PSU-University Park is my number one choice, about how much easier is admission for the summer rather than the fall… I am a current junior,almost ready to apply and I would like to know if I should just apply for the summer or fall. I take all academic courses. I currently have approximately a 3.3-3.4 weighted grade point average and below is my volunteer work and clubs,I have joined or hope to join next school year:
Freshman & Sophomore Years: N/A
Junior: I volunteered a couple hours of my time to be a tour guide and acquaint the freshmen to the building. I was also in the Badminton Club
Senior: I hope to remain in the Badminton club and join DECA,FBLA,yearbook club and chorus.
Please let me know what you think I have a better shot at getting fall or summer.
You can apply for fall and put summer as an alternative starting semester. This way, they evaluate you for fall first, and only put you in summer if you can’t get in for fall (and still qualify for summer). What are your SAT or ACT scores? That will make a difference in a borderline candidate. Summer session is only slightly less competitive than fall. And yes, apply DUS (undecided) for your best shot.
@jlhpsu I have not taken the SAT yet,have it scheduled for next month. I didn’t know until after I registered that I will have to take the optional essay in hopefully June,but definitely end of August if I don’t get to take it by then. I also didn’t know that I had an option to put that as an alternative.
I also forgot to mention under my senior year activities, taking one dual enrollment at Delaware County Community College in the fall,I probably will be doing this also during the spring but unfortunately I don’t have any idea what I would be taking
Penn State doesn’t consider your senior year grades anyway, so dual enrollment in senior year is helpful to your overall credit transfer to PSU, but not necessarily your acceptance.
Penn State has two areas on their application where you can put an alternative. The first is starting semester, and the second is starting campus. So you can put in your application for fall, with the summer option checked (then they will only go to the summer option if you don’t get in for fall) and then you can select main campus as your starting campus and put an alternative starting campus in the event that they can’t offer you admission to main campus at all.
Penn State is a numbers game for the most part. So they care about GPA (2/3 of the decision) and Test Scores and Other Factors (1/3 of the decision). Your EC’s will help when you are borderline.
A 3.3 GPA which is what you’ve stated you have is well below the middle 50% for Penn State fall OR summer admits. So the better your test scores, the more that will mitigate that. The closer you are to the bottom of the middle 50% on test scores and gpa, the more likely you are to get an alternative campus.
My school uses a 100 point scale, I have an 88 GPA. I think that is like a 3.4 or 3.5 but let me know if I am off because I’m not one hundred percent sure on my conversion.
With a 3.3 and no AP 's you really should apply directly for summer and DUS, by the November 30 priority deadline.
Most students with a GPA below 3.5 get a branch campus, the exceptions being DUS and some specific majors.
A 3.3 or 3.4 weighted will be very borderline for summer session. Your best shot is to prepare heavily for your SAT or ACT and get as high as you possibly can on those. Your classes for senior year won’t matter- they don’t even ask for those grades. Apply by November 30th…which means everything is in by November 30 and apply undecided with the summer option checked. That will give you your best shot.
@Andrew2018:
Your senior year classes (what choices you make) will matter to Admissions, but your grades won’t.
Try to take one AP class in a subject you feel comfortable in.
Or, if you don’t know, take 1-2 from AP Human Geography or AP Psychology or AP Statistics or AP Environmental Science - those are the “easiest” AP’s.
Please realize that in college you’ll be taking the equivalent ot 5 AP classes each semester (except first semester as a freshman). So if you don’t think you could handle the workload for 1 or 2 AP’s, you really need to “practice” and take 1-2 Ap’s senior year, then apply directly to UP summer session when you’ll take the equivalent of 2 AP’s which will allow you to take only 4 classes in the Fall (equivalent to 4 AP’s), before in the Spring you take a regular load of 5 classes.
If you really want a shot at a flagship such as Penn State, you really need to up your game. Remember, for Penn State and most public universities, the only thing that matters is that you get a C or higher in your senior year classes so you can take some risks by upping the level of rigor in preparation for college. In addition, these more rigorous choices will factor in positively toward their decision.
So, to increase your odds, I’d advocate
English 12H
Physics
Health / PE
Spanish 2H
AP psychology
College algebra (= pre-calculus)
Chorus
AP Human Geography
Explanation :
In your Penn State application, you’ll be asked how many total honors + AP classes you’ve taken over 4 years and a good number is 16+ with 20+ best. So at least you add 4 honors and AP 's to your tally.
However, while your two AP 's 'count’in the tally, they’re also famously among the easiest AP 's so they’ll be a good transition for you, increased rigor but not death defyingly difficult.
Other ways to increase your odds is to take 3-4-5 years of a foreign language; take all three from bio, chem, and physics; take math up to pre-calculus or calculus.
With physics and college algebra you meet two of these bench marks.
Spanish 2H : you’ll need to take 2 more foreign language classes to graduate from Penn State. Your choice will be either College Spanish 2+3 or Intensive French (or Intensive German). These classes are hard and intense, and the better your background, the better off you’ll be.