I should preface by saying that I am currently a freshman in college right now, but am not persisting to spring semester, and am applying to PSU as a first-year applicant for fall 19.
SAT: 1260
ACT: 28
GPA 3.6 unweighted; 4.88 weighted
Rank: N/A
State Residency: PA
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
7 AP classes, 4 CHS classes, everything else that wasn’t an elective was honors. Fantastic ECs (both in high school and currently in college)
I applied DUS (planning on finance in the end) and will go summer if need be.
They will want your college grades as well. How are you doing in college? As long as you’ve taken less than 18 college credits, you will still be considered a freshman, but your college grades will matter in determining your ability to handle college level classes. Overall, your SAT is borderline 25th% and your UW GPA is the same. Your weighted GPA Is a huge jump from your UW GPA. Is that out of 4.0? Sometimes if your HS weights grades too heavily, that can actually hurt you.
@jlhpsu I’m still technically a first year because I am taking less than 18 credits, but I am doing very well in college. I submitted my transcript from college, but my grades still show as in progress. Currently, all of my midterm grades are A’s. And yes, my weighted high school GPA is out of 4.0; it is ridiculously weighted.
The ridiculous weighting may work against you as they may not calculate your 4.88 as a 4.88 in Penn State terms. Meaning, they recalculate grades so that everyone is being evaluated on the same scale.
That being said, my daughter (now a senior at PSU) had the exact same grades…3.6 and 28 ACT when she applied for 2015 and she was accepted for summer. Each year the competition is different though. You were right to not apply directly to finance.
Keep your fingers crossed. Your high school grades plus good grades in college will likely show you have what it takes to be at Penn State. But Penn State is unpredictable sometimes, so I can’t say for sure!
@jlhpsu I know my school has started to tone down their weight scale; I think they’ve realized it has made their students look uncompetitive. Over half of my class held a weighted gpa of 4.0+. I think with the amount of ap / chs / honors that I took, PSU’s gpa recalculation will still make me look competitive. I appreciate your help!