@myacceptmy3 Frankly, unless you have some new and earthshaking information to offer, it probably won’t make much difference what you say. You have already been evaluated for DUS Summer and weren’t accepted. The fact that you really want to attend UP rather than a branch won’t change the decision. I think you should accept the 2+2 possibility or, if you prefer, choose another college/university.
I agree. They already considered you for UP, for DUS, and for summer. You didn’t make it. It’s not like you have a 3.9 but asked for Engineering and got turned down whereas you’d be clearly successful if given a chance at DUS. At this point, either accept the 2+2 (meaning UP and a PSU degree 4-5 years from now), or choose another university. Or, if none are affordable, log onto commonapp to see which universities are still accepting applications - there are quite a few of them, including in PA (Elizabethtown, Lycoming, Lebanon Valley, Susquehanna…) which are better than PSU branches. Whether you’ll want to transfer to PSU after 2 years at these colleges is another matter 
but you do have choices.
Hello!
I am an international student.
I applied in the second last week of december. However, i could send my transcripts by 22nd Jan.
My application status is this
Your application is currently under review. We have received everything required to complete your application. Once a decision is made, it will be posted here.
Do you have any ideas as to when the decision will come out.
By April 1. I waited 11 weeks for my decision. Good luck!
But one of my colleague with the same situation as mine got his decision yesterday
@Shoelover18 were you accepted…
@rohitchinmayb I got into altoona. I applied to Smeal though, and it’s very competitive.
Does anyone know how to find the stats of each commonwealth campus students do the 2+2? Some of the branch campuses have a 4 yr degree and some only at that branch. For instance software engineering is only at erie. I don’t think going to a branch campus is lower. College is all what you make of it
For examples:
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=598
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=601
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=62
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=65
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=2026
Yep understand the avg stats of the student body is lower. However I do not think the quality of education is. Still a PSU degree no matter where you study.
@crazycat220: you can look at the links above to compare the stats on the different branch campuses. Then you can enter “collegedata” + “PSU …” where … = name of the branch.
The main difference is that most branch campuses are commuter - students drive from home and go back after classes. The exceptions would be Erie and, to a lesser extent, Altoona and Harrisburg. Greater Allegheny has some residences too - but all three are still pretty “suitcase”. Altoona students often drive to State College on football weekends because it’s only 20mn (perhaps 30mn when weather arrives).
So, check not only the stats, but also what percentage freshmen live on campus.
The “branch” classes tend to go a bit more slowly and at the pretty much open admission branches the content is lighter, so many branch campus students (not those in Honors/Schreyer branch or engineering but many others) have a bit of a shock when they get to Main Campus. They succeed, but the shock students get when they start at UP right out of high school was mild, and the bigger shock arrives when they start at Main.
All in all though the branch campus students do very well because during their 2 years they’ve acquired resilience and study habits, and they overcome the “shock” quickly. No matter where you go, expect to work hard if you want to do well.
Thanks myos. I guess I am trying to justify that my s got denied UP for engineering but got honors engineering at Erie. His stats were higher than some I noticed got in UP. I think he will do well at Erie but I want him have as much opportunity in the market 4 yrs from now as a UP grad. I too think the 2+2 would be an adjustment for most. I hope he wants to stay in Erie to be honest. If he takes comp science he could transfer but not with software engineering. Thanks to all of you on here. So much knowledge comes from this site!
@crazycat220 my aunt was admitted to main many years ago but decided to do two years at ERIE for multiple reasons. She has said multiple times and I have mentioned it here before, but she would not do it any other way . She absolutely loved Behrend and when I asked she said she did not think main was harder. She did say that she had smaller classes at ERIE tho.
@crazycat220 You can also search Penn State Common Data Set and it will take you to the data sets for each
campus. I know it’s difficult to see others with lower stats get accepted to UP. My only answer for that is that noone here knows the scale their schools use or the rigor of their classes. GPA’s are so difficult to compare on here.
I will say that Berhend is known to be the engineering branch specifically because of what you said…some of the majors aren’t available at UP. I know a number of kids at that campus and they like it a lot. I believe it’s the largest branch. Many will go to UP after 2 years, but I know of many who choose to stay all 4.
Hey everyone, this is my first time posting on this thread. Anyways I got accepted to Penn State University Park for Biology! To be honest until I read through this thread I didnt realize PU was that competitive, apparently I got lucky.
Brief on my stats:
Took IB diploma
GPA: 3.84
SAT: 1160
@Liveitlight is 1160 CR+M? Because if not, your ECs and essay must’ve been top notch
Finally, accepted into Fall 2016 PSU main , PSU Mom !!!
Congrats @PSUMOMIHOPE !! Long wait, but worth it!
Very long wait, but yes very worth it. Good luck to everyone out there remember that this is your journey and you may not go down the road you had expected but there are many roads to lead you there. PSU proud Mom
@PSUMOMIHOPE Congrats! What was your kid’s stats and major again?