Penn State Early Action for Fall 2025 Admissions

If the 3.4 is unweighted as well as the 3.8 (upward trend), with 15 AP/Honors/DE + Summer+ AG Undeclared, he should be okay. :+1::crossed_fingers: Don’t forget to let us know when he hears back :grinning:

Son had TO button disappear tonight - I told him to go check Lionpath and he did. Found acceptance letter under Communications. Accepted to Architecture program at UP for Fall. UW GPA: 3.88, W GPA: 4.38, SAT 1350 (submitted), Eagle Scout, Crew Team, 9 AP, most other classes all honors level.

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Hahaha!!! That’s what we, as parents, tell him. We have a junior at UP that went from Engineering to DUS to Smeal so we know DUS is the same exact path, aside from the advisor. I had no idea that he would have to select a second choice campus when we discussed how he should apply the first time. The info on here is really useful. Sounds like he needs to leave well enough alone! Thank you!

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Do you mind including your stats? thank you

and BIG congrats!!

Just thought I’d give a quick update. We called and spoke to Admissions today and reclassified her application from Business (Smeal) to DUS. They pulled her app and said it hadn’t been looked at yet and since we made the change now we will still get an answer by 12/24. As a result, if she doesn’t get into DUS we preserve the ability to have them take a second look for something perhaps in the Communications school or Liberal Arts.

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3.9 unweighted, 1420 SAT. Honors and AP classes (taking AP Bio and AP calc this year, along with anatomy & physiology). Demonstrated career interest in activities (shadowed, hospital volunteering).

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Do you guys mean the button that says change my Test Optional Answer?

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Good info! Good luck to her!

Are acceptances coming out every day? My child still did not receive one for smeal.

Every day but the weekend (and there may be some on Saturday in the last week).
Your child will hear by Dec 24 (probably by the 22nd), which would be one of: admitted Fall UP, admitted Summer UP, admitted branch campus, deferred.
If admitted branch campus you can ask for reconsideration, ie., choose a less competitive major (+Summer if it’s possible/affordable), they’ll review the application for that major in January (or before).
I know it feels long - stay strong. :hugs:

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My sonā€˜s TO button disappeared weeks ago after he changed his application from including his SAT scores to not including them. That was before the November one deadline for EA. He does not have an answer on his application yet (12:6). Everyone on this thread is citing the disappearance of that button as a key sign that a decision has been made on your application, but given his experience, I’m not sure about that. Do you have any insights?

In your case, since he went from test scores included to test optional, it’s quite possible the button disappeared to indicate that change. I’m not sure why and Admissions say people shouldn’t see a link but it seems most people see that button disappear when a decision is upcoming. Last year, it disappeared for some without resulting in a decision though.

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thats cuz he actually changed his test optional answer. We’re talking abt kids who didn’t change their TO answer.

Admitted this week to Smeal fall UP!
OOS, 1420 sat, 3.75uw/4.3w, 13 AP/DE (all 4s/5s on AP), competitive gymnast (level 10 and 4 year varsity) practicing 17 hours/week, summer job for 4 years, selective leadership club, etc

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What time typically do the exeptions come out?

An email will be sent right after midnight stating there is a change to your portal and to check it. Otherwise you can try see if your test optional button is gone on the portal around 7pm and then log into Lionpath and look in Communications for a letter.

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Son was admitted to Smeal UP this week. Almost changed major based on this thread, so glad we didn’t! In state, 1380 super score SAT (apparently PSU does super score) or 1350 non super score, 4.3 GPA, AP honors with distinction. Did take AP Calc AB. Varsity Captain of two sports, NHS, Link Crew Leader and a bunch of community service. Good luck to those still waiting.

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Will they give options for less competitive majors or do we just have to guess?

Can we first submit new ACT scores and grades and ask to be reconsidered for the initial choice and if still not good enough then ask for a different major?

Reason I ask - the first review is only GPA/Rigor. The reconsideration will actually be holistic - so can we ask them to do a holistic review for nursing, if that was first choice, and if still not good , as for kinesiology in HHD? It’s sort of asking for 2 reconsiderations, but it makes sense they they first double check that you don’t make the cut for the primary major using letters of rec, awards, and new grades before they require a student to change majors. Who has done this? This approach makes most sense if allowe

If you’re denied Nursing UP, they may offer Nursing Altoona. If they don’t offer Nursing Altoona, then it’s final.
GPAƗrigor is 2/3 of the decision and everything else is 1/3 - the first review is always holistic, even though ECs and test scores can’t make up for under-threshold GPAƗrigor. They may round out the profile if there’s doubt, provide confirmation of math or English readiness through the score… And thus may help a borderline app.
(LORs are only taken into account for Schreyer and Sapphire, AFAIK.)

If you ask for reconsideration, you’ll need to ask for something else than Nursing - Kinesiology would be a good choice, as well as science-based majors in HHD. To increase your odds of being admitted to UP, you can add ā€œSummerā€ but if the application is competitive for Nursing it’s probably sufficient for Fall start. :grinning::+1:
Since pretty much everything is less competitive than Nursing (except for Smeal but with different criteria in science) that leaves many majors open. :grinning::muscle:

There is no third consideration.

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