@vamom4 What was in the PSU package?
@spqr70nj it was a letter dated 12/18 notifying her of the deferral until the January 31 date. It was not as thick as the image on the informed delivery looked to be.
What’s the chances of getting into UP if applied today? 1/9/19. I know they say rolling admissions but I also know that’s not 100% true.
@dap616, you’ll never get the chances you don’t take. Honestly it depends on your stats and your intended major. Some majors will likely be close to being full by the time Jan 31st rolls around.
It’s modified rolling admission which only means if you apply by a certain date, you will hear by a certain date. If you apply today, you will hear by March 31. It totally does depend on your major. Students do get admitted all the way through April - but not in the high yield majors because those will be filled.
@jlhpsu question of one has been waitlisted and the note says there is no space, how does someone getting a decision after that get accepted not only to UP but the same program you got waitlisted to?
@dmeyers I can’t really answer that except to say that Penn State does say that sometimes decisions are made, but not yet released. Why they do that, I do not know. But it is technically possible that students were waitlisted after the decision had been made on another applicant but before it had been released to that applicant. It is also possible that they ‘save’ spots for certain test scores and GPA’s. Lastly, it’s possible that Penn State creates a cut off for GPA/Test scores and waitlists anyone below that, but accepts people above it.
Baring all of that, I can’t say. If Penn State is wait listing some kids due to space (and not stats) and then accepting kids after that (with same or lower stats), that’s not fair. Penn State has been all over the map this admission cycle because of EA and Common App. I usually defend the heck out of them - but this year, they’ve kind of been a mess.
@jlhpsu some people have suggested she change her major to DUS from Psych, but will doing that change her position on the waitlist. Would it be a new waitlist or would they have to review her application all over again meaning there could be a chance to be denied?
@dmeyers That is probably a question for admissions, however, I will say that TYPICALLY, a liberal arts major is not less competitive than DUS. But that not be the case this year. I’d call and speak to an admission counselor for this question.
Anyone going to Accepted Students Day this Saturday (2/9)? We’re going and S is pretty excited to check the place out - we’ve never been. Expected to be cold, but we’ll be ready.
ETA: Just noticed there’s a separate thread for Accepted Student Day.
@jlhpsu I’ve been reading this thread and I have a question for you; my son applied EA back in Oct for Smeal, he was denied UP however he was offered 2+2 @ Altoona. He really isn’t interested in Altoona and wouldn’t consider summer start (even though we encouraged it). Would you suggest changing to DUS at this point to see if he could get in UP? Or is it to late in the game? His stats are a little on the lower side with a 3.48W GPA and SAT superscore of 1150. His father is a grad as well as 2 cousins and an uncle. We have other options as he has been accepted to 4 other schools besides PSU so I am just curious.
@MB2231 Penn State doesn’t superscore their SAT’s. So that means his SAT is likely lower than an 1150. DUS is pretty competitive this year also ( it was last year too) and so without adding summer start, I don’t think it will make much difference. You can certainly try though. You never know. Smeal is the hardest major to get into at Penn State so I am not surprised he was admitted to Altoona. At this point, I think DUS is a weak maybe without adding summer. Chances improve with summer.
@MB2231 I know he is disappointed and sounds like he has some other great options - I am just going to throw something else out there for you/him to consider. UP is competitive. And classes are competitive, they move fast, and especially in Smeal, the ETM (entrance to major) are weed out classes. If you want to be in Finance, you need a 3.5 or a 3.2 for everything else. With some of those tough classes, every year there are kids who end up in a different major. In that sense, Altoona will give him a leg up because class sizes will be smaller - I won’t say they will be easier - but it is easier to be more successful than thrown in the deep water at UP. Two years at Altoona would be a great transition and he’d be ready to be successful as a junior at UP.
good luck to him with whatever his decision is -
@jlhpsu and @lucyvanpelt Thank you both for your input. I understand that Altoona would be a great transition for him, but sadly PSU has moved to the bottom of his list. I think is father might be a little more disappointed than he is though, lol!! :))
Anyone know the earliest NSO available to freshmen?
Also, if your kids’ NSO is late June/early July are they at a disadvantage with course scheduling?
@STEM2017 I think they start in May, but it isn’t available to everyone. I think there are designated NSO’s for certain majors (speculation), I feel like since Late June is really still only the beginning of NSO’s they should be fine.
Thank you @LM3232 !
@STEM2017 Did your S19 chose PSU? During D17’s admission cycle and NSO, I noticed they opened up spots in closed classes periodically during the summer so there is no disadvantage to late June/early July.
If your child took the math test and survey plus uploaded immunization they should have received an email with dates for NSO. As we started early we booked June 9th
@jlhpsu I have a serious question about how all this is supposed to work…
Spring 2020 classes start mid January.
I applied for Spring 2020 and got my application completed before November 30th.
I’m assuming I’ll hear an answer by dec 24. Because I met the deadline. I was wrong; when I emailed them asking if everything is good with my application for my current goals, I found out that apparently Dec 24 is only for early action applications. (Even though the website says Dec 24 is for fall/summer… And spring 2020 is for ‘mid December’, but I don’t know, that’s the confusing part. The website even says you’ll hear back mid December if you applied for Spring.
They said in the email I’m apart of the normal “rolling” admissions.
They asked if I wanted to be upgraded to “November Priority” admissions, which I would hear something back by Jan 30th. But what part of this makes any sense if I applied for Spring 2020. Which starts Jan 13th. How am I supposed to be accepted in a school after the start of the classes?
My goal is to start classes in January… I’m really confused. I agreed to be put on the upgrade admissions list but, if I applied to spring 2020 then why am I not getting looked at prior to, well, Spring 2020…