Thanks this helps a lot. Thing is, he’s a reach. He probably put down undecided or psychology or something, for lack of some better idea. He’s a smart kid and his grades the last 1.5 years reflect that. But his grades freshman and sophomore year were bad. He didn’t think he was going to college and just mailed it in. Work up junior year and turned it around. He took the SAT with no prep or thought at all and came in around PSU’s low range. He knew that wasn’t high enough so he thought he’d try to sneak in test-optional. I said you know, maybe if your GPA was better you could try it, but with no scores and a lackluster GPA you are really stretching. So he decided to really apply himself. He’s taking some course that promises 160 points, which would probably get him to middle of the pack, at least.
Still a stretch but maybe if you get them on the right day, or the right major. Who knows? But with his GPA and no scores he’s thinking he’s a no.
But if he can just take a swing at it, maybe he will, then reapply if his SATs come in really strong.
Thanks for the thoughtful and informative reply. It sort of looks like there are exceedingly few schools that might be considered to be a safety if one is applying to an engineering program. My daughter is pretty comfortably above 75%ile for SAT and GPA on the latest University Park CDS and is out-of-state coming from a very competitive HS. Fingers crossed that is enough and she makes the cut.
My son just got his acceptance for school of engineering fall of 2024. Applied EA on October 18th. Also put in for Schreyers Honors college but won’t hear from them until March. He does have extremely high stats
He needs to apply NOW to Sociology or a similar major (it’s in the same college as Psychology but fewer students apply to it so it’s not very competitive, the basic 1sr semester is similar and he can switch easily) and - VERY IMPORTANT for UP - check Summer Session (not “Fall or summer”, just Summer) provided you’re willing and able to pay the extra $$ (it’s not a loss since the courses count toward the degree and actually give him a headstart through the LEAP program; if he’s turned things around there’s Paterno fellows even in the summer, I really recommend it). I am guessing here but based on what I know Sociology would not be as competitive as DUS.
As an alternate campus check Altoona or Harrisburg, which are 4-year campuses in their own right.
Indicate you’ll be sending scores.
Send the application ASAP, dont wait for the scores:
When registering for the SAT you could send the scores to 4 colleges: if you haven’t decided already, send them to 1 safety, 2 matches, and PSU. (For the others, it may help with scholarships).
Once scores have arrived and you know whether you got 1200, 1300, etc., you can switch to “test optional” or not on the submitted app.
He has 4.06 unweighted gpa and 6.13 weighted. 9 AP courses some being taken now so not included in gpa. Only 2 Bs ever in AP courses. 1510 SATs president of service club and couple other extracurriculars. Won a couple awards for various things. Also both parents are Penn state alumni (not sure how much that is considered). Applied 10/18 EA to computer engineering. I know several current students whom applied EA that didn’t hear until mid December last year and they were strong candidates. Could just be his application was at the top of someone’s pile, but was happy to have at least one acceptance.
My daughter has had one B in high school - ironically (and something that produced much anxiety) in math. As in all other math classes and all other classes, including APs like AP Bio, AP Lit, APUSH. Currently taking AP Calc AB (took instead of BC due to vastly preferred teacher), AP Lang, AP Spanish and AP Physics C. Don’t know what unweighted GPA is (we have weighted), but would be whatever is all As with one B. Submitted 1560 SAT.
Crazy busy with activities (all of her choice - she enjoys being busy), but no prestigious awards. Field hockey, ice hockey and in two dance companies, in addition to being a chem tutor and a community service extracurricular.
I would expect that teacher recs would have been really good.
Indicated an intended major of aerospace engineering.
96 Unweighted, 100 Weighted (14 APs, 7 Honors, roughly 4.5-4.6 on a 5 point scale, 3.95ish on a 4 point scale including A-)
1540 SAT
Honors: 4th author of a computational biology paper, Regional Robotics Award, National Merit Commended, other basic stuff
ECs: Computational Bio internships for 1.5-2 yrs, Virtual Intern then an intern team leader at a tech startup for abt a yr, Founded a large red cross club, etc
Applied to Data Science in the Engineering School on 10/31. Got in today!
Not OP, but our schools has similar unweighted GPAs. Our A+s are worth 4.3 rather than 4.0. So technically the unweighted GPA is out of 4.3. But since A+ are not easy to get they call it out of 4.0. It does give a boost to the unweighted GPA number and allow > 4.
He goes to a large public high school with over 1100 in a graduating class. Their unweighted gpa is 4.0 but oddly they give A plus 4.3 and an A 4.0. ( unweighted does not weight his AP or honors courses in that but possible to be slightly over 4.0 in unweighted if you have A plus. His weighted gpa is on 6.0 scale but believe they do the same for A plus for AP class, honors classes are weighted at 5.0. Many universities recalculate the GPAs so everyone is compared on same scale, which is where the transcript and or SRAR come into play. He has worked hard, but did end up with a B plus in AP chemistry (missed an A by .02) and B in AP physics mechanics. Rest of his high school classes in AP, honors, and regular courses are all As and A pluses. The GPA also doesn’t include any minors in the GPA
Question, If he indicates he’s sending test scores wouldn’t that push him to the rolling decision timeline since his application won’t be complete until mid December? Wouldn’t it be better to apply now test optional so he makes regular decision? With a median GPA it seems like waiting until rolling might be more detrimental than just applying test optional.
I’m so excited for her to find out tomorrow. We’re heading to State College on Friday night for the Rutgers game. She was hoping to find out before we go!
