Heard earlier tonight. Admitted UP Fall Start, Chemical Engineering.
710 Math
620 English
4.0 W
3.7 UW
6 APs incl Chem, Calc, Physics
No sports
MB, plays a recruited instrument with 3 years leadership, honors band, awards
Strong ECs and Service with leadership
School citizenship awards
Good essay
Great LORs
One parent legacy in engineering
One grandparent legacy in business
Also admitted to Pitt, Delaware, Widener (very generous merit), and Texas A&M with honors invite.
Will need to visit again and figure out if qualified for Blue Band.
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If a student who applied early action gets a deferral, is there a mechanism for them to submit their fall grades?
My understanding of the deferral process as described on the website is that they are being considered relative to the general pool once they are deferred i.e. not just relative to other early action students. My assumption is that since the regular students applied later, they included their fall grades or at least the first marking period.
My question is personal because my studentâs grades for fall are exceptional and would help his GPA. However, I think itâs also general in terms of how referrals are handled.
Thanks for any help.
For all accepted ones, when you go into Lionpath and look at the financials⌠I see $42602 (21098 tuition, 14898 housing and 6606 misc)⌠Is this the typical annual cost for an in-state kid with no need-based financial aid ?.. seems a lot⌠first time sending a kid to collegeâŚ
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Thank you!
Congratulations!! Are you an OOS applicant or from PA?
It IS a lot. Pennsylvania has the most expensive flagship instate net cost in the nation, due to an unfortunate combination of poor financial aid and unpredictable-at-best merit. The reason (or âreasonâ) is that itâs the stateâs flagship but itâs not really public, itâs only state-related, kind of like Cornellâs contract colleges for New York State.
This situation also used to apply to PASSHE (the âtrueâ public universities) which had gone from 80% state support to 20% state support in about a decade and had increase tuition in consequence (+ other problem with PASSHE that we wonât get into on this thread). The new governor has set up a program to help with tuition costs at the âtrue publicâ universities and the PHEAA grants can be used at Penn State too.
Then, if you qualify, Pell.
And all freshmen are entitled to 5.5k in federal loans.
Itâs always a good idea to compare financial aid offers before you decide on the university and itâs super important to keep kids aware of costs&their impact on family so that thereâs no sad surprise when they think theyâre going somewhere and their parents pull the rug from under them in March or April. (It happens every year). At 17, they can absolutely hear " We can only do this if X and Z".
If youâre instate and your child is invited to a scholarship weekend, it can be worth going, although scholarships arenât guaranteed so if itâs doable and affordable for you/your kid do it (a potential $2,000 for showing up one day is the easiest money your child will make) but donât get into trouble for it.
Your child can email his/her college and also about scholarships for rising freshmen in X major.
And of course, if they can have a part time job for a few hours a week till they start in the Summer or Fall, every little bit counts. 
To get into the detail:
Housing includes food, too (also known as âroom&boardâ) tuition, fees+ room&board are the costs you may the university, in 2 installments, or you can see if thereâs a plan to pay in 8 or 10 installments.
Then, the $6,000 is their estimate of how much your student will spend for other things but the estimate is high: if youâre instate, thereâs no way youâll spend $2,500 on gas to go home. $2,000 for books also seems high if the kid is savvy, uses the reserve and second hand books, makes copies, etc.
Finally, miscellaneous expenses⌠Those vary depending on the kidâs lifestyle but really they should be able to earn their spending money and since they have all you care to eat meals, they shouldnât need that much.
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In state
Thank you very much. We are in a unique and unfortunate situation. One parent is terminally ill (diagnosed early 2022). I lost my job in Oct 2023. So, no steady income the entire 2024. But FAFSA was filed using 2023 info, ⌠so unlikely to receive any aid. Situation is really bad. I am proud of our son who has strived through all these circumstances.
Pitt is giving 10K per year for engineering⌠as you said⌠will have compare offers and make a decision. Thank you once again for your insightful and extremely helpful responses. Also, admire your patience in writing such detailed replies.
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@kelsmom: wouldnât FAFSAA adjust to the situation? Any advice for this family?
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Perhaps have him apply to CSS schools - they will look into your situation in much more detail and it may turn out better for you than simply FAFSA.
Can you run the NPC on Lafayette for instance?
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i am getting reconsidered for communications, is a 3.45 un have potential to get into UP, summer start too. thoughts?
Priority students will be reconsidered in January, alongside the EA students.
Penn State doesnât use Fall grades at all for anyone but I donât see how these could hurt (at worst, theyâll be a neutral point, ie., not used) and you wonât have any regrets.
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Thank you.
⢠Who would be a priority students?My understanding is that the EA students who are deferred 12/24, the EA students who are admitted 2+2 and are asking for reconsideration, and the first batch of rolling applications (November 2-30?) will be considered together in January.
⢠After an EA student who has been deferred receives a actionable decision (January 30) do they still have the opportunity to request a reconsideration for a new college/major if itâs not a decision they are happy with?
Thank you. My son has a second college & major identified in the event of being assigned a 2-2 that heâs unhappy with, but we hadnât considered a deferral until reading about it on this thread tonight.
Has anyone here gotten deferred yet? Rejected? As a student still waiting, maybe thatâs whatâs happening for us still in the dark?
Thatâs def what it feels like the others still waiting are headed for.
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especially OOS and TO
My daughter, who is TO has had success in 5 other schools so far, not sure that is it. Her AP scores are very high, and sheâs having success elsewhere. Penn State is the top choice. OOS
Iâm pretty certain sheâd get a positive decision by 12/24.
High GPA + rigor kids donât get penalized for TO at PSU.
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Others, including someone who previously worked at Penn State admissions, said their review order was entirely random.
Have confidence. You may be surprised with an admission! Although weâre still waiting, I feel somewhat good with my sonâs scores and ECs.
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strong text so are you saying getting a deferral from the standpoint of chances of getting in UP is better then getting a 2+2 and having to do a reconsideration?