This is a inherent flaw of rolling admissions. The apps end up at the desks of different AO’s and get processed at different rates. This is part of the reason why very few schools do rolling admissions and most schools let everybody finish and publish on a single date.
Its a competitive process for both the applicants and the colleges. Just as the colleges evaluate the students on their merits, the applicants also have the right to evaluate the colleges on the merit including admission process, communications, criteria for majors, overall reputation. PSU is not the only one of the big colleges. From our experience, it is the least communicative of the all big colleges, a problematic admission process to majors among others. They should make the process more streamlined and pick a few days to announce results instead of this daily doses of good fortune for some and frustration for others. This is a forum for applicants and we don’t have to take sides one way or the other. Every one has their opinions and no- one has to be judgmental and getting on others.
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Yes, they do have a number in mind based on previous years yield trends, as in how many they needed to admit to ensure a certain enrollment. Their final target is the enrollment number.
Each college has a fair idea of their expected yield, and accordingly normally admits about two to ten times their expected enrollment class.
You can find this on CDS of each school.
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For PSU they historically have had to accept around 5 kids for every expected slot.
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Due to yield, it’s more like admit 5,000 if you want 1,000 
(with variations depending on majors and they have data indicating who is more likely to attend) which is why there shouldn’t be any worry about not having a spot. If priority applicants meet their expectations or are above the bar they will get in, with formulas changing according to their data for each major/college.
Sometimes they over enroll so they correct the following year but AFAIK last year they had the yield they expected.
CDS here
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LOL - no your gripe is with the uncertainty involved in waiting for a decision you were told you would get by December 24th… not the process. You project that gripe onto the process because apparently you need something to blame for the uncertainty.
I see anxious parents waiting for other schools too - but even if I didn’t, I know enough about samples and statistics to not assume that has anything to do with the school (even before recognizing that they are doing exactly what they said they would and have yet to go beyond the timeframe they gave you for a decision).
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That’s right, but if I may add, for certain competitive majors, the acceptance numbers are still quite low, and hence sub 20% acceptance rates. Even though most people apply knowing well the enrolled class GPA/Score ranges.
It’s rough out their even for moderately competitive schools at this time.
Let’s do one thing: please ignore me. I’ll do the same. Deal?
Sure, it is a sales (I wouldn’t say competitive) process and schools definitely market to the buyers too (some of those attempts I’ve found clumsy at best, though not from PSU). And buyers can evaluate any aspect they want in making their purchase decision… of course as someone who also does a lot of procurement consulting, I would advise against evaluating things that aren’t really related to the product you are buying (like the admissions process you never touch again) but we all now buyers don’t always focus on the right aspects when making purchasing decisions.
I haven’t found them to be less communicative than other schools per se - but that also isn’t something I’m looking for from them so maybe I just don’t notice it.
Maybe they should hold decisions for one date (though I see plenty of people’s anxieties around the schools that do that too) - but even when they don’t, I would still recommend (no judgment there) that those waiting not be frustrated by not hearing, and certainly don’t project that frustration onto the school as if they hadn’t told you that you would hear by December 24th…
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Anyones TO button disappear?
Yes - Nursing is sub 10% (saw 4-5% but it seems off), Smeal too but there’s reconsideration/DUS…
However nothing is “full”. No reason to be in scarcity mode. No one is getting squeezed out due to time.
Based on the CDS, they had ~19,000 instate applicants and admitted ~11,000 from which ~4,000 chose to attend. ~55,000 OOS applicants, ~29,000 admitted, ~3,500 chose to attend. So, ~1::3 IS, ~1::8 OOS.
The reason they stagger results is because they offer reconsideration but by offering it after a first decision they greatly cut down on the number, basically only kids who really want to attend bother which is more manageable in numbers and through the stagger. If they released decisions all at once they couldn’t manage Rolling Decisions and all reconsiderations at the same time.
It’s great for these dedicated kids who get a second chance at their #1 school, not great for others. I totally understand it’s frustrating. And it used to be worse - until last year students didn’t get an email letting them know they should check their portal so they had to check every day, twice a day even around that time of year. It’s incredibly nerve wrecking 
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nope
Nope 
Not here. We even checked lionpath just incase.
Hopefully, tomorrow. 
anyone else anxious they didnt recieve a decison yet, Because ik i am!
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didn’t hear back yet, but in case for reconsideration is it best to call admissions or send a well written email?
Where in lionpath did people find the information on acceptance?
Agree - trying to figure out, as I can get onto Lionpath, but can’t see any acceptance letter
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Yes I checked and my daughter’s did. But she’s out at practice until 10:30pm. So anxious. Hoping for good news for her since Penn State is her top choice. We are OOS and hoping she gets UP
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same idk where to find it