Penn State Early Action for Fall 2025 Admissions

Last Thursday I was given 2+2 for Harrisburg for Data Science College of engineering. I requested for reconsideration for UP and said yes for summer start. I changed to a different focus of data science which happens to be in the information science department. Does anyone have past experiences on this on the timeline or is it completely random for this process? (my stats are 4.02W 8 Aps 5 dual enrollment through local college, legacy, eagle scout,varsity golf, small business owner and have hundreds of volunteer hours)

I agree super stressful. My daughter applied Labor Day weekend so we are at 12 weeks waiting. She is 3.9UW 4.6W. TO and OOS, has 9AP Cal B/C. Taken AP chem,AP physics,APbio,AP psych, biotech, statistics just to name a few (all 4 or 5’s) and still no answer. Applied for forensic science. Club sport 10plus year, MVP varsity sport last 3 years (fresh,soph, and junior) spring sport for senior year hasn’t started yet. Seriously concerned that stats aren’t good enough with the TO, especially since we have been waiting 3 months already
Competition is real and she sounds like a million other students out there.

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What’s your UW? Since HS weight differently, it could be anything from 3.02 to 3.9!

The difference between COE and IST is the level of math expected and whether you took/succeeded in Physics.

She’ll be fine - I assume she applied to COE/Eberly/EMS?
She’s not really TO since she has 4/5s in AP courses - they have an external marker indicating her grades aren’t inflated, and she has course rigor.
Her app is being processed. The wait doesn’t indicate that they’re hesitating, just that they haven’t finished processing it yet.
I agree it’s very stressful. :hugs: Hang in there. :hugs:

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i’ve taken calc ab ap, physics c mech ap and stats ap but struggled in calc ab a little. Do u think by switching departments i will have a good shot at a summer start? and my UW is about 3.5 i think

We are getting anxious having not heard applied in August. One of my son’s friends received acceptance to Smeal last week. His friend does have slightly better stats than him. I think he is on the line for acceptance to smeal. In case he doesn’t get smeal looking for advice on what would be his best bet for reconsideration. I’m hearing that DUS is starting to also become kind of competitive. Should we ask for reconsideration for DUS or Agribusiness? He only wants UP or will go to a different school he already has acceptances for, won’t do 2+2.

Stats:
In state 3.89 UW
5 Honors classes
Senior year 2 AP classes currently taking
Rural, small school
He has taken a lot of agriculture classes due to initially wanting to different career path, now wants business/finance. Was in FFA and received first place in state conferences
Has completed honors pre calculus and is currently in AP statistics.

You have the rigor they want so the issue is likely the ~3.5 (low for COE). But IST+the rigor you have+Summer should be okay for Applied Data Science. :crossed_fingers:Take a deep breath and keep your fingers crossed, you’ll know soon.

She applied to Forensics which I believe is Eberly. We will keep not-so-patiently waiting. But like many folks here it is frustrating as we do know another student in her class applied 10/23 and heard the week before Thanksgiving. So there are times I think it must be random but can’t figure out why her application had already been submitted for 6-7 weeks prior to that and we hadn’t received notice. Makes you wonder.

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Someone in here mentioned Physics being a requirement for admission? Is that correct?

My son did not take Physics because it hasn’t fit into his course plan
and because his high school didnt have a certified physics teacher teaching AP Physics
(they have a couple of courses that are only offered either College Prep or AP
He did not take any college prep, as they didnt have the rigor.)

The process is very anxiety-inducing but it doesn’t mean anything that he hasn’t heard from Admissions yet. :hugs: He’ll hear soon.
It’s good you’re using that frustrating wait productively so he’s ready to pivot and ask for reconsideration as soon as he hears. :muscle::+1:
Based on his profile, I’d say either DUS or Agribusiness make sense. DUS is more competitive but it sounds like he took the most rigorous curriculum his HS offers and UP does want regional diversity so it’s definitely a possibility for him.
Choosing DUS would keep all majors open - Smeal and Agribusiness included (as well as minor in any subject he may discover during his first year - media studies, environnemental science, Polish
 the sky’s the limit, Penn State has hundreds of them).
On the other hand, his FFA membership and 1st place make him a shoo in for Agribusiness. So he’d have near-guaranteed admission but would have to give up on Smeal/Finance. (Smeal is also very very good for Supply Chain BTW.)

