Accepted Penn State University Park, Electrical / First year Engineering:
SAT:1330
SAT IIs: Math: 700 ERW: 630
GPA: (Weighted): 4.62
Rank: 14/461
Other stats: ACT: 29 English:27, Math:29, Reading: 28, Science: 31
Essays: Good
Teacher Recs: None
Counselor Rec: None
Hook (if any): None
State or Country: Illinois
School Type: Large Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
D Accepted 12/9 Eberly College of Science
Major: Pre-med
4.0 W
29 ACT
All APs/ currently taking 4 in her senior year
4 years orchestra violin / 12 years private lessons
National Honor Society
Peer counselor
Many EC
Amazing essay
Applied 11/30 Accepted 12/9
OOS NY
She is super excited Penn State is her first choice!
Good luck to everyone still waiting
@Cookies510 I have some ideas that may explain why your son didn’t get in.
What was his UW GPA? If a school weights too heavily, that can negatively affect an application. A few years ago we saw someone with a 4.0 rejected and it was because their school very heavily weighted so her UW GPA was like a 3.0. That matters. Our school barely weights. So my daughter took tons of honors classes and her GPA only went up by .4. 3 years ago she got in for summer with a 3.5 and a 29 ACT, but each year is different and she also took dual enroll classes at a PSU campus her entire senior year - which helped I am sure.
A 3.6 W GPA is at the bottom of the middle 50% (middle 50% is 3.55 - 3.97) and the SAT is in the middle of the middle 50%. But 2/3 of the decision is GPA. The rest (EC’s, Volunteer work, legacy) barely matter. And I say this all of the time but I think the GPA considered is the UW GPA. It would be far too difficult to determine the weighting scale and compare it among different schools. I think they use UW GPA and then see the rigor and grading scale for your particular school and then decide. So someone with a 5.0 WGPA but a 3.6UW GPA is not as competitive at they may think.
My guess is the UW GPA is what is pulling him down, but that’s just a speculation. It is true that as kids learn about the DUS, the average stats for acceptance there go up - but it’s never been a sure thing anyway, neither is summer.
As for OOS students not going to the 2+2, that is just not true. My son is at Altoona and many, many of his friends are from OOS. Michigan, Florida, Virginia, Ohio…in fact I’d say at least half of the kids he knows are OOS. People want that PSU degree and are willing to start at a commonwealth. My son loves Altoona. He goes to UP often and participates in a lot up there from Altoona. Best of luck to your son in whatever he decides. A rejection is hard and I’m sorry he is going through that. I just wanted to offer maybe some clarity on some of your assumptions.
@jlhpsu so I guess based on this, PSU doesn’t really care about trajectory of grades and increased rigor from freshman to senior year?
Just some food for thought -
I love Penn State, but I am convinced admissions counselors just say the same things year after year to those denied…‘This was the most competitive year’, ’ XXX major is really competitive this year’, ‘We’ve had more applications this year’.
I hear these things EVERY YEAR on this board and every year when the common data set comes out, it turns out to not be exactly the case (with the exception of the 10,000+ jump in applications from 2013-2014 application cycle to the 2014-2015 application cycle)
For example, in 2015-2016 we kept hearing they had so many more applications, but it turned to only be about 3k more applications across all campuses and when you are talking about 50,000+ applications, that is not that big of a difference.
The average application
in 2015-2016 had a 3.6GPA
in 2014-1015… 3.6GPA,
in 2013-2014… 3.57.
Not a big difference but the counselors told everyone the same “extra competitive” thing each year.
My point is, you may just not know why you were rejected…or accepted. It’s hard, it really is and I feel for everyone going through it because it was really hard when we went through the waiting game years ago. It worked out and my daughter did get in for summer. My son decided to bypass the stress and went straight for Altoona which he loves. Penn State admissions is notoriously impossible to figure out.
@lastone03 No. Penn State does not care about grade trend at all. They want to know your final GPA at the end of your junior year. Upward (or downward) trend is irrelevant. The will look at overall rigor. Overall # of honors or AP classes. But not necessarily the number taken each year. It’s the overall picture.
@jlhpsu That’s good to know. My son is one of those with a higher ACT and lower middle 50th GPA (though full of rigor). The approach PSU takes is different from all of the other schools he applied to, so if he gets dinged, he’ll get over it.
@lastone03 The rigor will help him. Unfortunately, with 50k plus applications each year, they just can’t do holistic evaluations. It’s really a numbers game. The rigor and high ACT will help and they do pay attention to the other things such as legacy, volunteer work etc…but it plays a part only if someone is really borderline and could go either way. Usually anything under a 3.4 UW gets accepted at a commonwealth campus unless their SAT/ACT score is really good. Good luck - I know the waiting stinks. I almost lost my mind a few years ago because it was the ONLY school my daughter wanted to go to - she only applied to two schools. It was very scary and not recommended! It worked out - but I remember the frustration well
I’m a little worried. My D has applied from OOS to Eberly, premed.
Gpa: 4.0 uw, 34 act
-lots of music EC’s, leadership and -service, good Recs
-7 ap’s thru junior year with 6 more senior year.
Her application was submitted Nov. 15. It does say it’s being reviewed though.
College of EMS acceptance , just heard this morning - Hoping to major in Environmental Systems Engineering with a minor in Poli Sci
Stats:
SAT:1320
SAT IIs: na
GPA: (Weighted) 3.70
Rank: na
Other stats: ACT- 31, 6 APs, went to a very tough well known private school so I think that boosted GPA a little,
Subjective:
Essays: not the best but well thought out and good grammar
Teacher Recs: very good
Counselor Rec:
Hook (if any): 3rd gen legacy
Location/Person:
State or Country: VA
School Type: private independent
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Applied ED to a reach school but excited to go to PSU if it doesn’t work out. Anyone else going EMS and what are you planning to study???
Ok, D was up early and checked repeatedly. Logging in produces an error. Does anyone know if this means a decision is imminent or just weird site snafu
Just logged in with no trouble. App still under review.
Yes, tried again and having trouble. will contact admissions. Thank you, @lastone03 !
My portal is down as well
I checked my application status to Schreyer’s and nkw ot
Portal down… will I get a decision when it comes back up? 
Disregard my last post. Not sure how that got there.
@ppst If your daughter just applied November 15th, I wouldn’t worry. Plenty of kids are still waiting and applied in early September. While PSU doesn’t go in order necessarily, my point is that unless you are still waiting on February 1, there is nothing to worry about. Not hearing before January 31 means nothing as to whether she will get in or not.
Thank you, @jlhpsu ! i think the anxiety is for premed program and usually interview notification is around this time. we shall wait for whatever happens.
Turns out my unscientific conclusions based on this threads posts aren’t wrong
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/06/23/audit-blasts-penn-state-out-state-students