@sarmur - yes my D was accepted to College of Education on 11/14 - her app was submitted 8/23
So we found out at 12:15AM and so happy my son got into Smeals. We applied EA in mid-October.
I do recommend that people on CC be careful with advice. We had 2 people tell us here that my son made a mistake applying to Smeals and 1 person, who claimed to be involved in PSU, said my son had no chance. This of course freaked us out because the college counselor at our school said we did have a chance and he checked with PSU Admissions Office. Now we are glad we didnāt listen to the 2 know-it-alls here on CC because my son is so excited and proud to be accepted into Smeals. He had 3.6 GPA with all honors classes at a top private school in NYC area, with a 33 ACT, and lots of activities and sports.
Good luck to everyone.
@jimmym Congratulations!
Now, I assume you are talking about me as one of the āknow it allsā here who told you that a 3.6 GPA will likely be denied Smeal. Several others told you the same thing. I tell everyone that anomalies happen all of the time - but in general, I donāt take back what I said. Iāve never seen a 3.6 get admitted to UP for Smeal ever before, ESPECIALLY considering itās EA. Itās a strange thing indeed, but the advice many of us gave was indeed a smarter, safer bet.
Applying Smeal when you are a borderline candidate for any major at UP is risky. Iām very glad you beat the odds, but given the exact same stats for any other person posting here, Iād give the same advice. Your situation is an anomaly.
Call me a āknow it allā if youād like (in fact you already did) but those of us here that give advice do so to help people with the best chance to get in. We have zero skin in the game except to help. In fact, I personally work, am in nursing school full time and I have four kids. I post here because I know how stressful the game can be. Sometimes risks pay off, but the advice was spot on. You took a risk. It paid off - but it doesnāt for most people.
Also, Iāve NEVER claimed to be involved with PSU and no one here ever has either. Iām just a mom, with a ton of PSU experience.
@jimmym congratulations!!! I am so very glad for your son and you
And I wholeheartedly agree with your warning about advice from people on this forum
I have seen errors and info given as facts which were presented with such certainty as if coming from admissions, whereas some readers would have no idea that the poster is simply a parent with prior experiences
In fact several times directly contradicting what actual admissions reps had said
Good for you for speaking out.
I remember the posts where you were told no chance and I was shocked at the certainty
I have tried several times to express concerns and been scolded for daring to do so by the same know it alls
They went so far as to say my child doesnāt belong at Psu and that Iām not fit to be a parent of a psu student because they didnāt like my challenges or just annoying to them posts
If we look at objectives only, it IS an anomaly. My guess is that the school is a āknownā prep school which Admissions recognized as having a different scale of expectations (as is done for PA or Stuy) so that the GPA was scaled up.
If youāve broken the rules by creating second dummy accounts to just agree with yourself and bash me, you will be scolded. If I get TONS of complaints via PM about one particular persons posts, they will also be notified. Iāve never claimed to be from admissionsā¦EVER. Iāve ALWAYS said that Iām just a mom with experience.
If you have something from admissions that contradicts something I, or the other volunteers, said here, please, by all means, let us know. I have never seen anyone post anything directly contradictory however. I have seen a poster continuously misunderstand what Iāve said and thus say that admissions said something different, but in fact was the same thing I said.
Still, I have never said I know it all. In fact, I posted recently about who I am and how I know what I know, but I have never said I know it allā¦Iāve given information based on years of past experiences, which is frankly more than the come lately joiners know. Iām here to helpā¦ I do it voluntarily. I am a mom of four, full time school and work myself. I do this to HELP people, not get called out and treated like dirt for trying to help people who cannot possibly be pleased. There are people every single year who donāt like the adviceā¦which is really all it is. Take it or leave it - and then they disappear into the ether never to be heard from again, likely having moved on to give the financial aid department, registrar, professor or someone else a piece of their very sure, helicopter parent mindā¦but Iām still here and so are a handful of other who stay here to HELP. There are always a few that make waves, butt this is the FIRST year (in 5 years) Iāve been treated so horribly for doing so, where someone would make up other dummy accounts JUST to yell at me, and frankly, I have so much else on my plate Iām about to call it quits from the crazy.
