<p>I am a Canadian student with a gpa of about 3.58 - 3.70 (I have gotten mixed calculations). My SAT scores were math: 570, reading: 660, and writing: 640, giving me an overall score of 1870.</p>
<p>My extra curriculars:</p>
<ul>
<li>School soccer team in grade 9 and 10</li>
<li>Badminton team in grade 10</li>
<li>Volunteer at city's soccer club</li>
<li>Competitive soccer player since I was 10</li>
<li>Volunteer at local fair in grade 11</li>
<li>Coached a child's soccer team in grade 11</li>
<li>Student prefect grade 12</li>
<li>Student athletic Council grade 12</li>
</ul>
<p>(this is off the top of my head)</p>
<p>I ALSO AM NOT APPLYING FOR FINANCIAL AID.</p>
<p>I have a few questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What do you think my chances are of getting into University Park? I plan on applying to the Communications program. </p></li>
<li><p>Do you think it's wise to apply after this scandal and the potential of the death penalty</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Apply far and wide. Don’t waste your time with Penn State. Get your SAT scores to 2000, then consider these excellent schools for Communications;</p>
<p>Northwestern University
University of Pennsylvania
New York University
University of Southern California
Boston University
University of Michigan
University of Texas, Austin
University of Iowa
University of Wisconsin Madison
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill</p>
<p>Not knowing anything else it appears that you are right in the uncertain region for UP - I think it is too close to call.</p>
<p>
That depends, is your attendence dependent on football, and do you have any desire to work for someone who is going to hold the Sandusky mess against you because you attended the same school? If the answer is yes, then don’t go to Penn State - as MrBladder clearly demonstrates, there are those who have an irrational hatred now of all things Penn State, and some of them might be hiring at places you eventually want to work. Who knows? I would say it is still a safe bet, but you should definitely visit a few schools and see what you and do not like.</p>
<p>Regardless of what actually eventually happens, there will be a lot of uncertainty around Penn State for a while.</p>
<p>Will they get the Death Penalty? If they do, how will that affect the other programs? What will the atmosphere on campus be like if they decide to take down the statue, or rename the library? Will funding decrease? Etc Etc</p>
<p>All these things might take years to work out. You should decide if you want to be on campus while all this is happening.</p>
<p>Personally I think it would be a big distraction, even if you have nothing to do with football. There will be a lot of acrimony on campus, as well as a lot of focus on the changes that the school may go through that brings the constant reminder of how they got themselves in this mess in the first place. </p>
<p>I would focus on schools that aren’t going to go through such an upheaval.</p>
<p>BTW, my daughter go into Penn State but decided a while back to attend another university. I thank God every day that she made that decision for all the above reasons.</p>
<p>Your stats and extracurriculars look solid. Keep in mind that Penn State main tends to prioritize grades/sat or act scores over extracurriculars. In addition, the rigor of those classes will matter.</p>
<p>Mr. Blather gave you quite an extensive list. Unless you have some kind of hook, most of those may be"reaches" for you and will leave you will less options.</p>
<p>Curious, You’re a borderline candidate for main campus, but have a better chance since you’re applying for communications rather than engineering or business. You mentioned you won’t be applying for financial aid, which won’t affect your admission, but it’s good to know that PSU has mostly need-based aid, very little merit aid. Despite the media firestorm, the recent events won’t have much impact an day to day life on campus. Despite what some may have you believe, football is only one aspect of Penn State. Student life will still be vibrant, research will continue and , yep, you’ll still have all those tough classes to take ( and fun parties to attend.) The student body, although saddened and frustrated, will still be Penn State Proud and will be devoting themselves to philanthropic endeavors as they always have (see THON). Corporate recruiters will continue to look to Penn State as a top choice to fill their ranks. Now, if the DP will crush your soul, then look elsewhere because you just don’t know how the NCAA will proceed.
BTW, my D was accepted at several most-selective universities and chose Penn State and she has not regretted it for a minute, nor have I.</p>
<p>I think you should explain why you are considering Penn State. That would help us out. </p>
<p>Choosing to go to Penn State, when there are hundreds of other schools out there, is like buying an automobile that was just recalled. It’s not as if Penn State is offering a discount on tuition or anything. There’s no point to going there. Period.</p>
<p>I don’t know what MrBladder is saying today, I blocked him pretty early. Clearly he was unable to get a summer job at McDonald’s but the wifi in the basement is working all day long.</p>
<p>Anyway. Communications at PSU is a very good program, and if anything, the scandal has given students the opportunity to learn how to function in crisis. One of every 6 college grads in america is a PSU alum – that kind of networking in the comm business can’t be duplicated anywhere else. The facilities are great, the professors are wonderful. PSU, is a big school though – are you self-reliant, self-motivating, and responsible? If you aren’t, the “freshman experience” is often going home at Christmas to explain how you failed all your classes – there’s no hand-holding.</p>