<p>IM OOS, african -american
My GPA IS 3.5 unweighted 4.5 weighted (I am in the ib program)
My extracurriculars
3 years varsity tennis
3 years Its academic
3 years teen court jury
7 years boy scout
Eagle scout
NIH internship
200+ hours of ssl
2 years actor in drama
Boy scout National HOnor society
Democratic campaigning
Senior patrol leader for boy scout troop
Lead younger scouts (den chief)
SAT Score
math- 800
writing-750
CR-700
SAT chem.-800
sat math-800
ALSO DOES BEING IN THE IB HELP OR NOT
ALSO BROTHER DIED A YEAR AGO AND DAD LIVES IN ANOTHER STATE
OTHER
SCHOOLS ARE USC UCLA U-CAL SANDIEGO</p>
<p>You're kidding, right? Get serious. Harvard would give you a ride.</p>
<p>seriously. being also african-american can help you tremendously. why not apply to ivy leagues. come on...</p>
<p>Does a tennis playing African-American Eagle Scout with a 2250 SAT have a shot at Penn State?</p>
<p>SPOILER WARNING!!!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
yes</p>
<p>Great record. go for Schreyer honors - and be sure to apply for departmental scholarships. PSU is expensive for a state school but schoarships can help.</p>
<p>Heck, go for a deanship. </p>
<p>This is either a joke or a poodle in need of petting.</p>
<p>PSU doesn't use affirmative action, but even so, you're in with a great chance at Schreyers.</p>
<p>I vote for it being a joke.</p>
<p>Please look at an Ivy school like UPenn. Your numbers are much too high to be fretting over Penn State.</p>
<p>You're in! I had similar stats (2250 SAT, 4.0 GPA uw) and I got accepted. (I'm OOS also, but I believe that isn't really a factor in acceptance to PSU)
Hopefully you applied to Schreyer's too--you have an awesome shot!</p>
<p>Why in the world would you want to go to a school like Penn State with numbers like that? You both could have been competitive for top schools yet you chose a second-tier, out of state institution. Why?</p>
<p>PSU IS first tier - with many quality programs. There are many "top" students there. For example, Schreyer honors college students have a 1420 average SAT score and go on to top grad schools and jobs. With scholarships, many of these top students also save huge $ for grad school. That said, if prestige and name dropping is your primary goal...stay away.</p>
<p>I have nothing against Penn State, but trust me, Penn State is not first tier. I am from PA and I know many people who went to Pitt and Penn State are are doing just fine for themselves. My question is, why would one want to chose Penn State in particular? I would think that if one is going to chose a public school to save money, one would chose a school in their home state. From my experiences, a Penn State degree is not any more valuable than a degree from any other state school. Again, being from PA, the best school I can compare it to is Pitt. Both are large, state universities and graduates of both go on to comparable grad schools and jobs. Students at Pitt's honors college need a minimum of 1350 on their SATs and finish in the top 5% of their class, so it is also elite. And Pitt is much more generous with its financial aid. Also, the "party school" Penn State atmosphere does not seem to be very conducive to learning. Pitt is stronger in the sciences, medicine and liberal arts while Penn State is stronger in business and communications. (This again is based on my personal knowledge of graduates of both schools, not some worthless rankings.) Why choose one over the other unless one is looking at those individual programs?</p>
<p>From my experience, students choose PSU because of program strength (Eng and business plus others). Other reasons too. I went to SUNY - and can compare. SUNY facilities were run down and there was NO school spriit. All classes were big - there were no honors options at the time.<br>
No, it's not UVA or UNC (try getting into those schools OOS - I hear kids get accepted at Cornell at higher rates). But it is a good solid choice for students who don't like their state schools or want to save money over comparable privates. PSU has plenty of students from NJ and NY.
Other reasons for top students: The honors college at PSU is one of the best in the country. Yes, Pitt has a good one too. Schreyer has been privately funded with close to 60 million and offers over 200 honors courses in all areas. Study abroad (with grants) and research opportunities are plentiful. Make it easier to stand out from the pack. You need to APPLY to get in and they reject quite a few with high numbers - they look for good essays and good ECs in addition to big numbers. Guidance counselors at our local high school tout it as a great deal if you can get in.<br>
I'm not slamming Pitt - PSU and Pitt are both good schools with good honors programs. Going to these schools OOS is still cheaper than privates like BU and Syracuse. That said, I think many state schools are comparable, including UDEL, UMD, and others (but not all).</p>
<p>Okay, I can respect that. I apologize if I sounded elitest, I just never understood people's infatuation with large state schools.</p>
<p>yale0303, some people prefer division 1 sports, school spirit, an energy level that you get when you have many people on a campus, more choices in classes and clubs, and even large classes.</p>
<p>The Ivies are probably better than PSU in many academic areas, however, for engineering, Penn State is almost as good as a couple of the Ivies and better than almost all the rest. Plus, for those of us (even OOS) whose EFC indicates paying 'full boat' at the Ivies, Penn State is financially a good deal for engineering. For example, this year Cornell's tuition, fees, room and board was $44,510 and Princeton's $41,875. This compares to PSU's cost for IS students of $19,564 and cost for OOS students of $30,112. So, just based on tuition, fees, room and board there is a savings of about $96,000 for IS students and $52,000 savings for OOS students. Add to this amount any merit and/or athletic scholarships for which a student might qualify for at PSU (and not the Ivies) and add that to the savings. So....over four years, a student and his/her family can save enough to either pay for graduate school (if IS) or take a BIG chunk out of graduate school for OOS. As far as starting salaries are concerned, Ivy grads might get a slightly higher salary. However, after a couple of years, salary is determined by one's work ethic and performance and not where one went to college. As an engineer I know always says "All top engineering schools teach the same material, some just grade harder (and charge more)."</p>
<p>From what I have been able to ascertain, first tier universities are those that are ranked in the top 50. PSU is in the top 50, thus making it a first tier university.</p>
<p>This guy is a joke maker.</p>
<p>I think karpe n stark are pulling our collective leg.</p>