<p>So I applied with a 3.5 gpa, will end high school with about 7 total AP’s taken, 1900 SAT, 29 ACT, lots of EC’s: Coached rec basketball for 4 years, Peer Counselor (VP), Started a Teacher Aid Club (VP), Debate (Treasurer), Tennis for 2 years, Lots of volunteering, CSF (cal scholarship federation).</p>
<p>But, I live in California, and I’ve heard its a lot tougher if your from the west coast. If someone got accepted from west coast, please post!! Any info will help!</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>My daughter is from So. Cal. She attends a public HS. She has a weighted 3.6 GPA She had 27 on ACT. Three AP classes. Good extracurricular, not over the top. She got into the College of Communication.
Hope this helps</p>
<p>I got in from Los Angeles. I had a realy high gpa and good sat though</p>
<p>Question: I’m not a native Pennsylvanian, although I now live here. Work brought me to PA, nothing else. What is the attraction of Penn State to you Californians? You have a huge state uni system out there with two campuses ranked higher than PSU-UP. I"m talking about Berkeley and UCLA, of course. You’ve got the sun and warm weather. And if you want to go private, you have America’s most beautiful college campus at Pepperdine University. Why come out here? I’m not judging. I’m really curious.</p>
<p>Ucla and Berkeley require over a 4.0 weighted to get in. Harder than justified. The other
UC’s do not offer the Big ten experience. No Football, basketball, spirit, etc. Pepperdine is religious affiliated, and over 50k a year.<br>
Lastly, many people wish to expose their kids to a different part of the country. See how non so. cal. kids think. We have a nice laid back lifestyle here. Let them be exposed to different type of people.<br>
Does that answer your question.</p>
<p>I am from Los Angeles and I got in. I have a 4.0 weighted GPA and an 1810 SAT.</p>
<p>socaldad42: Makes sense, but there are other outstanding public unis too. Michigan is right up there with Berkeley and UCLA academically. U of Wisconsin-Madison is also excellent. And U. of Virginia is either #1 or #2 among all public unis, coast to coast. But Penn State is very strong too. </p>
<p>s.miller09: I am not amazed at the number of Californians headed for Happy Valley. I had no idea PSU was popular out on the West Coast.</p>
<p>Have you folks visited University Park campus? I was there once, with my D, on a tour and info session a few months ago. The football stadium almost sucked the wind out of my lungs. I was awed. My God, it’s even bigger than Michican’s ‘Big House.’ A lot of school spirit in the place called “Happy Valley.” There’s just one key difference between Penn State and UCLA/Berkeley: diversity UCLA and Berkeley have a lot of it, although most of their diversity is Asian. I hear Berkeley is now majority Asian. Nothing wrong with that, but PSU is strikingly different. Penn State is a lot of corn-fed white farm kids and miscelleneous other mostly white kids of all ethnicities from all over the East Coast. The minority population is very small compared to the Cal unis. To me the lack of diversity is not a good thing, although I hear Penn State is trying to do something about it.</p>
<p>“corn-fed white farm kids”…that is most racist
how would you feel if I began saying Temple University in Philadelphia is filled with “McDonald’s fed black inner city kids”…rude and offensive isn’t it? I do not mean offense to any race, but comparatively Plainsman, this is what it would sound like…Please refrain from racist comments. Thanks!</p>
<p>yeah, I normally agree with you plainsman, but I am white and went to Penn State University Park and I have definitely never even been on a farm. I think your comments do come off as a little racist, and, even worse, are not true. To be honest, many of the people I met while at Penn State University Park were from around Philly and Pittsburgh. I also met a lot of people from NYC and DC as well. There were some people from rural areas, but Penn State was definitely not a bunch of white people sitting around milking cows like you are making it out to sound like. There is not a lot of diversity, but I never felt like race was really an issue. I am sure there are some racist idiots on Penn State University Park’s campus, but that is true on most college campuses. Minorities of the same race would often do things together on the University Park campus, but that was more by their choice than anything else. There were plenty of minorities in my group of friends People seemed to get along just fine with each other. Sounds corny, but the only colors that really mattered were blue and white on gameday and whether or not you hated Michigan/Ohio State.</p>
<p>Please accept my apology. I didn’t mean to offend about farm kids. I really didn’t, but frankly, that’s what a white guy told us when we visited. And as proof that I meant no harm, my wife is a white, corn-fed farm girl from the midwest. I tease her with that all the time. BTW, I’m a black guy from the urban East Coast. And I did practically grow up on McDonalds. And White Castle (see the first Harold and Kumar movie). LOL.</p>
<p>One thing I am correct about is that there are not very many minorities at Penn State. It’s a very white campus in a part of Pennsylvania that is even less diverse than the student body. PSU gets a C- for diversity from College P<em>R</em>O<em>W</em>L<em>E</em>R (gotta do it that way cause CC doesn’t like mentioning other sites) which issues grades in a dozen or more categories based in part on the opinions of students at the colleges. </p>
<p>Despite the lack of significant diversity, I do think it would be a good place for my D2 to enroll in the Fall. Not necessarily a great place (none of my kids cares a lick about football and won’t be converted) but a good place. She’s waiting to hear from other schools like Cornell, Oberlin and Wesleyan, but PSU-UP is very high on her list. She has already submitted her acceptance and housing deposit. I’m probably more concerned than my D about the low level of minorities on campus.</p>
<p>not even worth arguing with. ^</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m not sure where that came from. I hate Penn State more than anything, but I have a lot of friends from my upper class area there…</p>
<p>Corn-fed white kids? What???</p>
<p>Plainsman…after what you said about McDonald’s… we are all good now LOL!!!</p>
<p>Jaradw:</p>
<p>Keith Jackson, who back in the day was THE VOICE of college football on ABC for decades used to say that about white linemen whenever Nebraska was playing. He would say things like “the big farm boy!” or “he’s a big ol’ corn-fed farm boy from Lincoln and thereabouts.” It used to crack me up. It wasn’t intended as a negative. It simply meant he was big and strong. The “farm” reference meant “naturally strong,” strong from working the farm instead of pumping iron in sweaty urban gyms or taking drugs. Keith Jackson, in case you’re too young to remember, was a white guy. </p>
<p>I don’t watch college football much anymore. I miss Keith Jackson too much. </p>
<p>And I really did practically grow up on McDonalds! LMAO!</p>
<p>As far as being from So Cal and wanting to go to Penn State, I visited the east coast and loved it!! And, the UCLA and Berkley are insanely hard to get in to, then the other UC’s are really boring and no sport and school spirit. Plus, Smeal is a really good Business school and I hope to get in. Pepperdine=hardcore religion. </p>
<p>Is the weather that bad at UP or is it not that big a deal?</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, really helps</p>
<p>The weather in State College is abysmal.</p>
<p>lol Plainsman…thats near and dear considering I love college football</p>
<p>lol Plainsman…thats near and dear considering I love college football</p>
<p>State College has all four seasons: a beautiful fall with lovely changing colors of the leaves on the trees, gorgeous blue skies and crisp, dry days. Of course there are clouds and rain and blah days just like any other area. It has a typical winter season with more snow than the usual east coast pa. snow and colder at times. When we just had a warm spell so did they. There is a definite spring season and summer is summer - hot.</p>
<p>“The weather in State College is abysmal.” - diontechristmas</p>
<p>I lived in Minnesota for many years. I think the weather in State College is great even in the winter. It all depends on your perspective. :)</p>