Gpa 3.7 uw
5 APs (no calc), 2 H, 1DE
SAT 1360
ECs Volunteering 150 hours, p time job, All State and other awards for his sport, club travel team, team captain, teaching assistant in senior yr
No Summer start due to sport fixtures
Wrote essays
Applied EA from OOS
Rejected from UP 4 business, accepted Harrisburg 2 +2 yrs at UP
We knew he was on the lower end stats wise for Smeal. Unlikely he will choose PSU now.
GPA-4.05 W, school doesnāt give us an unweighted
No class rank
3 APs (4 more senior year). 13+ honors
1370 SAT submitted
4 year athlete, team captain, leadership roles in summer positions, business club
Applied fall start, no summer option
Rejected UP, accepted political science 2+2 Brandywine
A little surprised to be rejected UP, but okay with result as he already has some great options with merit that match the price of UP. Turning down the 2+2, just doesnāt want to start in one place and move to another
Applied: Mid-November
Decision Date: January 23
GPA: 98.73/100 weighted
6 APs (2 in Senior year and a mixture of 4s and 5s on previous exams)
8 honors classes
1310 SAT submitted
US Senate Page Program, state and local internships, Political Science Club, Cashier job
Accepted University Park for Political Science Major
Congrats!
Admitted to UP Fall Start - major undecided
OOS
Applied Nov for EA but rolled over to RD due to items late
GPA: 4.0 UW
Test scores: not submitted
AP: 6, Honors: 5-6, Dual Enrollment: 3
Took one CC class summer after freshman year
HS does not rank
Dems: WF
4 year varsity swim
NHS and Italian NHS
Environmental Club
Violin 8 years including Orchestra and Philharmonia in HS
Some Volunteering
Sister is an alum (2021)
It really is a crap Shoot. My son (OOS)was denied from Smeal UP and only got in to the 2+2 program. Iām seeing acceptance to Smeal with Lower stats than my son. 98.8 weighted, 98 weighted. Only advanced and honors and AP courses taken throughout HS. 22 college credits so far. Above a 98 in all business courses including college business courses. 100 in college Calc.
6th in his class of 215.
S,M,Language NHS
Treasurer of FBLA
Started 2 clubs in his high school
Seal of BI-literacy
2 sport varsity athlete and captain.
Business internship and part time worker
Many community service hours
Amazing letters of recommendation from teachers and principal. We were shocked. Especially since Iāve seen others with lesser stats. Others with way better too but we certainly thought his were good enough to get in. Major disappointment. This was his first choice by far. Oh well. Gotta think everything happens for a reason and it just wasnāt meant to be.
That happened to us too. My daughter applied to Smeal and got accepted to Altoona campus with a brother who is a junior in Smeal at UP. She has high stats and a lot of extracurricular . Makes no sense and a real disappointment. She is having her application reconsidered for DUS. Letās see what happens but she was devastated
Have you considered calling admissions and changing his major to DUS? There is no difference in the classes he can take vs business and simply declare his major sophomore year just as a business admit would. No one is in their actual major until they meet the requirements for courses taken and minimum gpa for the given major. If he meets those when he declares then heās guaranteed entry to that major. The smeal admits have no advantage over DUS - the only difference is they have a smeal advisor. If itās his top choice and he has those stats I would think heād get in as DUS to UP
Did you apply without SAT/ACT scores (Test Optional)?
Just so you know, Penn State does not look at EC and ROL during the admission. Someone posed about this while ago.
What were his test scores?
Do we know this for sure? When I spoke to admissions back in November they said they do look at EC to consider a āwell rounded studentā. Obviously GPA and Test scores come first.
Decisions are 2/3 GPA, 1/3 test scores, and other factors (including ECās, legacy, etc). So ECās would account for a very small part of the decision process, especially if you are submitting test scores. Without test scores, they may look at āother factorsā more often but the overall most important factor for admission into PSU is GPA. Itās almost entirely a numbers game. With over 100,000 applicants, it has to be.
Check out their common data set:
As per their report, they do not look at EC. But sometimes they may look at EC to determine āTalent/abilityā, but not always.
Additionally, they do not have a location to specify EC in their application. Some used document upload to submit their resume (with their EC, volunteer, work, etc.), and recommendation. The admission office explicitly asked not to submit a recommendation.
The ECs entered in Common app may/may not be transferred to Penn Stateā¦even if it gets transferred, I am not sure they have a standard to measure/rate the impact of EC.
(PS: Honors admission is different and accepts LOR)
ACT 35
GPA 3.8/4.4 - top 20% of very competitive school
All honors and AP(13) with a few standard freshman year
OOS resident
Applied 10/27 Accepted sometime before 11/12ā¦acceptance was there first time we checked portal
Architectural engineering at UP
Mom is alum
Said yes to summer but accepted to fall
Captain of dance team, competitive dance team outside of school, pageant title holder of her school (itās a southern thing), lots of community service
Did the optional essay
Side noteā¦I talked to admissions the day before she submitted her app and the very kind lady told me the following which may help others in the future:
They donāt read your essay and they really donāt care about test scores and ECs only GPA but āfeel free to submit if your student is proud of their scoreā āher exact words.
I was wondering if they looked at that stuff. Itās like whatās the point of knocking yourself out with ECs then. Basing a decision on grades only is unfortunate in this day and age. My sons GPA and course load seemed like it would be enough to be admitted but obviously not. He did not submit his SAT score. Was not strong enough. Great math score but weak English. Iām sure that hurt him.
Yes. Thank you we did change his major to DUS. So weāll see. Is it automatic in into Smeal if you meet the requirements to get in? Or is it like an application process again where they pick the strongest stats?
Automatic- as long as you meet the GPA and complete the required courses for entrance to major you are in. Each major has ETM requirements and even students accepted to a pre major like business/smeal to start as freshman they still must meet the same ETM requirements to actually be in the major. But yes as long as you meet the ETM requirements you are in
Hi all, just a very friendly reminder to keep questions and discussions to the discussion thread instead of this one. This thread is just for decisions. This is so others can simply scroll through and read decisions and not need to wade through lots of discussions. You will also get more replies and answers in the discussion thread as many do not monitor this thread unless they are interested in decision stats.
Please ask questions or place comments in the discussion thread. Thanks!
agree with everything you said!
SAT:1510
GPA: 3.99/4.33
Number of Honors/AP Courses: 10+
Rank: School doesnāt rank - Top 10%
State Residency: VA
Applied date: 10/1
Applied Early Action: Yes
Decision date: 11/9
Major Applied to/Accepted: Mech Engr
Decision/College: (e.g. ACCEPTED, College of Engineering). Accepted
Campus applied to/Campus accepted to: UP