But thatās the point. @MYOS1634 1634 She was told no way by someone here who didnāt have all the facts
Impossible to give that specific advice
@ziveli513 I went back and looked. No one said absolutely not. I said āalmost certainly will be deniedā. Almost. Because I never ever say for sure because anomalies happen. This is a very strange anomaly. There can be no way to āhave all of the factsā on an application because we donāt work in admissions. Based on 3.6 GPA and other info posted here, it is a HUGE anomaly to get into UP Smeal with a 3.6. Period.
Advice is given based on the facts provided. (There was once a kid who had only mentioned not taking any honors class nor any AP, so if course they were told their curriculum wasnāt strong enough for the top colleges they wanted. After some back and forth it turned out they attended a nationally known boarding school that had done away with AP because their classes were more advanced. Itās also very common for kids to post and a long discussion to follow, only for posters to learn the kid is in 8th grade or an internationalā¦)
We also have to accept that some people DO know more and know better.
There are exceptions to every rule but the mass of data does help, as does the CDS.
Kids love to post fake stats or fake results to destabilize and depress their competition.
Stay the course.
If it makes things worse, stop checking every day, stop checking the forums.
Please donāt attack the āforum championā, ie., this jointās boss, even if you feel like grumbling. Also, remember: mods are always right. (Become a mod before you disagree and youāll understand why that statement becomes true).
The PSU forum is a thankless job because many parents are frustrated with āmodified rollingā.
It took me a while to understand the frenzy over PSUās system, because I was used to private colleges, with deadlines Dec 15 or Jan 15 for ED/EA, all decisions announced at once, and most decisions waiting till March 30 otherwise. Hearing in January thus seemed early. 
Well, 7 more days and youāll have an answer.
@MYOS1634 ?modified rolling admissions has been a crazy experience indeed. Thank you
MODERATORāS NOTE:
May I just congratulate @jimmym 's son, and letās move on please.
BTW, ābeing involvedā with PSU does not make one an expert on admissions, and nobody every claimed the expert title. I have gone on record many times as saying that āWhat Are My Chancesā is little more than a party game for the kids. So I certainly donāt think the parents should be playing the game. But if they do, without posting the full application (which Iām not advising), caveat emptor.
Wishing everyone luck as we head into these last days of waiting for an answer! I have a junior at PSU and I actively read posts for months in 2015 leading up to her admission, expecting a long wait after she applied. And then she got an answer within 48 hours of her file being complete. Now her sister is applying with much better SAT scores and much better ECs, but lower GPA because she goes to a different school with much harder rigor. And she hasnāt heard yet after 6 weeks, while getting into the honors colleges at some other schools she is considering. These kids are all so much more than their numbers. And numbers really mean little when comparing schools (apples to oranges) or even sat or act scores from one sitting to the next. Colleges just do the best they can to figure it out and sometimes some gems get left behind and some rotten apples get in. Hoping that it works out for the best for all of you. The fact that they all are attempting PSU at UP to begin with shows that they arw pretty amazing and have worked hard to succeed. ?
@GmanCC , @nittanylion1510 , @Psu2023dad any of you received any decision after this postcard or email? Our portal still shows under review.
My portal is currently unavailable because they are undergoing maintenance. However it states this maintenance will only last Sunday morning. Is anyone else seeing this message?
Yes collegegirl2023, I am seeing the message as well. I wonder if some of our decisions are going to come out soon after maintenanceā¦
Yes I see it too! I was hoping this would mean that some decisions were going to be put in! Fingers crossed! @collegegirl2023
@sarmur, I hope that too, I really want to know my decision!
@BoundlessBobby Congratulations. Did you get Direct to Univ park or in their 2+2 program. Any one can comment if 2+2 is better , other than cost. For example getting Min 3.0 GPA to major in CS.
Site is back up. Still seeing the usual:
āYour application is currently under review. We have received everything required to complete your application. Once a decision is made, it will be posted here.ā
Husband and I both received emails Friday telling us that our son will hear before 12/24. We received a postcard yesterday (Saturday.) And this AM (5:30EST) site down but now back up. Waiting for this is worse than when kids were little and waiting for Santa to come; or waiting for your bid on a new house being accepted! We applied early (August) because every student, counselor, advisor and admissions person we met with said the same thing āApply earlyā Hoping for positive results this week (fingers crossed)!