@Sophley Do you know how many of the freshman classes are taught in huge lecture halls at UP? Thanks
@lucyvanpelt well, ultimately we can only really go by what penn state tells us about penn state admissions
And penn state says itās holistic several times in their admissions site, I copied it here on this page, from the admissions site
Iām sure that term is open to interpretation, maybe someone from penn state admissions might chime in here one day
Meanwhile thanks for your insights ?
portal login page not even loading at the moment. Internet connection is perfect, anyone else?
portal says service unavailable ā¦anyone else?
yup, maybe theyāre coming out with a big wave, or not. Pretty weird
@beejdoop @natalie2 trouble here too. Canāt get page to load for sign in
Second time today
Otherwise no internet issue
oy vey
same here the portal says service unavailable?
down here too
Maybe they are updating ? Hopefully good sign!!
Iām not in admissions, but I highly doubt that Penn State is holistic considering how many apps they get. Maybe they pay attention to what school you come from as certain schools do very well in admissions, and maybe they notice if you have a special talent, but it seems like most of these big state schools are all about the stats despite what they say. On the otherhand, my D had an update she shared with her rep, and the woman was super nice and said she would add it to her file. A small LAC got the same update, and didnāt even respond back, so who knows.
Maybe we finally broke the portal with our obsessive portal checking! ?
@citymama9 just quoting penn states own website, holistic is used several times, doesnāt that mean something? Just saying
Glad your daughter had a positive reply
Regarding holistic: I think different people have different definitions of holistic. According to PSUās CDS, the following factors are either āconsideredā, āimportantā, or āvery importantāā¦
Rigor of Secondary School Record
Class Rank
Academic GPA
Standardized Test Scores
Application Essay
Extracurricular activities
Talent/ability
Character/personal qualities
Alumni/ae relation
Geographical residence
State residency
Volunteer work
Work experience
IMO, this is a holistic approach. Now whether or not the admissions department actually looks at things other than Academic GPA and Standardized Test Scores is the real mystery here.
First the portal was down for maintenance on Sunday and now itās down today. Iām really hoping a big wave of decisions is coming this week. I assume it is seeing as how Penn State said they are trying to get as many Early Action applicant decisions as possible before the deadline.?
I will continue to check every midnight and I advise everyone else to continue checking as well.
@ziveli513 I agree that they say it is holistic, but sometimes you need to read further to understand what that really means. In my opinion, if you compare them to true holistic admissions, they really arenāt.
For Penn State - if you read beyond the first paragraph on the āReview process for first year applicantsā it says:
Middle 50% Statistics
- GPA
- SAT/ACT Scores
āIn addition to the main admission criteria outlined above, the Penn State application includes other components that can impact a studentās admission.ā (taken from their website)
- Major Selection
- Summer Session at University Park
- Alternate Campus Selection
- Additional Application Materials for Special Programs
Even in the first paragraph (above those criteria), it says:
"The most important piece of our review is your academic record, which represents your individual four years of academic development. Penn Stateās holistic assessment of application materials includes the academic courses, grades and levels of those courses and standardized test scores, plus additional factors that may include an audition, a portfolio review, the geographic and cultural background of the student, the personal statement, and the activities list. "
It goes into great detail about the academic differences that may be reviewed (courses, levels, etc.). The very last things are personal statementā¦ NOT essays, just a short personal statement, and activities list.
- no essays
- no recommendations
- no demonstrated interest
- no interview
They are not doing a full holistic review of every student. In tie-breaker situations, those things may come into play, but some of it is not even information they collect.
Again, this is all my opinion based on what I am reading and my experience. I am not an admissions officer at Penn State or elsewhere. (should I just learn to add that as a disclaimer on every post?) I just donāt believe they have the people or the manpower with 70k applications.
Hope it means big wave coming that brings good answers to us all!!!
@STEM2017 Good use of looking at the CDS. I forgot about that as a resource. I agree there are many different factors (possibly) taken into consideration. I donāt consider all those holistic. I would also include the above criteria. But happy to disagree. politely.
Thank you for your research and thoughts!
@STEM2017 thank you. I truly hope that after all the energy and effort that Iām sure went into each application that psu is reviewing it all holistically as promised by them
That list you posted from the cds does seem to imply so
If psu says they are viewing holistically then I believe itās true and not just numbers in, numbers out
My d has the numbers theoretically but we wait