It’s not rolling in the traditional sense of first in, first out. But it is rolling in that some other schools have a deadline date and then a decision release date. Sometimes I wonder if that would be easier. PSU delivers decisions randomly and attempting to figure out their process will make you nuts. Believe me, I know! 
The best anyone can say is…applications complete by Nov 30 will hear by Jan 31st. Consider yourself lucky if you hear quickly or prior to the end of January. Believe me when I say, this will all be a blur later.
My son was accepted last week. It went from reviewing to accepted between Nov. 16-17. Received the packet on the 20th. Will submit his acceptance shortly. He will be joining his sister who is currently a junior. One more to go next year. #happyproudbroke
Best of luck to those still waiting.
Accepted DUS; Fall 2016 UP
Stats:
SAT: 1970
GPA: 3.58 Unweighted, 4.88 weighted
Other stats: Honors, AP, and Dual Enrollment Courses; has participated and volunteered throughout HS.
Location/Person:
State or Country: New Jersey
School Type: Public
Gender: Male
Penn State is considered priority admissions if you apply by November 30th since all will hear back by the end of January. If applying after November 30th it is considered rolling admissions. It is confusing but that is how they describe it and it explains why people do not hear in the order that they applied, even though it can be very frustrating.
Accepted into the Eberly College of Science:
SAT: R670 M550 W510
GPA- 4.0 Unweighted
Class Rank- 3 of 125
ECs NHS Vice President Student Council President Football Team Captain Debate National Finalist and State Finalist
I’m also in the process of applying for an Army ROTC scholarship
PS is stretching it by stating “rolling admissions”. What they really ARE doing is rolling in the higher achieving and “smarter” candidates. If you are rejected … We’ll see you later with a “no”. On the bubble? We will put you on hold until we see what the applicant pool is and whether you make the cut. Let’s not kid ourselves here, we all know how this works. They can give us an explanation to soothe our anxiety but we are not stupid. Just look at the thread and how kids are accepted so fast and others still sweat it out even though they applied a month earlier. Rolling admission my rear body part! Unfair to everyone, especially the candidates. But happy Turkey Day … And keep on waiting … Ughhh … rolling!
Has anyone heard of applicants being rejected yet?
On a similar note…someone posted an article in another thread stating that PSU had a record 88k undergrad applicants this year…this includes all campuses.
Would you rather get rejected quickly instead of accepted later? At least they’re giving borderline candidates a chance to be compared not to the tippy top students, but to applicants of similar scores and GPA.
Complaining about the way acceptances are made is so silly…you’re making the choice to participate in the process. Apply elsewhere if it’s such a big problem. Some other schools don’t release decisions until March. That’s a long wait with NO acceptances being released before then.
You totally missed the point. Totally.
I agree with @bodangles 100%.
Penn State has been pretty transparent about their undergrad application process with my son. All information as it relates to deadlines and selection dates is included on their website. Considering the volume of applications they do receive, their admissions department should be credited with how responsive they have been; whether be when you call, email or tweet at them.
In a tweeted message to me on 10/28 regarding a question regarding an acceptance timeframe they responded back within 2 minutes with the following: “We start making decisions for UP in the next couple of weeks, bu the majority of students will hear in Dec/Jan. We guarantee a decision by 1/31 to all applicants that are complete by 11/30.”
It’s only natural for the top tier applicants to hear back sooner.In all liklihood, the majority of applicants will hear back within the next 3-5 weeks.
Enjoy the process and let it play itself out. As an alumni, I assure you Penn State is worth the wait! Penn State is everything they say it is!
@zipbags We have heard of applicants to UP being rejected over the last couple of weeks… So I guess it’s a good thing we still haven’t heard yet.
Thanks @burbs20 - good to know!
@burbs20 Thanks for the info. I agree with what you said. I am curious at the gpa/sat scores of those rejected.
Record of applications this year of 88K- approx 10K freshman at University Park. 11% chance? Congrats to all who have gotten accepted so far. To sort through all those applications will take some time. My S is being patient and praying for the best. It is hard when other acceptances are coming in the mail, other friends are getting in, and your #1 choice is PSU. Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving!
@crazycat220 I don’t believe all 88k applied to UP. Also, last year they accepted 25k to UP…only around 9k actuall accepted and enrolled.
