same here i didn’t see any yet. where did u hear ppl getting them that soon?
For those of you who are frustrated that you ha ve been waiting 12 weeks or since September…. That is a false narrative.
Your application was received by Nov. 1 or not. If complete, you will receive a response by 12/24. It doesn’t matter if it was August 1st or October 31st. They are in the same pile.
Yes, Pitt does rolling. They always have. And for some, that is more satisfying. But Penn State didn’t say they did.
@Idontgetthis majors are not “full”. They know how many applications by college, yield, and how many they can admit.
Good luck all. I know it is frustrating, but step away from the portal. Read a book, take a walk, make something new in the kitchen. You will hear within a few weeks. But checking daily only becomes feeds itself.
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That’s not how it’s done. There’s a lot of sorting.
In addition, they need to admit a LOT more freshmen interested in specific majors:
Many will be admitted to several universities. They have data telling them how many they need to admit in order to have a group of X number.
In addition, most freshmen change their minds about their majors although most remain in their broad area of interest (ie., it’s uncommon to go from EE to Art History but Biology to Anthropological Science makes sense). In addition, nationwide, only about 40% would-be STEM majors “persist” and while Penn State isn’t worse and there’s support, it’s not as personalized and supportive as at smaller/private colleges, so Admissions would admit a lot more majors whose background lets them hope they’ll be successful - and they have a lot of data - knowing that some will find fields they find more exciting and others will see the field isn’t for them.
Finally, Penn State is HUGE. There will be about 8,000 freshmen in the Fall (and many thousands more on branch campuses, who will join their counterparts junior year). So there’s really no worry for students who applied EA regardless of which major they applied for.
For students who apply in January, things will be different.
So, to summarize: I understand it’s frustrating but don’t worry about a major getting “full”.
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As for business major, is there any data on the success rate of DUS or Smeal admits in getting the GPA needed to enter into major. One of my sons has applied to DUS and he wants to get into Finance or Accounting majors in Smeal. With so many choosing the DUS path, I am bit worried if there wlll be high weed out of students based on GPA cutoff (3.25 to 3.5 needed to get into Smeal majors). I could not find out the data on transition rate from DUS to Smeal major. Any ideas? For some schools 3.5 is easy but for other with large classes as in PSU, 3.5 might be difficult with the curving of scores.
Hi, how do you request a reconsideration for UP?
If you are asking if there is a difference if you start in DUS or Smeal, answer is no. You take the same premajor classes and have to achieve the same grades. There is no downward curve. (And many of those classes have no curve).
The gpa will be published in advance - finance will be higher than other majors. No additional “cuts” - meet the requirements, you are in the major. (Search “entrance to major penn state finance”).
As far as achieving the required gpa, there are ways to set up for success. Don’t overdo it first semester (football weekends are major time suckers). Balance a schedule. Go to tutoring. If not strong in calc or accounting, sign up for liontutors. Summer is a great way to get a jumpstart on 6 credits if that is affordable. Lots of kids do it.
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Application review does not begin until after the EA deadline. No one has been waiting 12 weeks. Everyone who made the EA deadline, whether they applied September 1 or October 31, has been waiting since November 1.
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Search this thread - there are many posts on Smeal. But at the end of the day if you are a Smeal admit who wants to major in Finance but your GPA at the end of sophomore year is not a 3.5, you will not be eligible to major in Finance.
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It’s really not accurate to say you (or others) have been waiting 12+ weeks. The EA deadline was Nov. 1 and no where did PSU indicate that decisions would arrive before that date. You really need to use that Nov. 1 date, so not quite 6 weeks that you’ve been waiting.
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Hi, My Son, requested a change on his Application to Penn State, as he didn’t see the changes on the portal , we called today, The answer was, the change was made, as per the amount of request and applications the portal will tale time to update and we need to call again Friday if we do not see the change on the Portal, and the most important was "Changes made after November 6, they cannot guarantee that the Application will still be Early Action , and a decision will be make for December 24.
RECOMMENDATION: Do not make any changes, wait until after December 24. It is very probable that any change will take your file out of the Early Action.
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That’s interesting. We made a change last week over the phone and spoke to 2 people in Admissions who coordinated the change and they both told us we would still hear by Dec 24 because our application hadn’t been looked at yet. Not sure if that last point makes a difference.
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Based on the last available common data set, early action admissions were just over half the total admissions, so it’s very unlikely any program is filled up just by EAs.
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Hi I haven’t followed along too much…has anyone heard back on EA decisions? If not, is there a rumored date? Or is it just “by Dec 24?” Thanks.
And most of the other half is either non-preferred major / non-UP campus.
PSU itself states that it gets much harder after priority date.
Many have heard back. My daughter received her acceptance on 11/8.
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The common data set I was referring to is specifically UP. Yes, it is harder after priority date, the point was that EA applicants looked at late December are not likely disadvantaged vs. the earlier looks. Still plenty of slots left after all EAs are done.
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3.2 is about middle 50%. 3.5 is much harder but still achievable if students regularly and well before midterms go to office hours (write down questions during lectures/hw/labs…), use the tutoring system, attend the review session, and don’t party during the week.
Econ 102 (Micro) and Calc are weedout, meaning the tests are designed to “weed” a certain percentage of weaker students. On the one hand, it’s really hard emotionally to get a C when you were aiming for a B-, or a D when aiming for a C… on the other hand, it’s better if you know well before the end of Sophomore year so you can turn to other majors of interest&complete thei pre-reqs.
A C in pre-reqs is acceptable for Smeal so it isn’t too bad in one course as long as the student has strong grades otherwise… but several Cs jeopardize the GPA.
My recommendation:
-if you need to take Calc or Micro or both, take one in the summer. Otherwise, spread the 2 weedout classes over 2 semesters: Calc and Econ 104 in the Fall, Stats and Econ 102 in the Spring.
- If you scored a 4 or 5, in AP calc, Calc is waived. However it’s highly recommended to take Calculus With Applications for Business/2, aka Math 111, especially if you’re aiming for Finance. It strengthens your quantitative skills for Business and isn’t weed out.
- A 4 in micro econ waived Econ 102, then it’s up to you to see if you should skip it or not: there will be an upper level Intermediate Microeconomics course afterwards, so you have to weight the opportunity of skipping the weedout course with the fact you’ll need to know the contents of that class when you’re a Sophomore.
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Is tonight the night?? Let the buttons disappear….Good luck!!
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Which buttons are you looking to disappear? Looked at my daughter’s portal and we didn’t see any “buttons.”
It’s the ‘change my test-optional answer’ menu item under ‘application tools’ on the left side of the Penn State portal.