I am super worried that my low GPA is going to bring me down and I’m hoping my other stuff will offset it.
I have a 3.4 GPA Weighted, I’ve taken 12 honors and one AP, the rest are mostly CP classes.
I have a 30 on the ACT
My mother is an Alumni
I am in NAHS, I volunteer, I have won awards and have been published for my writing (on a website) and photography in a magazine once. I do multiple clubs and I held a leadership position in one of them.
I applied undecided to boost my chances, Do you think I will get in for Fall 2019?
What is your unweighted GPA? The 30 on the ACT is at the top end of the middle 50%, but your GPA, even weighted, is below the 25th%. Penn State considers GPA to be more important than test scores. So a lot will depend on your UW GPA. Your mom being an alumni will matter a smidge, but only a smidge. Your ACT, parental alumni status and all of your EC’s will account for about 1/3 of the decision. The other 2/3 is GPA. Unfortunately, there is no way to really tell - but IN GENERAL, a 3.4 GPA is usually admitted to a commonwealth campus. But your ACT and other factors do have the ability to offset you.
Yeah my school doesn’t report unweighted so I’m not exactly sure. I did explain in my essay why I had two really low grades that plunged my GPA. Other than that it is all a’s and b’s. I also said i’d be okay starting in summer.
I’d have applied for English or another Humanities major, since it seems you have your academic strengths there. And you could switch your term of admission to straight Summer (instead of Fall - not as an alternative to Fall- meaning you’d be admitted to Summer only) if you can afford it. Finally, mention you’d be interested in being a Paterno Fellow Aspirant.
I was specifically told by the admissions officer from PSU to apply undecided, otherwise I probably would have applied for criminal justice, psychology, or a humanity. I never heard of the Paterno Fellow Program, it sounds great! Thanks for the advice.
Many majors are more selective than DUS - BUT right now there’s a dearth of Humanities applicants, so that it’s easier to apply as an English or History or Foreign Language major (you can switch into any major within CLA between orientation and sophomore year 2nd semester).
So if the admissions office thought you were applying to Business, Engineering, IST, Mineral Science, Science, their advice would be “DUS” but if they’d known what major you were interested in they would likely have recommended applying for Humanities.
Paterno Fellows is a fantastic program!
Got in! Fall 2019, DUS at University Park.