@jlhpsu Congratulations!!! Just logged on and read about your exciting news! Like many others have been saying, you are the reason why I keep logging on hahaha!
Thank you to all of the guidance that you have given me and others about the Admissions process. 
Finally “coming days” for my daughter! Not sure how I will sleep tonight…dreaming of an acceptance for the College of Engineering at PSU UP!
@RobBox96 thanks:) now I’m trying to read through all of the acceptance informarion…so I have to learn about all of this part so that I can answer questions from the newbies next year! Lol…yikes…lots of details!
I’ve been logging on to check on everyone’s status And next steps!
To all the parents of accepted students, join the FB page “Penn State Parents.” Great bunch of people with useful information. A very active board.
@yes2019 If your daughter gets accepted to Engineering have her do the Women in Engineering Orientation. My daughter is freshmen there now. Its a great group with a lot of support including exam reviews.
Accepted Engineering (Aero Eng!!!)
Stats:
SAT: 2050 (690 CR//680 W//680 M)
SAT IIs: 720 phy & jan. math II and Spanish (I didn’t submit any SAT 2s)
GPA: 38/42 IB
Rank: NA
Other stats: ib diploma candidate
Subjective:
Essays: i thought my psu personal statement was alright, nothing too great, kinda last minute
Teacher Recs: NA
Counselor Rec: NA
Hook (if any): NA
Location/Person:
State or Country: US Citizen in India!!!
School Type: International/Private
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Female
Other Factors:
Applied exactly Nov. 30, got coming days on Friday and heard back at around 3-5 PM EST yesterday.
Good luck to you all! WE ARE!!!
Accepted DUS for Fall 2015 at UP!!!
Stats:
3.43 W
1800 SAT
OOS Male from NJ
If you go DUS how are you able to ever get into Smeal if it’s so competitive? That’s my option because I didn’t get Smeal. Truth is I am undecided between engineering and finance.
Engineering is as competitive as Smeal. Meet with your adviser at Orientation
DD still struggling with summer admit to pre-med. Can’t smack sense into her!!! If she changes to DUS, any idea of chances? Does she automatically go to end of the line? Thoughts???
sunnyjames65, are you suggesting that if you didn’t make the cut in the first place, you will not be able make it later,
or that you are at a disadvantage just by being in DUS?
You are not disadvantaged by being enrolled in DUS. Google “Penn State Entrance to Major” for both Smeal and Engineering. It doesn’t matter whether you are entering from DUS or the particular College, the requirements are the same. The requirements for entry to major do vary by the College AND the specific major you are entering. Students typically enter their major after the Fall semester of thier sophomore year. If you meet the reqs for the major, you are usually guaranteed entrance.
@sunnyjames65 So actually, you are undecided. That’s what DUS is intended for. Very few majors require you to start in your freshman year (I can think of Nursing and Architecture off the top of my head). For the others, you don’t declare your major until end of Sophomore year. If you are DUS, you can speak with your advisor, start exploring your options, and make sure that the classes you take are applicable to any major through Gen Ed or Elective choices.
I’d be interested to see a statistic for how many people who graduate from Smeal actually started in Smeal…or how many people started in Smeal and then changed to something else. It’s common is my point. I was an engineering major at Penn State and graduated with a degree from the college of Health and Human Development and I graduated in 4 years.
@defndr11 Sadly, I don’t think they re-evaluate for fall for summer admits. The FAQ’s they published last week seem to say they don’t, although I’m not sure what they do if you are willing to change your major. Here is what they said in their FAQ:
“I applied for fall at University Park, but I was offered admission for summer – what does this mean?”
"Penn State does not automatically review all applications for summer admission. When completing the online application, you can indicate if you would like to be reviewed for the summer session, in the event we are unable to offer you admission for the fall semester. If you indicate your interest in summer, we will address that, if necessary, during the review process.
So, if you apply for fall at University Park, we review your application for the fall semester first. If we are unable to offer admission for the fall, we then review the application for summer, which is slightly less competitive than the fall semester and gives students another chance to start at the University Park campus.
