We are still waiting
Still waiting here too. Applied 10/14 (even though I know that doesnât matter). We are OOS and my daughter applied TO. Our son is currently a junior at PSU. Anxiety level is high. Congrats to all who have heard and good luck to all still waiting.
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Since we are getting down to the wire on the holiday, some reminders:
admissions is closed during the winter break, as is the entire University. Nobody on the phone, nobody in the office, nobody answerig email.
Some years we have seen âdeferralsâ. No cause to panic if this is one of those years. It seems that sometimes they just canât get to all the applications before the early deadline â so deferral just means âoopsy, you have to wait a bit longerâ. In that myserious PSU way, it has nothing to do with your chances. Seems like things are coming out pretty fast lately, so hopefully not a year for much deferring.
Some years there is a waitlist. This means they had so many early offers that theyâd like to give you a spot, but need to see if they have any. In the past you could take yourself off the waitlist if you canât stand the idea. we have never understood why some years there is a waitlist or even how big the list is.
PSU is very stingy with financial aid. People are always shocked at how little is received. Itâs getting a little better, but nothing fancy for sure.
Good luck to everyone, hereâs hoping for good outcomes and happy kids/parents/holidays.
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so will we still be hearing next week?
Ok - so this is where I get confused with the PSU process⊠And let me say again we are (pun intended) very proud parents of a current junior and have a daughter waiting to hear currently.
For weeks the message has been âthere is no rhyme or reason to how the applications are processedâ and âdonât worry if you havenât heardâ and âthe EA notification is by Dec 23â etc. But the message above indicates that if you havenât heard yet, you should worry because âthey might not get to your applicationâ or âby the time they get to your application all the spots will be goneâ.
I know that is oversimplifying things. But it just seems like there could be a better way - or at least better messaging from the school. Besides my current PSU student, I have 2 other children who are out of college and while the process was stressful for them too, I think PSU makes it worse. Not pointing fingers AT ALL at the extraordinarily helpful parents on this forum who give us all an outlet for this stress!!!
I have no special insight and my kid is still waiting to hear, but PSU Admissions had an Instagram post earlier this week that said Early Action decisions will be out by 12/24, so I was taking that as a confirmation that everyone will hear by then.
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I know so many of us parents are feeling really anxious about this process. Iâm certainly one such parent. But, I just wanted to add, that at the end of the day this is all about our kids, how hard they worked to get to this point and that they will all be moving on to their next step of life soon. So, letâs not forget (and this is a reminder to myself as well) to celebrate this time and their achievements as we wait to hear from these universities.
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So true. One of the many reasons it is nice to have a space like this to come to share the anxiety and keep it away from my interactions with my daughter.
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Well, the EA notification deadline is a deadline, but itâs not some process where it is alphabetical or first in first out or anything that makes sense looking from the outside. They WILL get to the application, they just might not make the deadline but thatâs not discarding or denying.
The waitlist would only be for those who arenât EA; kids applying after whatever that submission deadline is (and we donât know there is even a waitlist at all, and we donât know if there will be deferrals) Agreed, Penn State is frustratingly mysterious.
Think of it maybe as a big stack of papers and as the deadline nears, they might not make it quite to the bottom. So when January comes, they finish up the stack of papers as if theyhadnt been interrupted? It literally has nothing to do with the applicant, itâs just more input than can be worked thru? In fairness to Penn State, I donât think anyone believes or represents that students who apply in January or December have the same chance as ones before November.
Winter break begins the 23rd and runs through the 2nd, so the universityis closed then. Next week I would think is still business as usual.
So if they are overwhelmed with the amount of applicants and cannot get to the early decision deadline then an applicant becomes a deferral automatically? And thatâs completely random? I would think that it would be less stressful to these kids to send out a message admitting to not being able to get all the applicants on time and they will resume after break rather than putting the heartbreaking word âdeferredâ there. No? Unless Iâm misunderstanding what I read above.
Where are our experts?
I think that psu thinks of âdeferralâ as exactly that message â âsorry to disappoint but we havent made our deadline, just hang on a bit longer for your decisionâ. Again, no way to know if that is the case this year, maybe they make the deadline. An awful lot of students seem to be hearing, and thatâs a good sign.
Didnt mean to alarm anyone 
Please donât overthink this 
. PSU is no different than other schools. We are still waiting and hopeful that application will be processed before the deadline. It is true that some got deferred last year, but most were not and thatâs the case with other schools as well. I wish you good luck and keep the fingers crossed that everything is going to be OK.
So I am seeing some havenât got their decision yet which I didnât realize.
My daughter got accepted last Friday evening.
3.9 GPA / Test optional / Out of State / Dual Enrollment / Lots of Extracurriculars and volunteer / Homeschooled
Where I think PSU is different and could do a better job is in their execution and communication of their ârolling acceptancesâ. I am now on my 4th child going through this college application process. The other 3 applied to a total of 31 unique schools. We have experienced early decision, early action, deferrals, waitlists, regular decision, rolling decision, Ivy League, large public institutions, small liberal arts colleges, etc. I know that it will all turn out ok for my daughter wherever she ends up. I do think that PSU makes an already overwhelming and stressful process worse by their methodology (or lack there of) and I appreciate that this is a space where I can vent that frustration. They could do better and, in my opinion, many schools do.
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Ugh, now Iâm rethinking having my D submit her test score. Same SAT as your son, but also high GPA, lots of EC, leadership positions and works. Hmmm Maybe Iâll ask her to ask her guidance counselor, while weâre still waiting.
Iâm w student still waiting to hear from penn state. This whole process has been EXTREMELY stressful. Penn State has been my dream school for a very long time now and itâs honestly killing me that I am still sitting here waiting to hear. At this point I just want a decision acceptance or denial so I can at least accept the fact that I didnât get in and can consider other schools. I canât do that at the moment because I am so dead set on Penn State and havenât heard back
I am right there with you!
good things come to those who wait!
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I wouldnât wait too long if you are deciding to change. It took about 12 hours for it to update in the system for my son. I am actually grateful for the advice here and he feels better about it now as wellâŠ
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Donât stress about it. Just keep your hopes up!
We werenât really expecting an acceptance as Penn state is kind of competetive and we didnât submit test scores. So if it worked out for us, it will work out for you as well!
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