Applied to six schools and Penn State by far is lacking in the personal touch contact department, maybe the go wild after your accepted but while you are waiting all I got was a nice “hey we got your fafsa” email and that’s about it. with all that they have gone though they might want to increase their contact with prospective students.
@newman22 Penn State reportedly had over 65,000 applicants this year. How do you propose that they increase their contact with students, while also getting applications completed within a timely manner? With the sheer number of applicants, it can only be a very limited contact game initially. It’s just not possible to do their jobs otherwise. They also aren’t clamoring for students. As mentioned, they had 65,000 applications this year. They don’t need to beg anyone to come. They can fill slots regardless.
no about begging people to come, have had way more contact form universities like Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana. contact doesn’t have to be personalized, it can be a general email as to things going on at the university or a postcard etc…
I’m sorry that you are not happy with the level of communication that Penn State has provided to you. But maybe you can give them a bit of a break. It’s been a few years, but I would put PSU in the middle of the spectrum with respect to communication. There were some universities that contacted my son so often that it became annoying. On the other hand - some were so unorganized that my son had to call several times just to make sure they had received his information. As for prospective students, Penn State has no problem attracting qualified students.
I guess it is how you look at the college selection process. For us, it is was an expensive business transaction. All of the mailings, emails, etc. were, for the most part, peripheral marketing drivel. As consumers, due diligence was our responsibility – so is advocating. Good preparation for the real world.
Today, GIYF “Penn State Academics” leads to two articles “Penn State produces 13 US Fulbright students for 2014-15” and “Penn State student selected as Gates Cambridge Scholar”. A nice summation appears here “http://www.centredaily.com/2015/02/21/4614629/head-of-the-class-penn-state-produces.html”
Lastly, DS told me he had just been to office hours with his Math professor; not only was the math clarified, but professor offered to (and did) help with Chem E homework as well – capable, willing and apparently enjoyed the diversion. I like this personalized product.
Good luck with your decisions!
Penn state is not too bad. When I applied to FSU I didn’t ever hear from them. You had to check the website yourself, and at the opposite Alabama was great with contacting me. I got the occasional email from penn state. I’d suggest checking your spam, since some of their emails ended up there.
It looks like you have gotten into a very nice list of schools. Congratulations to you! I am a PSU alum and my husband is a Wisconsin alum.
My daughter was accepted to PSU in December, and since then, has received a few emails as well as snail mail letters. She has received numerous invitations via email for accepted students days. And a letter specific to the College of Science and opportunities there for her. She is not a scholarship recipient and hasn’t applied for anything special beyond just getting in.
She has applied to a wide range of schools, some much smaller than Penn State. There is variation in how they all do it. Some have better admissions departments than others. I feel that although it’s easy to say the admissions department reflects the school, the fact is that once you are there, you will never see them again. So, make your decision based on finances, quality of the major, opportunities, location, etc. I would not rank admissions as very important in the grand scheme of things. Good luck with your decision!
This had been the opposite of my experience. I’ve received so much mail from PSU that I spread it out on the floor to take a picture with it! They haven’t sent me as many emails as other schools, but I’ve felt that the PSU admissions process was so self-explanatory I didn’t need as much contact as I did with some of the small schools I applied to.
A general theme at Penn State i’ve seen is that the staff in the academic administration departments (bursar, admissions, registrar, financial aid) are very helpful if you reach out to them, but they do not hold your hand and walk you through anything. I like this, but others might not.