After submitting first week of sept and waiting 153 days I just found out that I was denied from Smeal. I was a little bit surprised having 30 ACT and 3.91 GPA, but I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. Good luck to the rest of you still waiting.
@Thewaiting4ever I honestly have no idea. You might want to contact the whomever is in charge of the Aerospace/Engineering program and ask. It is a valid question.
@Nrnjersey124 Hey…Sorry to hear that. I remember you applying the same time as my D. Good luck!!
Entry to major is done by GPA. You apply to any major you want during fourth semester. If it’s under enrollment control (and many engineering majors are) then they take everyone above certain GPA. For BME it’s 3.3. The others are either 3.0 or 2.0 I think. Ater taking everyone with, say, a 3.0+, if they haven’t met their desired number of students (ChemE is around 160) then they will take the next few GPAs until they have a full class. ChemE never has to dip into the sub-3.0s as far as I know.
It does not matter what college you are from (or branch campus vs. UP). It matters what grades you get and what major you apply for during fourth semester.
Why doesn’t everyone do DUS then? Advising. Bragging rights. Using PSU as a safety. Not actually being undecided and only wanting X (Smeal, Eberly, Eng, etc.). Just like some people are UP-or-bust, some people are X-School-or-bust.
I was going to say everything @bodangles just said, and I will add, the reason everyone doesn’t apply DUS is because they don’t know they can.
There is no benefit to being “in” a major as everyone still has to meet same ETM requirements. Everyone. Pre major or not.
80% of freshmen students will change their major anyway. It’s one of the great things about PSU in fact. You can explore majors and not be behind. That being said, you have to be DUS or pre major to take certain classes.
@Thewaiting4ever I’m sure the other schools also have entry criteria that must be met to be in the major…whether now or a gpa that is required to be kept. I’d call the engineering school at psu to get clarification. But I’d be surprised if they told you there was any downside!
@Nrnjersey124 sorry to hear. I remember giving you advice several months ago. I thought you would get into Smeal with your ACT and gpa. My advice would be to go to another undergrad business school instead of trying to get into DUS and then having to reapply after freshman year. I hope you have some other good options.
@Nrnjersey124 Surprised to hear your news. Been watching to see if you had received your decision, yet, since you had similar stats as my D and applied around the same time. Sorry for the disappointment…
I called was told that there was only a certain numbers of spots in each class and they can not accept everyone (obviously). I told them stats I know of other people who got in that were less than mine and the only response I got was sorry. I am going to Maryland so this does not matter for me, I was just curious. Very surprised I got into maryaland and not PSU. I live in PA. For those of you who did not see my earlier post. 3.8 GPA 1880 SAT (not supersocre, PSU does not super score). Denied DUS for fall (couldn’t do summer) Accept Maryland. Very interesting…
Sad that they take OOS and Internationals with lower stats and not PA residents whose taxes support the school.
Actually, this is the first year that location was considered in the application decision. Keep in mind that OOS students often are paying full bill tuition. So they pay to support the school with their higher tuition rates as well.
I understand that full pays are needed to help support in state. But some of the OOS stats are pretty low. Doesn’t seem fair…
OOS vs In state: I have twins, so I am watching maybe double the amount of threads than many of you. We are OOS for Penn, but one of my Ds got in. My other D, is deferred at Bing, our state school, but got in at Ohio. From the threads at Bing, Stony, Ohio, UMass and here, so many OOS kids get in, while the in-states have yet to hear. Sadly, I believe I am seeing what I only previously heard about, where in-state kids have a hard time getting into their state schools, maybe because they will pay the lesser in-state tuition, so they get “chosen last”. I am also seeing across the state schools, “overwhelming numbers of applications” compared to last year. Surely due to rising costs at private universities, making in-state an economical choice. However…you can’t get in precisely because you are in-state. What a crazy situation! Just shows how the state university system needs to be revamped across the country!
Some schools have a cap on OOS students. UNC Chapel Hill only takes 18%.
Yes, UNC has a cap. Lower stats for in-state gets you in, you need really good stats OOS to get in. But I observed a funny situation: in-state kids getting accepted left and right, however, the comments among the in-state kids: they don’t really want to go there – “I don’t want to go to college with a bunch of 40-50 kids from my high school”. They don’t know how lucky they are, to have such a good (great!) state school!
SO true!
It’s so hard to get through to admission now. Does anyone know if they assign a branch campus for you if you get turned down main campus and did put a branch on the application ?
That should be did NOT put a branch campus down
@zipbags @trackmbe3 @hoosier44 Your guys support is very much appreciated thank you very much! Just wanted to wish you guys the best of luck with your adventures and thank you again for the support!
@Phampton62 No they will not. My son did not put a branch. his first response from psu said they could not offer him aerospace at UP but their was a path for him at PSU and to contact them. When he called he was told they did not admit him to a branch because he did not indicate that on his application. He asked to be reconsidered for DUS and the next day we found out via a call he was accepted but the portal was not updated until this morning 2 weeks latter. Interesting process. Many lessons learned
Just some food for thought:
In Fall 2015, 61% of the undergraduate students at UP were in state students. At the branch campuses, that number goes up to 85.5%. So while it may LOOK like on this small sampling (on CC) that more OOS kids are getting in - the vast majority of students at UP are PA residents. Penn State is also not a “state school”. It is state related and receives a fraction of the state funding as PA state schools (evidenced by the much higher tuition for in state vs. a state school).
@Phampton62 If you did NOT put a branch campus as an alternate, they will not assign you one. If denied UP, you will be denied with an explanation that if you’d like to be considered for an alternate campus to call them.
@jlhpsu I see you often quote that 80% of students at Penn State change majors at least once. What is the source of that stat?