<p>If you haven’t yet applied to PSU, you might want to rethink that and find a school that will more likely be affordable for you.</p>
<p>Getting this scholarship ($6k per year) and maybe some federal aid won’t pay the high OOS costs for PSU.</p>
<p>Have you tried to Net Price Calculator on the PSU website? If not, do so.</p>
<p>There was no deadline to apply for this award as it is a new award that was just announced. My daughter applied at end of Sept. and was accepted in early November. You have excellent stats and are likely to get admitted. Penn State has rolling admissions but should probably get your app. in soon. We weren’t expecting any money from Penn State so this was a nice surprise.</p>
<p>What other universities would you suggest? I’m very interested in BU, BC and Northeastern but they’re very very expensive. I was looking at UNH which is 18,709 for tuition for OOS. I would like to stay in the northeast. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>non honors admission at Penn State is a numbers game. They do not have the resources to read essays (I know, why ask- they can be used in bubble cases or appeals) or evaluate ECs. There are just too many applications. SHC certainly evaluates these very carefully.
You do not apply for this award, it is awarded automatically based on information your application. It is not too late to apply to PSU. There almost certainly will be money “held back” for those who have yet to apply. However, chances of recieveing it or the larger amounts will be greater if you already applied.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what interest it is to some responding to this thread and their negativity towards the scholarship program and PSU. I don’t get the sense they have a horse in this race.
Most have applied to PSU (or their children). Many here just got 12K or 24K without having to fill out another form. Factor that into your decision whether to attend or not. I just don’t see how one can find negatives in receiving a scholarship. Even if this counts towards an aid package, often this offsets the loan and student work component, which still is a big plus.</p>
<p>Avoid OOS publics unless they’ll give you a HUGE scholarship…like full tuition or more.</p>
<p>Hopefully some here can recommend some privates in your area which will give you full aid. If you’re a girl, then try some of the women-only schools. Mt Holyoke has a rep for good aid. </p>
<p>If you’ll consider other areas, there may be some other schools…like Loyola-Maryland.</p>
<p>Unless an OOS public gives you HUGE merit, you’re not likely going to get enough money as a low income student.</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations to all who have gotten this award! I don’t know a thing about it, but it sounds great, and is a $6K per year discount that you are getting right off the bat. How PSU will integrate this with other awards, scholarships and Financial, remains to be seen, since this is brand new.</p>
<p>In the past, those accepted to the Honors College got small merit award, less than this scholarship. Around $2-3K a year, I think. As others have said, PSU, like most schools, does not guarantee to meet full need and does not tend to do so. Even acceptance to the Honors college does not mean gettting full need met–I’ve personally known a number of kids who were gapped even though they were accepted to SHC. Whether this situation has changed or not, I don’t know. Things do change from year to year at schools. I am happy for all of you about this bonus change!</p>
<p>When I lived in PA, the saying about PSU was that admissions depended on three numbers: Class rank, Test score, and date of application. That is often the case with the larger schools that have to process so many applications. </p>
<p>So anyone who is considering PSU, get that app in ASAP. As for looking at other schools with good financial aid/scholarship possibilities, as a general rule, the higher a student is in terms of test scores relative to the other students at a school, the better the chances of getting money. Most schools want high scoring kids and will put some money towards getting them. Look at the % of students getting full need met and or % of merit awards given (and the high dollar scholarships) and estimate what % of the pool your student is in. For a good chance at the average awards, s/he should be in the top half of that percentage.</p>
<p>Hi all.
