<p>For your D to have the best chance to get in to PSU at University Park, she should apply before the end of Sept. They begin taking applications in Sept. and the first set of acceptances are mailed in early to mid-November. Admissions are rolling so the earlier she applies, the better chance she has. Based on the Naviance numbers for my D’s high school, I think your D’s stats are competitive.</p>
<p>There is another option. Indicate that you are willing to start in the summer instead of fall. That is how S1 got in with marginal grades for main campus PSU. We also would not pay OOS for a satellite campus. He started the day after he graduated HS and took a few summer classes. He had a head start and was settled down by the time the fall semester started. Missed some of the new student orientation, but the summer is more laid back so not a big deal.</p>
<p>That’s a little harsh, MOWC. If, for example, a student from New York or New Jersey wants to major in engineering and eventually work in the northeast, Penn State could be her best option. (A third of the freshman class is from out-of-state.)</p>
<p>^^That’s true, but it is quite expensive. I was getting the impression the OP’s kid was not from NY or NJ. I have nothing against Penn State at all, but I can not imagine going to a feeder campus from out of state. I bet the success rate of that is very low.</p>
<p>The government’s College Navigator also has good info, though perhaps lags a year or two.</p>
<pre><code>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics
</code></pre>
<p>It shows Penn State’s middle 50% for SAT and ACT</p>
<p>SAT Math - 570-670
SAT CR - 530-630
ACT - 24-29</p>
<p>It is expensive for a public school, but if an engineering student would like to stay in the northeast the only other comparable schools are more expensive privates. Penn State is the bane of Rutger’s College of Engineering because they poach the best students from NJ. The SUNY’s engineering programs hardly merit a mention.</p>
<p>I think that between a quarter and a third of the graduates in PSU’s COE start at branch campuses.</p>
<p>Disagree with 1moremom on the SUNYs. Buffalo and Stony Brook have pretty highly regarded undergraduate engineering programs. Buffalo was ranked 50 by US news in 2009, Stony Brook 57, Rutgers 53, Penn State 23. For undergraduate engineering, this is a distinction without a difference–a big thermodynamics class at one big State U is going to look an awful lot like a big thermodynamics class at any other big State U. Several programs at SUNY, e.g., electrical and computer engineering at Stony Brook, are very highly regarded. A kid may prefer Penn State for any number of reasons, e.g., the campus, the football, the surrounding cornfields, etc., and whether any or all of those things is worth the $11,000 or $12,000 more per year a New York resident would pay over a SUNY is up to the kid and the family, but I would not go to Penn State engineering over Buffalo or Stony Brook based on the notion that a Penn State undergraduate engineering education is significantly superior to that at a SUNY. There are other terrific engineering programs in the East, e.g., UConn, UMass.</p>
<p>I’m not saying an undergrad can’t get a fine education at one of the other schools, but to dismiss the PSU degree with a “Big Whoop” is a little insulting to a lot of grads. (BTW, Penn State has the largest alumni association in the U.S. and they take pride in hiring fellow alums.) Penn State is ranked 8th in engineering among public universities; I think that deserves a little respect.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/769210-complete-usnews-2010-undergrad-engineering-rankings-phd-granting-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/769210-complete-usnews-2010-undergrad-engineering-rankings-phd-granting-schools.html</a></p>
<p>17 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA
45 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick Piscataway, NJ 3.1
51 University of Massachusetts–Amherst Amherst, MA 3.0<br>
64 SUNY–Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY 2.8
64 University at Buffalo–SUNY Buffalo, NY 2.8
76 University of Connecticut Storrs, CT 2.7</p>
<p>1moremom- I am not dismissing the Penn State degree. My niece just graduated and I grew up in PA, so I know the value of the place. I am dismissing the path for AN OUT OF STATE STUDENT to start in Altoona or the like just to get that degree at the end of 4 years. I do not believe THAT PATH is worth the sacrifice of 2 good years of college experience.</p>
<p>Not everyone considers it a sacrifice. There are some students who are so happy at the branch campuses that they elect to stay for their entire four years. I believe Plainsman’s ^ D is one of them. I would not dismiss the experience, never having had it myself. And considering the percentage of students who transfer in from the branches, I would guess that their are others who believe the sacrifice was worth it.</p>
<p>According to College Board PSU-Altoona is 17% OOS; I would wager that that is higher than the vast majority of public universities. (Rutgers is 8%.) So, maybe you can’t imagine it, but others obviously can.</p>
<p>Boy- I would love to see the academic stats on the 17% out of state at Altoona! A fine lot, I’m sure. I guess they didn’t get into Erie.</p>
<p>S2’s directional state u. is 17% oos and would be higher if our state didn’t cap the % of oos’ers allowed at all our state u’s.</p>
<p>Well, since, PSU does not differentiate between in-state and OOS applications, I expect they would be about the same as the in-state students, somewhere below the scores of those that were admitted to PSU-UP.</p>
<p>I believe Altoona is the closest satellite campus to University Park (about 45 minutes away). It’s close enough to go there for football games (and other things). That may be a draw for OOS students and they have on-campus dorms which not every satellite campus offers.</p>
<p>I think there are a number of situations where a student would need to start at a PA feeder school. There are also good options in PA that DON’T lead you to PSU. Temple (if you can handle the city) and West Chester are two of them. There are students who are later bloomers and didn’t have stellar high school records who wind up thriving at smaller state schools and “find themselves”. These students may well move on to State College and have a great final two years. </p>
<p>However, to pretend that starting at one of these feeder schools (as distinguished from the many PA schools that you might actually choose to attend for all 4 years) with the goal of moving to State College after 2 years is a desirable option for an out of state student is silly. Does it happen? Of course. Can it work? Of course. I just think that, in most cases, there are going to be better options that don’t involve suitcase schools for two years and out of state tuition.</p>
<p>Altoona is close to State College and probably wasn’t the best choice, but when I was growing up it was sort of “Siberia”, so I picked it.</p>
<p>In my home state-- Northern Illinois 3%, Western 6%, Eastern 2%, Southern doesn’t report. (The more obscure Illinois state schools are close to 0%.) There is an effort at many schools to increase the percentage of out-of-state students and, in particular, international undergrads. At the University of Iowa this year 10% of the freshman class is international.</p>
<p>I’m not saying it’s necessarily an ideal path, but it works every year for thousands of students. To say you can’t “imagine being that desperate”, well, I’ll guess that follows the Big whoop comment. Saying you’d “love to see the academic stats on the 17% out of state at Altoona!” is just snarky, IMO. I think Penn State can be proud of giving kids who where less than stellar HS students, for whatever reason, a path to a respected degree.</p>
<p>So the academic elite from NY and Ohio are going to start at Penn State- Erie or Altoona and pay out of state tuition? OK.<br>
And you don’t have any idea how well it works. I would like to see the stats on how many OOS kids actually last the 2 years and get to main campus from some of these hinderland places. I do NOT consider the PA feeders to be the same level of college as most state directional universities.</p>
<p>The academic elite from NY and Ohio are for the most part not coming to Penn State; and if they choose to they’ll attend University Park. (Where did I say the elite would attend a branch campus? I said the scores at Altoona are below those of UP, which are certainly less than elite.) I never said that the feeders were the same level of college as the “directionals”; they are like community colleges. I was just pointing out that a fair number of OOS take advantage of them as a path to the University Park campus.</p>