My S also applied in Sept and we are hoping for summer and the wait is excruciating. And we are definitely frustrated that applying early didn’t seem to make any difference. But honestly seeing the number of admissions and their stats from those that got acceptances gives us more information and hope than the other schools he applied to. Still waiting to hear from UD and VTech and there isn’t anything out there to even give us a clue where he might stand.
@mmsharp What are his stats? My daughter got into PSU last week (School of Health & Human Dev.) for fall and also got into UD. Good luck!
@zipbags - GPA 3.45 equivalent (89/100 at our school), SATs 1770 (640math, 570 reading). 7 honors, 2 AP, lots of ECs, service, part time job etc… Honors Calculus his JR yr hurt his GPA 
Applied Computer Engineering for Fall, w/ Summer option, Altoona alt campus.
I got accepted on November 12th.
Accepted - College of Engineering
Stats:
SAT: 1620 580CR 600M 440W
SAT IIs:
GPA: 4.36 Weighted, 3.98 Unweighted
Rank: 12/404
Subjective:
Essays: only the application ones
Teacher Recs: not required
Counselor Rec: not required
Hook (if any): involved in many clubs
Location/Person:
State or Country: Pennsylvania
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Congrats @troy17! May I ask the date you applied? Still waiting …
It seems as if it’s somewhat easier to get in this year… a girl from my school got in this week to UP who never took any honors or AP classes and is in some level 2 learning classes, 1600 SAT 18 ACT and a GPA of maybe 3.2 ?( not sure on the GPA but I know it’s not very high) her application was on hold because of a discipline record as well… I was slightly surprised and confused to hear that she was admitted to UP, but I’m sure it was a nice early Christmas gift.
@juliacollege I am a little shocked by that. My daughters friend was rejected and she had better stats.
@zipbags what were her stats? and what semester/major she apply for?
@juliacollege It’s possible that she has a documented LD in which case I think there are exceptions. It’s also possible that it’s not true because just like on this page, anyone can say anything and it can’t be verified. I have a hard time believing that a 1600 3.2 got into UP fall without extenuating circumstances. Summer, perhaps. But not fall.
@mmsharp My D had a 3.45 GPA and a 28 ACT and got in last year for summer. So definitely something he’s in the running for. Good luck!
I applied on Oct.27 and was accepted on Dec.16!
The Penn State admission process article states the process takes 6-8 weeks once all materials have arrived, and I believe mine took 7 weeks 1 day!
-Applied for Psychology in the School of Liberal Arts
Sat - 1840 (550 math, 640 reading, 650 writing)
GPA - 3.55 unweighted, something like a 3.8 weighted
Courses - Honors english, global studies and us history, economics, and language
EC - Varsity soccer sophomore year, didn’t play junior year and this year, NHS and science NHS, couple part-time jobs, babysat my sister everyday after school the past two years
-White male, single mom and sister, private school freshman and senior year, transferred to public for sophomore and junior year because I wanted to but my mom made me transfer back senior year
-No PSU legacies and located in CT
Excited to become a nittany lion!
I applied to Eberly College of Science, University Park November 28, was accepted December 16
Stats:
SAT: 2050; (Math: 800, Reading: 620, Writing: 630)
SAT IIs: Math 2 - 760
GPA: 3.35 unweighted, 4.3 weighted
Rank: Top 25%
Subjective:
Essays: Decent
State or Country: NJ
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Other Factors:
EC: A LOT of volunteer work. I work as a tutor 8 hours a week; but I do not have many ECs in school, no leadership roles in school.
@jlhpsu You seem to be very knowledgeable about PSU. My son got into Computer Engg at University Park early-December. When are the Merit-Aid decisions sent for PSU? How much is the typical aid for an OOS Engineering candidate?
He also got into OSU (Computer Engg + Scholars and Honors program), and Purdue FYE - no information for merit-aid from anywhere. He is waiting on a decision from UIUC. If he gets into UIUC, he will go there for sure but at this point, it is a clear reach for him. We are confused between the 3 schools - (PSU, OSU, and Purdue) and not able to come up with a decision. If you know about the other two schools also, can you point out some pros and cons for each school? Thanks for your help!
^Penn State gives very little merit or institutional need-based aid. An exception is students accepted to Schreyer Honors College, who receive a merit award of $4500 per year.
Out of curiosity, how do acceptances work? I applied at the end of November and received an acceptance within a week, yet someone else with similar stats to mine waited longer. Is there any order in which they review applications and send acceptances?
My daughter is on engineering and we are out of state . We get no merit and no aid
@DSNJ2016 Penn State won’t put out their financial packages until Feb/March timeframe. Unfortunately, PSU gives very little aid, unless you are admitted into the honors college in which they give a very small amount (see @kidzncatz post above). Most kids afford PSU via student loans, parent plus loans, college savings, work study, outside scholarships etc…Not direct aid from PSU because there isn’t really any.
I do not know about the other schools whatsoever…I do know that PSU engineering is considered to be one of the best. But I don’t know about the aid vs benefits of the other schools. It’s really only a choice you can make. If OOS especially, PSU is very expensive. But for many, worth it.
@kasami - You can read through this discussion thread and see many similar questions and comments. If you apply by Nov 30 they only say that you will hear by Jan 31. Definitely the high stat applications heard first and everyone else in the middle-ish range are hearing much more randomly. It might also depend on your major or being OOS as well. We sometimes are seeing a bunch of acceptances in a particular major or out of state. They call it modified rolling admission. It is definitely not first in first out because we applied in Sept and all materials there by Oct 5 and still waiting. They are definitely doing some sorting on straigh stats and after that I think everyone is in piles that are getting picked up much more randomly after that.
It seems like most of the top-tier applicants have already heard their decision. My application has been under review for 14 weeks now but 5 weeks from tomorrow we will all know our decisions! Every day is just one less day until the wait is over!
@DSNJ2016 as stated above, PSU gives very little aid. OSU has some very nice merit aid for OOS. I would look at their admissions site or google “OSU non-resident scholarships”.
@mmsharp That’s interesting. I was just curious because as stated, my friend has the exact same (if not better stats) as me and she is also in state. We both applied to Smeal. Truly seems like a random process. Thanks for the info.