My2kidsnj did u just find out this morning she got in to another campus for smeal 2+2? Then u called and switched her major so they are reevaluating for UP? They told u less than a week u would find out?
Denied, 1200/1600 on SAT and 3.7 W GPA 3.55 UW, VP of Key Club, Student Council Senator
I’m curious (and getting impatient!) so wondering if anyone that rec’d the postcard saying “hang in there” was denied?
My son received a “hang in there” card and was denied.
We received the card and my son was accepted
@loulou2 I’m not sure what you mean about missing any days of summer session? If you miss days, you are missing class and certainly won’t fare well. It’s only a 6 week session. It goes by pretty fast! My daughter was nervous going in the summer but it ended up being the very best thing for her.
@my2kidsnj Nooo…that is not how smeal works. She can’t get into smeal from any other major other than smeal or DUS. The only way she will get smeal classes in order to get into smeal junior year is to get into DUS. SHe cannot be an advertising major and switch into Smeal. She won’t get the classes to fill the entry to major requirements.
@star4fish Altoona is a beautiful campus. My son is attending there in the fall. But you can call and change the major to DUS and ask to be reconsidered fall/summer for UP.
@psuug21 The only way asking to be reconsidered works is if you are changing your major to something less competitive. If that’s the case, then call admissions and ask to speak to an admissions counselor.
That is exactly correct. We can switch to dus or to another major just nothing in smeal to get to university park freshman year.
@jlhpsu thank you and others for all your time and great advice. It has helped so much and currently reading many of your posts about LEAP. Sorry did not mean an extended time, she has one day she’d like to miss - not a big deal, it will work out. I have never heard one negative thing about the program (other than may be cost). Thanks again.
@MSmead You really need to look into how the majors work at Penn State. Even if he had been accepted into Mech E as a freshman, he would still be a ‘pre major’. Every student has entry to major requirements that they have to fill to get into the major their junior year. Even pre major Mech E majors. For Mech E the requirement are a 3.1 and the following criteria:
Credit window: 40-59 cumulative credits
Courses required with a grade of C or better:
CHEM 110
MATH 140
MATH 141
MATH 251 (required for major) or MATH 250
PHYS 211
PHYS 212
Note the credit window. NO ONE is in the major until they’ve reached 40-59 credits. So your son could absolutely go in DUS and take these ETM classes and apply end of sophomore year like everyone has to do…including the pre majors. He is not IN a major at PSU until junior year. No one is.
@jlhpsu That is not what the admissions officer told me. She said her advisor would help her transfer into smeal sophomore year.
@my2kidsnj No. That’s not correct if you want Smeal eventually. Yes, she can apply to advertising to get into UP. BU then once there, she’d have to switch back to DUS in which case I’m not sure why she’d apply to Advertising in the first place. She WILL NOT be able to take any smeal entry to major requirement classes as an advertising major.
Here is the beginning of the entry to major section about how to get into Smeal. Note the major selections. You can ONLY get into Smeal as a DUS major or a Smeal pre major. That’s it.
“These majors are under administrative enrollment controls. To enter, students must:
complete the entrance requirements below
be enrolled in the Smeal College of Business (pre-major status) or in the Division of Undergraduate Studies
apply to enter the major when they are within the 44–59 cumulative credit window”
@my2kidsnj Make sure you were talking to an actual admissions counselor and not the people who answer the phone who don’t know. Call the Smeal department or call DUS. It’s very clear in the Entry to major requirements on their website. https://advising.psu.edu/entrance-major-requirements-smeal-college-business-2017
You can’t get the classes you need to get into smeal as anything other than a DUS or Smeal pre major. The person you talked to was incorrect. Search the threads here. That’s why people are switching to DUS after getting denied Smeal.
You make the process un necessarily difficult by applying to an entirely different major. If she wants smeal, go in DUS. The advertising advisors will have no idea or way of helping her get the classes she needs to get done before the ETM window closes.
@jlhpsu do you think statistics major is competitive
@my2kidsnj My son is a pre-major in Smeal and you have been given the wrong information. There is no way to switch into Smeal unless it is from DUS. Please call admissions and talk to a counselor. If your daughter really wants Smeal, this is the only way to do it.
@cylovingpsu You can get a general sense of how competitive a major is by looking at the entry to major requirements. In the case of statistics, only a 2.0 is needed by the end of sophomore year as well as the completion of Math 140 and Math 141 with a C or better. Therefore, I’d place it subjectively in the middle of the pack as far as competitiveness. Smeal and Engineering are at the top, most majors somewhere in the middle and DUS and other liberal arts majors towards the bottom of competitiveness. That being said, even the ‘bottom’ tier is still competitive since students still need at least a 3.4 or so to get into those majors as pre majors as freshmen. There is no absolute correct answer and certainly others may rank them differently. but in general that’s how I’d look at it.
Thank you both…i appreciate it! It’s a tough call. He liked to stay in Smeal but wants the big Penn State experience.
I just hung up with an admissions officer, and she told me technically you can transfer from any major, but Smeal doesn’t like to do that, they prefer DUS, and you would need to go through DUS later on before declaring anyway. So thank you all for the heads up, I appreciate it, we have changed for re-evaluation to DUS. What the most disturbing part of this is, other than the wait, was that she got into Kelly @ Indiana and Fisher @Ohio State, 2 excellent schools.
@jlhpsu Thank you for all your info!