PSU UP SAT scores - one of the lowest in Big 10

Colleges & Universities Penn State
1

Any idea as to why PSU has one of the lowest SAT scores in the big 10? Wonder if SAT scores from branch campuses are also being used to calculate overall score…

Anyone has a link to web page, which shows SAT score listed by college majors at PSU UP? Curious to see what major(s) are bringing overall SAT scores down.

http://collegeapps.about.com/od/sat/a/big-ten-sat-scores.htm

Reading Math Writing
25% 75% 25% 75% 25% 75%
Illinois 550 680 680 790 570 680
Indiana 510 620 540 660 510 610
Iowa 470 630 550 695 490 610
Maryland 580 690 620 730 - -
Michigan 610 700 650 760 620 720
Michigan State 430 580 540 680 460 580
Minnesota 540 690 620 740 560 670
Nebraska 510 660 540 680 - -
Northwestern 680 760 700 780 680 770
Ohio State 540 650 610 710 550 650
Penn State 530 630 560 670 540 640
Purdue 510 620 550 680 510 620
Rutgers 520 640 570 690 540 650
Wisconsin 550 670 620 740 590 680

2

Here’s a link to the Common Data Set for the PSU-University Park incoming freshmen for 2014-2015:
http://www.budget.psu.edu/CDSRedesign/cds.aspx?reportindicator=FreshAdmn&Location=UP&AY=20142015

The SAT scores for this year do seem to fit the numbers listed above in the Big 10 list.
Reading
25%=530
75%=620

Math
25%=560
75%=670

Writing
25%=540
75%=640

There are very few direct admit majors at PSU (architecture, arch engineering, nursing, etc.), so there wouldn’t likely be much data available breaking down majors with SAT scores.

3

Even Arch Engr is not a direct admit. Students are admitted for their Sophomore year (compared to Junior year for other ENGR majors).

4

Apparently they weigh GPA more than SATs in admissions, so maybe that has something to do with it?