<p>How difficult is it to get into the main campus? I've heard it is very difficult. My friend's daughter didn't get in, even though both her parents are alumni. My cousin's daughter got accepted, but only if she agreed to go to their summer school. </p>
<p>However, at my son's high school, dozens and dozens of kids are getting accepted, left and right. Some of top students, but many are just average students too. </p>
<p>If you have a 3.8 GPA, all honors and AP courses, lots of ECs and leadership/community service, but only a 1600 SAT, what are your chances? If you're an Eagle Scout, would that impress PSU? Or do they really only care about SATs and GPAs? </p>
<p>Are you talking about 3.8 weighted or unweighted. With all honors and AP classes, an unweighted 3.8 is probably more like a 4.1 (at least) and with a 1600 SAT this person would get into UP.</p>
<p>Of course, there are always some students that seem to get in with much lower stats. Maybe they are athletes or children of big donors. When my D was applying last year I noticed that people with lower stats were able to get into UP if they went in undecided instead of picking a major and some had to go in undecided and summer. Also, there were students that asked to be re-evaluated. In that case Admissions may look at other factors.</p>
<p>If you look at the thread for last year, you should get some idea of the true admits. I would also suggest talking to Admissions if you have specific questions.</p>
<p>One more thing, unless you see the letter of acceptance, take a low stats acceptance with a grain of salt. I think some kids feel embarassed if they don’t get accepted and say they were accepted anyway. Especially when it seems as if everyone else gets accepted. They will just “decide” not to go. This was definately the case at my Ds school.</p>
<p>His report (my son’s) just says cumulative GPA. Doesn’t say weighted or unweighted. But yes, he’s taken honors and APs all four years and has consistently had a high GPA. However his SAT is only 1600 out of 2400. I think that’s too low for PSU main. </p>
<p>Would kids really say they got accepted even if they didn’t? Wow. My son is telling me tons of kids at his school have already gotten in. He hasn’t applied to PSU but was thinking about. He’s already been accepted to a few other schools.</p>
<p>1600 is on the low end, however, on our c/o 2017 facebook group, a few kids reported some low 1600’s scores. If he hasn’t already applied he better make his mind up soon. Usually applying late is only OK for kids with good stats, they really like when kids apply early.</p>
<p>Thanks, Etuck24–I was really just curious if anyone got into that school with 1600 or thereabouts. We were just curious. I don’t think we’ll apply though.</p>
<p>Have a 3.62 UW GPA but a 22 Composite on the ACT. Applied for meteorology on September 1st and selected that I would be willing to do the summer session. Many people have been accepted at my school all ready while others were rejected and sent to branch campuses who applied after me. I know these are not big factors but I have shown strong interest in the school, received a thank you letter for being interested in Penn State the other day with a big pamphlet that might have been from when they visited my school two months ago. Also have lots of legacy and a strong personal statement about a disability that I had to overcome. Activities statement also reflects clubs and experiences I have been involved in, some in which relate to meteorology. Lastly, when I visited the school last year I met with a counselor in the admissions office and also set up an appointment with the meteorology program. I visited the Altoona and Abington campuses as well and put Abington down as my second choice. Given my low test score for main campus that puts me slightly in the yellow bubbles any thoughts on why they might be waiting to make a decision?</p>
<p>I know this would be a lot of work for the admissions people to do, but they have to do something about leveling the field on weighted GPA. Looking at that bubble chart, it shows a max GPA of 4.4. At my son’s high school, the maximum GPA would be a 4.15–and that would assume scoring 100s in every class and taking every honors and AP class available. This is because his school weights honors courses by 3% and AP by 6%. But I’ve heard of other schools weighting by 20% and more.</p>
<p>I too have heard that you have a better chance to get into UP as an undecided major. This smells like a money grab by Penn State. Get students into UP, collect a year or two of tuition, and then see if they have the grades to get into the major they decide on. What happens when they don’t have the grades? Meanwhile you exclude students with better grades/test scores because they declared a major on their application. How does that make any sense?</p>
<p>We just can’t repeat it enough, I guess — with 100K applications to review, PSU is not looking at your ECs, didn’t read your essay and doesn’t care how many times you have visited. They don’t keep track. The thank you notes, etc. are cranked out apart from the adcon department and don’t indicate anything other than good marketing. </p>
<p>It’s about GPA, test scores, and strength of schedule. The weaker your numbers, the sooner you need to apply, and summer admits have a slightly lower bar (but not significantly) Local students – Centre Co and those around it — are treated as if UP is their branch campus and that bar is slightly lower still. DUS has room for more students than many of the colleges, so if you pick DUS that does increase your chances slightly, but you still have to clear the gpa hurdles. And all of this is relative to the applications in hand, so what might work in 2006 may not work in 2013.</p>
<p>Oh my gosh, 100K applications! I am hoping my son’s stats are ok for UP…does anyone know if a completed college course(s) at a state u might strengthen his application?</p>
<p>He has a 4.0 GPA. School doesn’t weight. Honors and some AP (his school up until this year didn’t offer many AP courses). Then 29 ACT, AP Lit 5, SAT IIs Lit and US History in the mid-700s. I am an alum not a donor) and so is my Dad (he may donate, not sure about that).</p>
<p>WitD10> Penn State has rolling admissions so, they will continue to receive applications through April 2013, at least, for Fall 2013. If you were told they received 60,000 at this point, then they still have 5 months to go and will certainly receive thousands more in that time.</p>
<p>If your app is not received by the priority deadline you are at a disadvantage, regardless of the rolling admissions. I believe the 100K applications means system-wide, including the law school, branch campuses, et al.</p>