My son wanted to go pre Smeal (it was his top choice by far) but did not get in to UP so changed major to DUS and was accepted. he was also accepted into Isenberg at UMass. So now he could go directly into finance at Isenberg or go to penn state and have to fill all the requirements and get a 3.5 gpa in those requirements in order to get in to finance program. He’s so conflicted. If didn’t have to jump through hoops to get into Smeal business it would be hands down penn state but the allure of being directly admitted to Isenberg is strong. Both are out of state but he received 16,000 in merit money from Isenberg making it about 15000 cheaper a year. Money isn’t really an issue but of course cheaper is always good but we just want him to happy. Umass is 2 hours away and Penn state is 5. Pros and cons to the distance. Any insight at all to this dilemma?
Direct admission is a win. Is Isenberg affordable without parental loans?
What does he like about UP that he doesn’t like about UMass?
If he doesn’t make it into the Finance major at PSU, what’s his plan B?
(If he doesn’t like the idea of a plan B then it should be Isenberg, shouldn’t it?)
@Apaus Do you understand that pre-Smeal and DUS are the same as far as getting into Finance? No one is entered into their major in Smeal unless they meet requirements (Entrance to major classes, GPA requirement, and credit window). It doesn’t matter if you come from DUS or pre-major in Smeal. (You can’t come from another college like Education or HHD though).
Has he thought about Supply Chain? Great great major at Penn State. very analytical. Supply chain majors get jobs from Penn State. Only a 3.2 gpa. great backup plan and he may actually prefer it.
(Subjectively, Supply Chain seems SO MUCH more interesting than Finance. )
Yes we do understand that it doesn’t matter whether you’re in DUS or pre Smeal as far as the requirements to enter into a business major. I think the only advantage I can see is that with pre Smeal you get a Smeal advisor and with DUS you get a DUS advisor. It’s really just the 3.5 requirement. He’s a very smart and hard working kid but I worry about the stress of having to attain that kind of GPA. He loves the Football atmosphere and was seeking that out but Isenberg gave us a tour and he liked what they have to offer. It’s such a hard decision. So many pros and cons to each.
Penn State engineering accepted students day was really helpful yesterday. I’m so glad my S found an opening. The new Engineering facilities on the West end of town are looking beautiful and Penn State is now a strong possibility. We are!
Has anyone heard if students on the waitlist for UP location are being notified?
Is anyone going to be at the Blue cohort for Accepted Students Day at UP for the EMS school on Monday?
College of Ag virtual alumni panel tonight at 7pm for those who are interested!
I see the 2022-2023 common data set is released. I was going yo start going through it and comparing to past years, but then I wondered if some of the long time experts in the forum already do that and analyze the data/trends. I would be interested in what that shows and if it sheds light on direction of PSU. Thx.
Does anyone know if the College of IST’s LLC has an application? If so, where would I find it? If not, how do I put that as a housing preference on my HFS contract? Thank you!
Does anyone have the admit rate for Smeal this year and what the stats were - GPA/SAT?
At first glance, it looks pretty similar to other years. ~85,000 applicants, 55% acceptance rate, 3.68 average GPA of accepted students. GPA and rigor are the main things considered.
Level of interest, volunteer work, essays, recommendations, work experience, and the rest of the extracurricular activities are not considered.
Talent (if applying for a skilled major), geography, race, alumni status, test scores only minimally considered after everything else.
This is pretty much the same as in previous years give or take a few percentage points in acceptance rate or number of applicants. But otherwise, looks fairly typical for Penn State
I thought it looked similar as well which surprised me. I thought the new Director of admissions (not sure if that is the correct title) might have made changes that we’d see in the CDS, i.e. pushing more applicants to commonwealth campuses.
My oos son was admitted to a commonwealth campus with a 4.+ gpa. He was a direct admit to every other big10 business school he applied and will be attending one of them. UP would have been his first choice. We were a bit surprised. Congrats to all who were accepted and will be attending.
Ugh. That’s so frustrating.
Does anyone know if people are hearing off of the Up waitlist yet? I have a friend who is on it and wanted me to check. Tia
Son’s friend accepted off the wait list for engineering last week. Guessing it depends on the department.
I think that position was new for THIS admission cycle - not last year’s. I could be wrong but I think that is what I remember…
At admitted student day in February the head of admissions said they’d already had 115,000 applications this year.