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I understand it is frustrating. But while you see the “we applied 6-7 weeks prior”, Penn State admissions does not. They see a simple yes/no 
 “were all materials received by the EA deadline of Nov. 1st?” In their eyes, you are equal wrt timing.

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My OOS son applied for Smeal with checked box for summer start but worried as others in his HS have already been accepted. Trying to think of back up major or DUS so we can quickly do a reconsideration request.

Would Data Science in IST be better than DUS?

3.73 uW, 4.5 weighed, 1320 SAT
He has taken 8 APs and honors in everything else except for things like PE and fine arts requirements

He got to Spanish 5

AP Chem, AP Stat, Calculus with Application (not the AP, Honors physics, AP Comp Sci, AP micro/macro, ton of AP English and AP History.

Maybe we will still get Smeal UP but feels unlikely reading these posts.

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Thank you for always being patient and kind with all of us here!

If he went agribusiness could he potentially then switch to dus and then to smeal? Or can he not move out of agriculture at all? I honestly think he would like agribusiness once he starts but I don’t know if he sees the potential and would want to keep options open.

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Physics is not a requirement for UP overall but generally a rigorous college prep curriculum is understood to include the three foundational subjects for the different fields of science aka bio/chem/physics (at any level as appropriate)+ one more science course.
3 is the minimum but exceeding the minimum is generally a good idea to be competitive.

Physics is more or less a basic requirement for Engineering since HS Physics is to Engineering Physics what Algebra1 is to Calculus. So it establishes a baseline and indicates whether the student is choosing an appropriate major.

That being said many students only take bio+chem as foundational subjects then take APES, Anatomy& Physiology, Marine Science, Astronomy
 It’s okay if they’re aiming for non-science majors or DUS.

A pathway such as Bio, Chem, AP Bio, AP Chem is fine for Eberly, HHD science majors, or Ag, but the student must be ready for a huge academic shock when taking college physics (if required for their major) since they’ll be with students who already have foundational knowledge in the subject and college physics is pretty unforgiving. They better only schedule 14 credits that semester and book tutors ahead of time.

The real issue with not taking Physics is for students wishing to major in any form of Engineering (whatever college that Engineering major is in); it is more or less expected for COE if the HS offers it. I can’t imagine taking Math140E and Engineering Physics concurrently, and not failing one or both of these classes OR having to start Engineering Physics in the Spring after taking Math 140E which gives you a fighting chance of survival but means you graduate in 9 semesters. (There’s a reason that nationally fewer than 40% would-be Engineering majors persist and graduate with that major, even in 5 years. And PSU UP is not a “kinder than average” environment. It’s very supportive but it’s tough.)

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It depends on the major, but I don’t see physics specifically required to be admitted. It says 3 units of science on the website for admission. Math is the biggest difference between category 1 and category 2.



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I don’t think the others in his high school hearing already means he is not getting in. I think he will get in with that UW GPA and that SAT for fall.

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I feel that his curriculum rigor (calculus, world language level 5, lots of English/history/social science, solid science background-- exceeding minimum expectations&showing willingness to challenge yourself in all areas) + W/UW GPA+ the fact he checked Summer just in case, should make him rather optimistic wrt his odds.
DUS+Summer should be fine if he gets 2+2.

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This is an active and fast-moving forum so I may have missed it, I apologize, but what are the possible outcomes for applications? For example, accepted, deferred, regretfully not accepted? Accepted for a different campus, offered acceptance with a major of Penn’s choice as close to application major as possible?

While many 1st year core classes for Smeal are accepted as equivalent pre-reqs for Agribusiness, the specific Agribusiness classes aren’t considered equivalent for Smeal. So it’d make the switch harder - not impossible but not easy or seamless.

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does anyone know how long reconsideration typically takes? thanks