Chances for business School versus Undecided

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
1

Applied to Smeal School of Business:

3.875 GPA
1830 (Pre March SAT)
1210 (Post March SAT)
27 ACT
President of Business Organization
NHS
Girl Scout Gold Award Recipient
Black Belt
Amongst other ECs

What are the chances?
Should have applied Undecided instead?

2

Smeal is one of the very most competitive programs to get into. A 27 ACT might be a little low for direct admit to Smeal. If you were my kid, and you were able to change to DUS prior to the Nov 30 deadline - that’s what I would advise. You can work towards the exact same Smeal degree in DUS and then transfer to Smeal when you have all of your entry to major requirements complete. People accepted to Smeal are still considered “pre major” and have to take the exact same entry to major requirements that DUS students would take to gain full acceptance junior year. You are cutting it close to the deadline though, so I’d call - not e mail - and ask to speak to an actual admissions counselor (not the people that answer the phones in admissions) and change your major to DUS if you have any concerns.
The other option are:

  1. just leave it where it is and see what happens. If you are denied, you can call and ask to be reconsidered for DUS, but the risk is there - they won’t re-consider you until after first considerations are complete and DUS might be full and thus you’d just be denied.
  2. leave it as it is and add summer option as another way to up your chances of getting into Smeal freshman year.

Personally, I’d go with applying DUS as the downsides are few.

3

Thank you for the great advice! I had similar thoughts, and will reach out to admissions this week.