<p>“We do not require letters of recommendation.” [Apply:</a> Penn State University Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.psu.edu/apply/steps/]Apply:”>Steps to Apply - Undergraduate Admissions)</p>
<p>That basically means don’t send letters of recommendation. LOR’s usually don’t accompany an application to a large state school. Penn State sees more than 70,000 applications campus wide every year, and there’s no way to mull through 70,000 LOR’s. </p>
<p>Rather than applying the very first day applications open, which will make little difference, I would wait and retake your SAT/ACT one more time. You’re able to do that before the priority filing date of November 30th (or November first, PSU’s website changed and has made it less clear). The priority date is essentially the deadline, but because they operate on rolling admissions, there’s no official deadline. That’s what I did though, and I got my highest SAT score the last time I took it, which was the September offering of the test my senior year. Keep in mind though, that since GPA is weighted so heavily, you’d need a miraculous jump in score to be in a better position.</p>