<p>GPA 2.66
SAT 950</p>
<p>I know I am on the low end but I live in State College, a little easier getting in living here. Hope I get in.</p>
<p>I don't think so...I hope you like a branch campus...</p>
<p>Unfortunately, according to the stats at the PSU website, your GPA is well-below the 25%ile for branch campus students, and your SAT is just about the 25% for branch campuses. I wouldn't plan on UP.
Altoona maybe?</p>
<p>No chance at UP. Sorry.</p>
<p>Nah, he can get into a branch campus. He won't get into Behrend or anything, but I think he'd get into Capitol College (Schuylkill) or one of the two-year branch campuses.</p>
<p>After a year or so at one of the branches, you can go to University Park if all goes well.</p>
<p>I will keep you updated. With summer admission (which makes it a little easier) instead of fall I think I am on the border. If you live in State College, they are pretty lenient I heard cuz they don't have enough room in the dorms. I don't know, though.</p>
<p>Accepted Today! University Park, start with summer session 2007.</p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>
<p>record whats your major?</p>
<p>College of Communications</p>
<p>just curious....do you plan on living on campus? are they more lenient with State College residents who would like to live on campus?</p>
<p>This illustrates the complexity of PSU. In record's case, UP IS the branch campus. Rightly so.</p>
<p>The odds were against you, but you got in! I'm happy for ya, man.</p>
<p>i have a 3.68 gpa and an 1130 sat and i got rejected from up college of communications. cool.</p>
<p>No, the odds were clearly with you. UP is your branch. 07, hang in there. You're clearly a motivated student who's paying the price of the #s game. You should not take this personally, because it's not that. It's just #s, and anyone who takes either an acceptance or rejection personally is placing qualities on PSU admissions that are not deserved. They've not one clue, understandably, aside from the numbers and a few 250 word paragraphs about who anyone really is. </p>
<p>It's like trying to impose the values of the small, elite private places on an institution that is not any of these. But it's what we do. We want to say that Penn State's like Swarthmore's like Michigan's like Princeton's like ...</p>
<p>They simply are sorely different, with different values, with different systems. It's like people trying to compare accounting 101 @ PSU to intro accounting @ Babson. apples and oranges aside from the textbook, maybe. And that same text is used by many online courses of instruction.</p>
<p>The unfortunate part of all this is whether we're a good student like 07 or a good parent and alum like Phillydad, we take personally that which has no personal qualities whatsoever. It's modern-day mythoology.</p>
<p>hey, WP, I agree with what you say but I also think the admissions decisions made by these so called private elites are also deeply flawed. Plenty of outstanding students get rejected at these institutions. Even though they have a "holistic" admissions process and may debate your case across the table, they still don't really know who they are accepting. This is especially true in a world of admissions coaches and essay services.
In any case, for those rejected, it makes sense to move on and find the college that wants you -taking it personally is a waste of time.
BTW, PSU does have a very selective admissions process for Schreyer Honors and many top students are rejected there too. Should students who get rejected there feel worse because they took more than numbers into account? I don't think so. I know some amazing students who were told "no" and I couldn't begin to figure out why.</p>
<p>You're right on the $$, and if I implied that somehow these private elites have found the magic formula, I did not mean that. I've a nephew, worked in admissions at THE private elite college. Said it was an absolute joke trying to differentiate and separate super, bright kids by some silly essay. He said after reading 4 or 5K, unless they were hilariously funny, they didn't mean a thing because all those kids, virtually, were admissable ... and more important " graduatable" students who had a whole lot to bring to the party. It all boiled down to invented hairs being split, for the most part. And like these cases, rejection was too often interpreted as "I am not worthy, I am not worthy." And acceptances were "Wow, I AM worthy." And neither case was "true."</p>
<p>And so it is with PSU, just slightly different approach required with 95K apps vs. 15 or 20K.</p>
<p>It's just numbers with zero evidence of the probability of future academic or professional/worldly success. There is no correlation. But ... they've got to use some way to sort the herd. And they do, but it can really bruise or falsely nurture egos.</p>
<p>i applied the second week of september - the second week of school for me, because i knew i was borderline and i wanted to get my app in as early as possible. WELL, so much for pennstates' "rolling admission" policy. i didn't find out until the end of november. all of my friends had been accepted/rejected, and i figured my app was being held back because i was going to be accepted into the summer program. nope, not even that. i got flat out rejected. mind you, i had a special visit with a counselor from the school of communications, and sent various thank you notes to them, as well as the admissions counselor i saw last spring break. i was on the line, so i was doing whatever i could to be pushed over. </p>
<p>but what really gets me is that all the people who got in from my school are extremely qualified, perhaps overly qualified, and took their acceptance as a joke. literally - a joke. there was laughing and banter in the hallways. it killed me - knowing that i highly considered going there, and the people who got in only applied there for a safety school, knowing full well that they'd never even attend there.</p>
<p>if i thought psu cared, i'd say something. but, i'm sure they're extremely preoccupied with their 30,000+ applicant pool. i'm not bitter, i swear.</p>
<p>07j - some of those kids who treat PSU as a joke will be rejected from their favorites and end up attending PSU - and then will never be happy with their choice (how could they be?). What a recipe for failure.
It's out of control - at my son's school, the very top kids use SCHREYER as a safety) - they too don't give any respect to students who choose this option. It's top 25 or nothing - awful stuff.
Good luck to you - you're not likely to care about all this when you're settled at your school next fall.</p>
<p>Right on toneranger. Sadly, this may be the fate of PSU. To become the ultimate "backup" and home to many with a chip. This is SO different than a generation or 2 ago when PSU was THE land of opportunity. If you listen/read stories of so very many of those who've donated large sums to the U ... Bill Schreyer being one of the best ... the ALL talk about what an incredible OPPORTUNITY Penn State has given to them. And there are still many like this. But unfortunately, there are also that great many who really wanted to be @ Duke or UNC or Princeton or Stanford or Davidson or Vandy or UVA or ... </p>
<p>And a great many outstanding, highly motivated students like 07 are elsewhere making their lives happen. And THAT's the key. Show 'em they were wrong, and come back to PSU on THEIR ticket and get that MBA or PhD. Do it well and keep your head high. YOU've got it right. Don't look back.</p>
<p>That said, I'd encourage you to write your clear, good thoughts to PSU. These are good thoughtful people too with a very tough job. They need to be reminded of their humanity and yours as well as the young people and tender hearts behind every single one of those e-applications. And you know what? They just might see you. If you REALLY want this, I'd want you on my campus. See if anyone has any guts there. I'd bet on you.</p>