Which College ( Penn State or University of Penn) would be better for someone who has a composite ACT score of 31 and wants to study Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering (double majors)? If neither College offers this double major opportunity, then the preferred course of study would be Electrical Engineering.
Admission is for Fall 2018
State of residence is Mississippi. Please also advise on which is more generous with financial aid. Thanks in advance
Why is it between these two schools? They are very different. You can run Net Price Calculators on each to get an idea of costs.
Penn State is essentially a public university and will not offer out-of-state students need-based financial aid. Merit scholarships are rare.
If you don’t live in Pennsylvania, I am not sure why those two would both be on your list – they’re very different. PSU is rural, Penn is urban; PSU has 40,000 undergrads, Penn has 10,000; PSU is public, Penn is private; etc.
Neither.
You’re not getting into Penn SEAS with an act 31 unless you live in rural Mississippi or attend a lower performing public school.
And Penn State IS possible if you apply in september but unless your parents have 180k it won’t be affordable since it doesn’t offer financial aid to OOS applicants.
I live in Mississippi, by the way. Besides that, I have seen from this website
http://www.collegesimply.com/guides/31-on-the-act/pennsylvania/
that admissions into UniPenn is not impossible
While not impossible, you should assume that for any college with a <10% acceptance rate that an accepted applicant with scores in the 25th percentile is one that heavily hooked. So feel free to apply to both, but your question on which is “better” is moot until you have acceptances from both. If you only get accepted to one, then that’s the one that’s better.
Penn is more generous; you would get no FA from Penn State as an OOS applicant.
OK, so the estimated chance per that website is 7%. That7% would include applicants that have hooks such as being a recruited athlete, a legacy etc. The odds of getting into Penn with an ACT at the 25th percentile would be lower for unhooked applicants and the engineering programs are particular competitive. If you want to go ahead and apply as a reach then you should go for it, but just understand that the odds are not in your favor.
And I agree that if you need a lot of aid then Penn State isn’t a good option.
I’m not sure how you came up with those two schools. Other than having “Penn” in the names, they are very different institutions.
For a better price point, maybe look at UAlabama - Huntsville and public options in your state as a couple of ideas. This is another good site you can look at (but be sure to check that all of the information is current) http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
@“Jivy Kemsy Yemsy” they are very very different schools. Penn is an Ivy League school, Penn State is a flagship state school.
Penn is a lot harder to get in than Penn State, is generally ranked higher in almost all areas and is much more generous in terms of FA since it is a much richer school.
What’s your school’s average act? What type of school is it?
Your 31 may be excellent if your school’s average is 18, not so much if every year a handful of kids score 34+.
Have you taken calculus AB or BC (or further) and scored a 5? Penn SEAS expects it.
Penn state has no financial aid for OOS applicants and not much for instate applicants either.