OK all you pseudo literary geniuses … Direct from College Confidential is a definition of what a rolling admission is:
“Rolling Admission colleges and universities evaluate applications as the arrive, and decisions are mailed shortly thereafter, usually within two months. (NOW HERE COMES THE IMPORTANT PART) … Places are filled on a first come, first served basis.” This NOT what PSU is doing now is it? People apply in early September and have no decision yet others apply in October and have an acceptance. This is NOT the spirit of rolling admissions. You can look it up if you are so intellectually inclined. It is “selective” admissions not rolling. It’s PSU rhetoric, nothing more.
It is useful to remember that when your students arrive at UP, or whatever branch they choose, there is not a tattoo put on them with their admission offer date. They will not be asked what day they accepted. There will be no distinction between “I got accepted in November” and “I had to stress until February”. Your anxiety will increase as the weeks pass, but your chances are not more or less better than the day your application arrived, so remember that you are blessed and talented, and will end up Someplace Wonderful For You.
Also, the acceptances will make less sense as the weeks progress. You will make yourselves ill trying to discern a pattern (either from year-to-year, or college-to-college) as it is just one messy pile of apparent randomness, but with juuust enough patterning to make you insane. Chocolates for everyone! We are!!
Snarkyboy,
Penn State’s admissions website says “applicants are evaluated on a modified rolling admissions schedule.”
It is the “modified” that is the important word in that sentence. This means that their system is not precisely like a true rolling admissions.
It is really not very difficult to figure out PSU’s “modified schedule.” Penn State offers quick acceptance to very high stats kids who apply before Nov. 30. It doesn’t matter if the superkid applies Nov. 15 and the middle range kid applied back in September. The superkid who applied in November will hear sooner. These are the kids that Penn State is positive it wants, no matter how many applications come in. This is PSU’s prerogative based on their modified schedule.
With the kids in the middle range who apply before the priority deadline, Penn State guarantees a Jan 31 decision. I have never heard of them not delivering on this guarantee. But with these kids, they are going to wait on making a decision until all the priorities applications are in so they can see the pool they are dealing with. Considering the number of applications, it is little wonder it takes them until the end of January to sort out the kids in the middle of the pack, which is the majority of applicants.
Last year, my kid was one of the middle of the packers who got the decision at the end of January (it was actually a few days or maybe a week before Jan 31.) My only concern after Nov 30 was, what if Penn State takes all the kids who didn’t get a decision yet and lumps them in with the applications that come in after the priority deadline. Now that would not be fair, in my opinion. Happily, that is not what happened. Priority applicants did indeed receive preferential treatment, as is evidenced by the fact that many high stats kids who applied after Nov. 30 did not get admitted, though my kid and many others with his stats did.
Keep in mind that even though it seems like so many kids have been accepted on this site already, they are but a tiny fraction of the class of 2020. And Penn State knows many of those superkids are not going to enroll - their yield is about 30% - so there will be many many acceptances coming in, including middle of the packers.
All…especially @snarkyboy Penn State CLEARLY outlines their decision dates on their website. http://admissions.psu.edu/info/future/firstyear/deadlines/ They aren’t trying to fool anyone.
As @Aida said, last year there were some of us who were concerned that if our kid hadn’t heard prior to November 30, that their applications would be considered at the same time as the after Nov 30th crowd. My Daughter called and talked to admissions and she was told that they determine all decision of priority applicants before those who applied after. In fact, some students who applied after with higher stats than my D were denied. Also, it should be noted, that ‘changes in major’ because someone was denied, also puts them in the back of the line for reconsideration. So someone denied in December and wants to be reconsidered for DUS in December, will not get their decision until all of the other priority applicants have theirs.
Also, as @greenbutton eloquently pointed out, when you are on campus - no one knows who got accepted when and your GPA isn’t written across your forehead. My daughter started in summer session and loved it, but now that she’s in fall…literally no one asks when she started. She’s in the same classes with everyone else…those that heard in November and started in fall, and those who heard in January and started in summer. All the same.
The waiting is torture. I’ll give you all that. But the process of choosing the highest qualified applicants first makes perfect sense. I have friends who’s children found out about their PSU acceptance in November but STILL accepted the acceptance after we did in January because they were waiting on schools that do batch releases on specific dates in Feb and March. That would be worse I think.
Just a question. I sent my application long time back. But my transcripts have been sent by post last week, but I’m worried they won’t reach PSU due to the thanksgiving hols. So will I be in for priority deadline? The date stamp on the post is 18 Nov. should be fine right? Everything is in except transcripts
@skyblade1234 I would call to be sure, but if I remember correctly from last year as long as they were postmarked by Nov 30 they were considered priority.