on the 23rd.
The issue with realizing in December that your EA batch is bigger than planned and the 1st step collaters (<- made up term I coined) aren’t done is that even if they smooth everything out (GPAs are all rewiighted the same way, the summary card with how many in each core subject, how many honors, etc etc) and all the applications have been collated they still need people who have been trained to evaluate like other readers so there’s no discrepancy between admits. There’s no time to hire&train and you can’t just take all random candidates because that’s a guaranteed trainwreck.
Your son is qualified for UP based on what you shared. Perhaps not Smeal (because odds are against anyone here, but he could get in at Smeal UP) but definitely other majors - you mentioned Economics.
(I guess he could go Econ-> DUS-> Smeal if he makes the grades).
So…
1 Like
there were quite a few monday decisions last week…it’s the final week they’re gonna end up ramping up decision releases
Thank you. I think that’s the route we will take.
1 Like
Some good detailed info, sounds first hand knowledge.
1 Like
The info provided on this forum is invaluable! The community is like no other 
1 Like
so you believe they could release tonight? i guess im not following