Im apying this year and i dont know when i. should do it. My gpa right now is 3.4. Ive taken 1 ap course, and 3 college level classes. Should i apply early or wait until the last deadline to apply to allow my gpa to go higher. I want to go to university park, im hispanic, im out of state and want to go major in business. What should i do? Do i have a chance of getting accepted
Make sure you can afford Penn State. OOS is very expensive and they probably won’t give any merit scholarships to you.
Did you take the SAT/ACT yet?
Why Penn State? What does it offer that you are willing to pay outrageous costs?
You might look into one of their sattelite campuses. They are a lot easier to get into and then you can transfer up to state college.
Can your parents afford 45K per year (in income or savings)? Because that’s how much Penn State will cost you.
A 3.4 typically means “branch campus”, not University Park. Penn State doesn’t factor your 1st semester grades and stops at the end of 11th grade, so applying later will not help. With a 3.4, they’d expect 2000-2100 on your SAT.
However, because it’s rolling admissions, the FASTER you can get your application together, the better it is.
So to increase your odds at getting University Park…
1° Choice of major: Undecided (DUS) - DO NOT APPLY TO SMEAL, you would NOT get in. DUS students with an interest in Smeal, however, are authorized to take the same classes as Smeal students during their first semesters and if they make a 3.2 with no grade below C, they’re in at Smeal. 
2° Summer session? Check YES.
3° Apply by the end of September, indicate on application that October scores are forthcoming.
4° Include a personal statement
5° Factors that “help” your case for admissions are: listing 3 or more years of a foreign language (better: 4 or AP), all three of bio, chem, and physics, and math up to precalculus or calculus - all of this by the end of senior year.
6° Think of what branch campus you’d be interested in. Altoona and Harrisburg are both good.
But, indeed, why Penn State?
What are your matches and safeties?
What’s your parents’ budget?
If you are hispanic, apply to University of Pittsburgh and see what happens, maybe you would qualify for a minority scholarship?
Make sure you also apply to schools that will definitely accept you and are affordable. Any within commuting distance?
Doesn’t the summer session at PSU cost an extra $8k?
^Yes but the classes are required anyway, so the money can be " taken off" other semesters (recommended: take only 4 classes not 5 during first semester, and “save” that other extra class you can take off for a semester with several heavy-duty classes.)
Summer Session is for kids with GPAs in the 3.4-3.5 range who wouldn’t be admitted otherwise.
The matter of affordable schools is an important one though.
OP: what’s your parents’ budget and what colleges are you applying to beside PSU?
I got in with a 3.1GPA and 29 ACT to DUS for the summer session. If you apply directly to smeal you’ll might not get in because it’s a lot more competitive. Just go for DUS and transfer in later.
My D got in UP for summer with a 3.45 GPA and 29 ACT for DUS. So it is possible. But as noted above, Penn State doesn’t consider senior year grades at all. So waiting won’t help. Just make sure you have everything in by November 30th. After that, things get even more competitive. Make sure you can afford the costs because OOS is outrageous and PSU is notorious for not giving much aid.
What is your home state?
I think that the earlier you apply, the better and as someone else said, don’t apply directly to Smeal. You can apply undecided with summer as an option to improve your chances. You can transfer into Smeal with the prerequisite courses and a 3.2 GPA.