Hi I really would love to go to Penn State University Park
GPA: 3.4 unweighted 3.51 weighted
ACT: 30
Through the junior year, I have 7 regular classes and 8 honors.
Next year I will be taking 3 AP classes and 3 honors classes
EC: Crew Team, Entrepreneurship Club, Stock Club, Service Trip to Kentucky 2x, Global Encounter to Ecuador
Go to a highly competitive school in MA top 15% of my class
I plan on applying DUS with summer session in September
I am really worried that my GPA is too low
This year, DUS appears to have been pretty competitive. I don’t know if the trend will continue next year, but I would follow your plan to apply early and would also pick a second choice campus just in case.
Applying ANYTIME before November 30 helps your chances. They do not do applications in order of application received. They just randomly decide on anyone that applied prior to November 30. So definitely apply before then.
Depending on what you think you may want to do, applying to the major may actually help you vs. applying DUS.
DUS was pretty competitive this year. But some majors such in the dept of communications, Liberal Arts and Agriculture had less competition than DUS and I saw students get accepted into those majors this year with similar stats to you. If you are thinking of Smeal or Engineering, then definitely absolutely apply DUS.
Unfortunately, your GPA is currently below the middle 50% for Penn State acceptances (UW on a 4.0 scale). GPA is 2/3 of the decision. If you can bring up your GPA for the rest of the year, every little bit helps. Your ACT is above the middle 50% so that helps you, but ACT is only 1/3 of the decision along with the other factors such as legacy etc…(which is not very important when all is said and done).
Definitely look at which commonwealth campus you’d want as a back up. Altoona, Harrisburg and Erie are the largest ones that are like typical colleges with dorms, etc…
Thank you I understand that, and I should say that my weighted GPA is what I have calculated, My school only does unweighted but I do have a highly competitive schedule. Which helps the GPA and the weighted standard
When you say your school doesn’t weight does that mean they don’t have honors and AP classes? Penn State will recalculate your GPA but without honors or AP classes your UW GPA is what they will look at.
We have honors and AP classes, but instead of weighting it they give you a strength of schedule based off of your classes. It is really confusing and I was wondering if Penn State would recalculate my GPA in terms of weighted
@nittanylion1510 I am concerned that you will be biting off more than you can chew your senior year. It looks like you’ve taken about 1/2 honors and 1/2 regular classes so far. Next year, you are planning on taking 3 AP/3 honors. That is quite a load when you haven’t taken a single AP class until now. Which AP classes are you planning on taking? (not all AP classes are created equal).
You would be better off taking all Honors and maybe one AP and getting all A’s rather than beating yourself up with so many AP’s. An “A” in a Honors is better than an “B” in AP. (imho) While it is good to improve your academic rigor, it is more important to improve your overall gpa.
What’s your current schedule and what would you be taking next year?
What major would you apply to (if not DUS)?
Something you CAN do is retake the ACT and/or try the sat (some students do better on one than the other), prepping seriously and systematically, focusing on your weaknesses. And any increase in GPA by the end of 11th grade helps.
As for 12th grade , the only thing that matters is strength if schedule and passing the classes, the grades you get in 12th do not matter at all. Itd the case at lost public universities. However at many other universities, especially private colleges, first quarter or first semester grades DO count so be careful with your schedule, keeping in mind you’ll have to handle applications on top of classes, job, sport, ECs…
I plan on applying DUS and summer session. I am taking all honors this year and no AP classes. I just wanted to get my strength of schedule up. But I have heard that I should just take AP Econ and not anything else. I was planning on doing AP Econ AP English and AP Stats. But I do have a conntact at Penn State who just did AP Econ and got in and he told me that English and Stats at Penn State are easier than AP classes in high school. Thank you so much.
I also have had a tutor for the ACT since September, I got an 1110 on the SAT but a 27 on my first try for the ACT so I though I would try to improve my ACT score.
Do try to increase your ACT score. But 27 is quite good.
You could try to take AP econ and either AP stats or AP English. AP econ and AP stats would be an easier upgrade since AP English is quite difficult.
I am very concerned about my strength of schedule with 10 honors 8 regulars and 2 AP classes I plan on taking along with my 3.4 unweighted GPA. Can anyone tell if I have a good shot at getting in. Again, I go to a highly competative private school in Massachusetts. @MYOS1634@jlhpsu
Can you read your school profile? How clearly is it indicated that it’s a highly competitive school? Because Penn state admissions doesn"t have time to do “holistic”. In other words, unless the school profile indicates how competitive is is, don’t expect them to know or research whether your school is competitive or not.
They add up honors and AP, so with 10 Honors and 2 AP classes you’d be ok for DUS/Summer I think. Your GPA is on the low side so you’d bank a lot on the school profile and ACT score to improve your odds. At this point there’s nothing you can do beside taking the 2 AP classes and increasing your ACT score by a point or two.
Hopefully you have affordable matches and safeties.
yes it does, but it still puts you in the bottom quarter GPA wise, which is why estimation of “regular class” rigor (as per school profile) will matter. Also, be aware you’ll have to be full pay, so check with your parents whether they can afford to pay 42K a year for you to attend a large, semi-public, OOS university.
A 30 puts you in safety territory. A 28 makes PSU a match (positive odds). A 27 makes it 50-50 considering DUS and Summer. But don’t elude the cost situation. Talk with your parents.