Has anyone received this Provost offer after already sending their deposit in? After my child received the offer this weekend, I called a family friend whose child was accepted in November. Their child’s numbers are completely in line. However, based upon our GC’s advice they sent the deposit in right away. It seemed like good advice too, to my knowledge PSU (non-Honors) has never offered merit money before. An answer would be appreciated. Thanks and congrats to everyone who has received the offer.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids–</p>
<p>No, I’m not a URM. I belong to several national honor societies, have played 4 years of high school volleyball (2 years captain on varsity), and I have a 4.0 UW GPA. I’m also out of state.</p>
<p>Good question Hill. We have not sent in a deposit yet. It makes more sense or cents for Penn to offer this award/ incentive to those that have not committed yet. Completely unfair, but possible. Perhaps your friend can call to inquire about the award.</p>
<p>My daughter has already committed to PSU main and she’s In State, 4.513 GPA, 1790 SATs and 2nd in her class. She, too, just heard today that a classmate (who hasn’t committed) received the Provost Scholarship award for $6k/year for a total of $24k. Can anyone shed any light on what this scholarship is about and why my daughter wouldn’t receive it? Some theories at this site make sense, such as PSU trying to entice good students that haven’t committed yet, but I’d still like to know more if any information is available.</p>
<p>My friends child is in exactly the same position as your daughter, greenliving. They sent the deposit in before these letters starting going out. They called PSU UP and were told that they didn’t know whether kids who had committed already were going to be considered or not. What they were told was that last weekend’s letters were just the first wave, one or more would be following. Good luck.</p>
<p>Collegebound…what state are you from?</p>
<p>What is your best M+CR from one SAT? On one hand it seems that an 1820 would be too low to get merit from PSU, but maybe your M+CR was high and your W was low? An 1820 SAT might suggest a M+CR of about 1200, but maybe yours was more like a 1300 or so?</p>
<p>I realize that the award isn’t only test driven, but something must be initially triggering consideration for this award. I doubt it’s GPA driven although a strong GPA would likely be needed. We know that most merit awards are heavily test scores based since there are a ton of kids with high GPAs (because of grade inflation), but fewer with high test scores.</p>
<p>The Top 25% of frosh at PSU have a M+CR SAT of 1300+…I’m guessing that may be significant for this sholarship.</p>
<p>Greenliving…did the classmate have higher SATs? Higher M+CR SAT?</p>
<p>My son received a $4k/y two year award at Erie, the campus he applied to. His GPA is average there but his test scores do put him in the top 25%. He was only accepted 11/30 so there wasn’t much time at all between that and his scholarship award to even see if he was going to committ.</p>
<p>Thank you, hill82, for the reply. It’s been weighing on us all weekend (even though we’ve told our daughter to just accept the fact and move on…easier said than done). We just feel penalized for having committed early considering we’re both PSU alum. It would be nice to receiive something, but we won’t hold our breath :).</p>
<p>My son has a 31 ACT, top 10% of his class, in-state, legacy. No word of a scholarship.</p>
<p>Guess it’s not going to happen</p>
<p>Greenliving and others who are in this situation, it is still early in the process. Do have your student write to Admissions and let them know that though s/he has accepted admissions to Penns State and that it is a top choice, some other options remain in the picture and that the final decision will be made on May 1 and that merit awards will be heavily considered. The tone should be humble and not corner anyone but get the message across that merit money would make PSU a done deal with a sweet taste in one’s mouth, but due financial issues other schools and their costs would have to be considered with PSU as a full cost option.</p>
<p>It isn’t going to affect the school’s acceptance of your student and it puts the onus on the admissions directors lap that they pretty much get a bird in hand, and a happy one at that, versus possibly losing out in the spring when other offers are in the mix.</p>
<p>Fingers crossed for all CC members and their kids that they get a piece of the pie!</p>
<p>Maybe it would help clarify why certain folks got the merit if they copy/pasted the following and answered the questions:</p>
<p>SAT Math + CR from best sitting:
ACT:
URM status: (African American, Hispanic, etc)
Home state:
Male of female:
When applied:
When accepted:
Have you committed to PSU?
Choice of Major:
GPA:
Rank:
legacy?</p>
<p>If I were to bet, I’d bet that the order of consideration is:</p>
<p>M+CR SAT or ACT score
State of residency
URM status:
Talent (music, art, band, that sort of thing)
GPA
Rank
Choice of major
Legacy
Gender</p>
<p>My daughter’s CR+M was 1200, OOS, majoring in Criminology. Her HS does not rank, no legacy. She applied at end of September and was accepted in early November. She has not committed to Penn State yet. The Provost award letter was dated 12/10/12.</p>
<p>The letter stated the following:</p>
<p>“Congratulations! Because of your exemplary work and your potential to be a difference maker at Penn State I am please to offer you : A Penn State Provost Award ( tells amount of award such as $24000 over four years).”</p>
<p>“The Provost Award demonstrates our interest in having you as part of our learning community”.</p>
<p>At end of letter: “We look forward to the many contributions you will make to our University in the years ahead”.</p>
<p>Also stated- " This award is offered in recognition of your achievements, as well as the positive contributions you may make as a part of the Penn State community."</p>
<p>I wonder if this new scholarship is a proactive tactic to improve yield because there was a fear of that there would be problems because of the earlier scandal? </p>
<p>By giving this $6k per year scholarship to many OOS students, it’s a nice discount from the OOS rate of $28k. The discount actually brings the cost inline to a number of other OOS publics. Maybe that’s the strategy?</p>