If you are accepted for summer, it is mandatory that you come to the University Park campus and take classes during summer session. You live on campus for the six-week semester and take two actual Penn State courses – they are not orientation courses or nonessential courses, but rather courses for your general education requirements or your intended degree. You then have a two-week break, after which you return to University Park and jump right into the fall semester (with 6-7 credits and a great familiarity with campus already!). Students starting in the summer may wish to consider taking part in LEAP, a summer experience specifically designed for new first-year students."
For what it’s worth, while we were waiting to hear a decision, we read up a lot on summer and the LEAP program and it’s really awesome in my opinion. We were THRILLED my D got summer, especially after seeing the stats of some of the other summer applicants. It’s only 6 weeks…July 1-August 14. Small price to pay in my opinion to start at Main Campus, IF that’s her dream. For us, it was a no brainer, but I realize fully that not everyone has the same situation as us. As with everything, she has to decide what’s worth it to her.
Obviously there is more to the decision than 2/3 GPA and 1/3 Test scores because we have all seen the numbers coming through. If accurate, there are people with higher stats that have been denied or sent to branch campuses, while others get in to main for Fall. And I’ve seen everything from 4.0 to 3.1 put into summer while others in the same grouping are in for fall. I’m not complaining though, we are happy! It’s just curious. I’d love to be a fly on that wall…
Another point about DUS: you do not HAVE to be undecided. If you want to major in/gain entrance to, for example, Mech Engineering, you enroll in exactly the same classes as students in the CoE. You can find the degree/course requirements on the College’s website along with the Sample or Recommended Academic Plan. When you look at the Schedule of Courses, you will see that for some classes, enrollment is limited to students in that College or students in DUS. So when enrolled in DUS, you can take exactly what you need.
Thanks jlhpsu!! We agree it’s a no brainer too!!! I too read up on the LEAP program and love the idea! My DD is a hard headed one !!!
@cowman thank you so much. Answer to your question is I was wondering if I’m at a disadvantage. In other words, what is my guarantee that I could get accepted into my major when I declare. I am confident that I would meet the requirements, my concern is am I last on the list being I am not a pre-Smeal student. Some of the schools I applied to Engineering and others Business. I just don’t know where I want to be…my strength is math. Thank you @jlhpsu for sharing that…I’m so afraid to invest and then be locked out of the area of study that I choose to pursue.
You can only be admitted to a major if you are currently in that College (Smeal for ex.) or in DUS. You must meet the course and GPA requirements, but students in DUS are on equal footing with those in that College. You would not be last on the list because you are in DUS. Some majors are enrollment controlled (Actuarial Sci in Smeal and many in CoE). If too many qualify for entrance to an enrollment controlled major, you are admitted by GPA standing. So for enrollment controlled majors, there is no up-front guarantee for anyone, regardless of College.
http://www.engr.psu.edu/AdvisingCenter/ETM/EnrollmentControl.aspx
Son was accepted DUS for Fall at UP. I’ve been calling him “borderline” but his stats are skewed. His SAT was above 75th percentile for UP but gpa was below 25th. The infamous “bubble chart” predicted that, with his gpa, he would be branched even if his SAT was a perfect 2400! Of course being DUS rather than business or engineering helps. FWIW, PSU’s website says g.p.a counts for 2/3 and the other 1/3 is a combination of factors which can include (but is not limited to) test scores, personal statement and extracurricular list. This gives them some leeway. I believe PSU must place importance on the rigor of the high school they attend since our naviance put him in the green for main campus. He also has a very nice EC with strong leadership and extensive involvement/commitment. Still I was surprised - I didn’t think his test scores and EC’s would make up for his g.p.a., even for summer.
Speaking of summer, I know someone who turned down his spot at PSU main because they put him in summer start and he didn’t want to do it. Not because of the cost, which would have been understandable, but because he didn’t want to be away from his girlfriend for the last summer before college (a girlfriend who didn’t last long, of course.) It makes you want to tear your hair from your head, but after all, these are 17 year olds…
If I haven’t gotten a Summer DUS acceptance yet is it likely I’m getting denied? 3.2 GPA 1700 SAT 24 ACT good EC’s and very good personal statement
^Got coming days status last night as well to follow up