I got in to CS at University Park. I got an ACT score of 34. I study in India, so I don’t have a GPA. I got accepted 2 days ago! Why was it so early?
when did you submit your application? @DarthSwamy
@Darthswamy: PSu needs full pay international students and with a 34 ACT you’re clearly a strong student (or at least a strong test taker). They’re not very holistic: they want, by order of importance course rigor+good grades (within your system), and if possible (but less than the previous) good test scores (+ possibly activities, essays… but these matter less).
On the 17th, @dumb123
I submitted my application on the 17th as well. Was it the 17 of October or September? If you don’t mind me asking
With all the uncertainty Penn state is accepting international students way early! 83% is a B this an indication that this year is unusual plus DUS accepts students with a 3.0 so shouldn’t be a surprise
Less than 10% of accepted applicants have a 3.0-3.24. Usually recruited athletes and extenuating circumstances. DUS is less competitive to get into, but a 3.0 is almost always a commonwealth acceptance. Also, an international 83 is not a B average. Apparently that’s a very high GPA. I thought the same thing at first and was corrected.
Another reason some high-achieving intl students may get earlier offers than we’ve seen in previous years is the paperwork – the visa process is more protracted, and COVID staffing/closures may nudge many schools to give intl a head start in uncertain times.
When did you finish the application?
ACT: Not Submitted
SAT: Not Submitted
GPA: 101.9
Rank: 31/800
State Residency: NY
Applied date: Oct. 24th 2020
Applied Early Action: No Rolling
Decision date: N/A?
Decision/College: Applied for Biochemistry
Campus: University Park
ACT:32
SAT:
GPA:4.0
Rank:. School does not rank
State Residency: New Jersey
Major: Psychology
Applied date: 10/03/20
Decision date:
Decision/College:
College University Park
The waiting is so stressful !!!
Do anyone of you know if Smeal is harder to get into than DUS? I know that it typically is, but the admissions officer at PSU have said that recently Smeal and DUS have been equally competitive, so I just wanted to get some clarity on this.
Admissions officer at Penn State? Or a high school representative? When you call the admissions department you have to ask to speak to an actual admissions representative, not just whomever answers the phone. They are not one in the same.
Smeal is traditionally one of the hardest majors to get into at Penn State. DUS is almost always less selective than Smeal. It IS true that DUS itself has become more competitive, but I’d think it would have a long way to go to get to being as competitive as Smeal.
Can you clarify who told you this?
Sorry @geezy2025, it was on the 17th on October.
@airway1, I want to clarify that I am American, but I study in India. Sorry if any confusion was caused.
S21 and I spoke with a true AO at PSU a few days ago. He declared that the three most competitive colleges at PSU-UP are Smeal, Engineering, and DUS. This was after we asked if S21 should switch his application from Engineering to DUS. He recommended against the change.
He did not rank which of the three was MOST competitive but he said the trend is for more applicants to apply DUS just to ‘get in.’ I agree with you that Smeal is probably most competitive, followed by Engineering, and then DUS. But I don’t think that data is available.
In any case, S21 completely switched his major to Cybersecurity at IST. The AO was excited about this change and said Cybersecurity is a ‘very cool major’ and quickly growing in popularity (but no where near as competitive as CS in Engineering).
One other thing he told S21 was that decisions would start being released soon, but guaranteed an answer by Dec 24.
We’ll let everyone know the outcome by Dec 24!
An admissions counselor told me this. I agree with you, I also highly doubt that DUS is as competitive as Smeal.
Surprised nursing wasn’t in the mix. Last year they got 3000 applicants and usually yield about 150 to 160 students. They have a really low acceptance rate.
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DD accepted to UP tonight.
DUS, high stats, in state. Sharing to let you know to keep an eye on your portals since this was earlier than what I saw happening last year.
Applied last month EA.
Congratulations!
What was status before getting accepted ? My S status says under review last couple of weeks does it change to awaiting decision and the accepted ?