New, extreme circumstances that were not known ahead of time and make it impossible for her to start in the Summer, such as the family’s main income disappearing due to parent(s) being let go.
In your case, review your child’s different offers and see which ones are within the budget you had set for your child. Typically the choices come down to 1) no parental loans 2) best fit within budget.
Summer session is great but it IS pricey (and means summer job must be part time) so if it pushes PSU out of budget it means it’s not affordable and is off the table. Hopefully there are some universities that are a good fit and within budget - if that’s PSU, excellent, other universities also great… but if not, there may be some public flagships still accepting applications (U Southern Maine, U New Hampshire, U Rhode Island do).
Unfortunately Penn State is very stingy wrt aid, even for instate applicants. The only guaranteed merit aid is for acceptance to Schreyer, which students find out at the end of February or beginning of March. There are a few scholarships (Provost…) but not many and not for much.
Schreyer’s scholarship historically is $5,000/year. Historically Millennium is 50% tuition OOS, 100% in state. There are also smaller scholarships that the individual schools within PSU give. Not that much $$ though - but it is something.
My daughter is trying to do decide if she should apply for the science scholarship, due 2/3. We are oos. Does anyone know how much money they typically give for these scholarships as that may affect our decision.
Daughter is accepted to Harrisburg campus (2+2) - went in at Undecided in Division of Undergrad Studies (and checked off would enroll in Summer). She is submitting for reconsideration for Univ of Park (closer to family and other reasons). Any insights on Hospitality vs. Cybersecurity/Data for optimizing her chances for Univ Park (this is what she narrowed it down)? Goes without saying: we know there is no guarantee but just trying to see what would be more likely based on anyone who may have insight on that. We are fortunate she got accepted altogether!
@mommapsu I would think that Hospitality Management would be the less competitive of these two majors. I do think that with a 3.1 GPA and test optional, UP is probably a reach for any major. If the 2+2 stands after reconsideration, perhaps she could request
Altoona instead of Harrisburg if that would be a better option. Best of luck to your daughter.
Hi, could anyone please help me with this? When doing reconsideration, do we still need to choose alternate starting campus? Son wants to switch to DUS at UP but what if he ended up with DUS at the same 2+2 branch campus?
If your first choice campus is UP check that and check anything else if you won’t consider 2+2. They’ll reconsider the application for UP and only if not admitted to UP will they look at the alternate campus.
Altoona, Harrisburg, and Behrend are the “real” 4 year more residential campuses. Abington is commuter/suitcase but has dorms at. So if you’d rather attend a branch campus than a PASSHE or a private college, list one of these - otherwise list any from the list.
He was offered 2+2 at Erie for Mechanical Engineering already. I’m just thinking if he switches to DUS at UP but ended up with Erie again? Or DUS is offered only at UP no matter which alternate starting campus you choose? Thanks again for you help in advance.
Yes, they have everything. My portal now says my application is under review, was just confused as to why there is no decision yet since most have heard back.
Hospitality if she has extensive experience in the field. She should attach her resume if she didn’t do it in the EA round, as a “no stone left unturned” measure, although they typically say they don’t consider additional material.
Cyber security or Data Optimization would be out of reach imho.
(If need be, public universities still accepting applications include USouthern Maine, College of Charleston, URI…plus PASSHE schools).
No.
It means they’ve reviewed your application for Fall twice (plus twice more if you also checked Summer) and their data tell them you won’t succeed because students with your characteristics historically haven’t… (they do admit borderline students whose odds are 50-50 they’ll fail out, but some profiles are lambs to the slaughter) or, if it’s February or March, that your major is “full” at UP.
(There’s an Appeals process but you need a really significant reason. The only one I can think of is if you were very seriously ill -cancer for instance- and hospitalized sophomore and/or junior year but rectified your grades senior year which they can’t see; there may be a couple others of that magnitude. There’s basically no reason you must be at UP rather than another campus and it’s difficult to prove your results and rigor really do indicate you’ll succeed there, because if that were the case you’d have been admitted.)
If your son isn’t accepted for DUS at UP, his offer at Erie for Mechanical Engineering will still be valid. If he prefers another commonwealth campus rather than Erie, he could then ask if he can switch to Mechanical Engineering at Harrisburg or Altoona.
I’m at a loss for my son. He applied for reconsideration and was denied UP. He has high rigor with all honors, AP, and DE except for electives. His unweighted GPA is 3.67, and his school doesn’t weight. Extremely strong ECs as well as three sport varsity athlete. Is it possible they didn’t recalculate his GPA to add PSU’s weighting system? This happened at Auburn but they clearing show it on their application portal. When they added in his rigor it jumped to a 4.1. He is an OOS legacy and it’s his top choice. Won’t consider a branch campus though. Is there anything he can do?