@defndr11 Congrats!!!
Thx All!!! She was accepted pre med eberly summer only. stas are: SAT-1610 (awful, we know), GPA 4.1 w, Varsity sports all 4 years, clubs, tons community service, NHS. Keep up the hope to all waiting! I will continue to read up on all news. I’m pulling for you…
I just wanted to say something…
I applied to Smeal at University Park. I really thought I would get in, and honestly considered Penn State a just right/safety. But, to my surprise I was accepted for Altoona!!! I was livid!!! After talking in my guidance counselor (and the dozens of people in my school who got into the University Park campus [my school as about an 75% acceptance rate to PSUUP]) I figured the decision was either a mistake or I was put into Altoona for availability. I decided it was best to call the school. After waiting 45 minutes on hold I finally got to talk to an admission’s officer, who seemed more then happy to give me a reevaluation for DUP. Less than a day later, I was accepted!!! The moral of the story: if you think you deserve a spot that the Penn State, CALL!!! You have nothing to lose!!!
My D was denied UP as DUS for both fall and summer. Accepted to branch. Totally surprised because seen same or lesser stats get accepted. Saw one more come thru today. Spike with admissions yesterday but person not helpful. Gonna try once more tomorrow. Just to see if I can figure out reason. Only thing she probably can’t be reevaluated because she is already DUS. Wish me luck!
@gildak Did you get a status update yet or are you going off of what the admissions counselor said? So much of the process makes no sense. They obviously look for more in a package than just GPA/Scores, because the stats are so all over the place.
@jihpsu she received today 
@lpt121212 If you don’t mind me asking, how did you phrase your question when you asked to be considered for DUS and how did they respond? I’m in the process of doing this and I reallly want to make sure I say the right things! Thanks!
@SoccerDude0305 , my son went from “coming days” to “consider another campus or major” on the same day - last Friday. When I called on his behalf, the counselor’s first question was whether he would consider an exploratory option. I said yes, and his status changed to DUS on Tuesday.
Again I will say that Penn State could save itself a lot of hassle during admissions if they would just include DUS as a second choice option on the application.
@gildak Ugh…so sorry. I’d definitely call though…even if you just get an answer as to why she was denied…
@greatwhiteway I agree! They give back up campus, back up starting session…makes sense if they did back up major…but my guess is every single person would pick DUS and then those applying straight DUS wouldn’t get in!
@SoccerDude0305 I basically said “I am only interested in the UP campus, so is there any way that I can be reevaluated for DUS” The guys on the phone didn’t ask any questions and said yes right away
@greatwhiteway I could not agree more
I was accepted to Smeal at harrisburg, emailed and asked for re-evaluation for DUS and they said ok. Do you think i have a shot?
88.9/100 GPA UW
Only a couple APs and honors
27 ACT (took twice, received 27 on both)
2 Varsity sports - captain this year in 1
lifeguard and retail sales associate
Volunteer Coach
Attended week long business-career oriented program over the summer
NJ Hispanic Male
Oh yeah and request for re evaluation was made via email 2 days ago, received a response a day later, there was confusion with my request so I had to send a 2nd and 3rd email, so not sure if the process has started yet.
@njsenior2015 An 88 is about a 3.3 or 3.4 right? Did you say you’d be willing to start in the summer? My D got into DUS for summer with a 3.45 and a 28 ACT. She did not get in for Fall. That being said, that doesn’t really mean anything. As much as we like to compare around here, the truth is that the admission stats are all over the place, telling me that the admissions is really more than just stats. So it depends on how hard your classes were and what your school’s grading and weighting scale looks like. I think you’d have a better shot at summer than fall - but that’s just a guess!
@jlhpsu My GPA is slightly skewed, because I struggled my freshman year. My transcript will show that. Just to give you an idea:
9th: 83
10th: 90
11th: 94
Not sure if that helps me at all, but it would bother me if they didn’t pay attention to my growth as a student through my last three years of high school.
@njsenior2015 I have no idea what they ACTUALLY do, but their official stance is that upward trend doesn’t matter. They only care about the overall GPA. Official stance is not always what happens though. All you can do is wait and see, I guess…and waiting is the hardest part! Good Luck!
here’s a thought on why allowing a second major is not as good of an idea as it seems: People who call to be re-evaluated most likely really want to go to PSU. If they started filling the “DUS slots” automatically, they could go to people who have no intention or low probability of attending.
@njsenior2015 As @jlhpsu said, and an admissions counselor said this to me and my son in person, the school does NOT take into account upward trend and only overall GPA matters. When we heard that…we were crushed. Didn’t think he’d get in because his grades mirrored yours in GPA terms: 2.8, 3.4, 3.9 with overall 3.4. And modest SAT of 1700 (below your 27 ACT). And…he was accepted UP DUS Summer. So, yes, you have a shot. But, we’ve seen kids with stronger numbers than my son’s get declined. Tough, tough process to figure out. (Personally, I think they’re a little more holistic than they lead us to believe…but they probably can’t quantify precisely so they say they go simply by the numbers. But the acceptances/declines belie the numbers only stance). Good luck!
This will probably be helpful to kids with the same kind of stats so here goes.
Accepted (University Park) - DUS Summer 2015
- Tried for Fall, but didn’t get it
- DUS was the first choice
(Went to a Smeal primer during the campus tour and was assured that
there was an excellent chance of getting into Smeal as long as you had the grades,
so decided to play it safe and just try to get admitted first)
Stats:
SAT: 2110 composite (770CR 670M 670W)
ACT: 31C
SAT IIs: 680 USH, 640 Math II, 630 Lit
GPA: 3.0 (yeah, the weakest part of the app)
Rank: School doesn’t rank, but obviously in the lower 50% with that GPA
Other stats: 3 AP’s, 4-5 Honors
Subjective:
Hook: Recruited athlete (fencing). On the list but not really actively recruited by the coach (so far).
Essays: Good IMO. Ruminated about diversity and the difficulties of being in a highly competitive public school.
Teacher Recs: None
Counselor Rec: None
Location/Person:
State or Country: CA (Northern)
School Type: Highly competitive public
Ethnicity/Race: Asian
Gender: Male
Other Factors:
General Comments: First Acceptance! So relieved.
Went to campus visit during the summer. Not sure if this helped in showing interest.
Will wait for a few others before committing of course, but if they don’t pan out then Go Nittany Lions!!!
Accepted - Penn state (University Park) Engineering
Stats:
SAT: 2090 (790M, 680W, 620CR)
SAT IIs: 730 Math II, 730 Physics
GPA: 3.8 UW
Rank: top 25%
Other stats:
Subjective:
Essays: Very good and unique in my opinion
Teacher Recs: great
Counselor Rec: great
Hook (if any):
Location/Person:
State or Country: India
School Type : Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Other Factors: Lots and lots of ECs and Volunteer work.
General Comments: Very happy with the acceptance but will probably end up attending UMichgan Ann Arbor.
Accepted at - Texas A&M, UMich, Maryland CU-Boulder and Illnois tech too.
Deferred - Gtech
Congrats to everyone !
below is the freshmen class common data for 2014-2015. It’s interesting.
http://budget.psu.edu/CDSRedesign/cds.aspx?reportindicator=FreshAdmn&Location=UP&AY=20142015