@Cookies510 Your premise was that they are admitting OOS students over more qualified in state students. The article you posted says no such thing. It says that there are more OOS students than in previous years, but NOT that Penn State actively or procedurally brings them in. Penn State went from a regional university in the 1970’s to a Global top 75 University today. Therefore, more OOS and international students will apply, hence, more OOS students being accepted.
There is no policy to bring in more OOS students, however, be glad that they are there - because without OOS students, your in state tuition would be MUCH higher. Penn State is not a state school. We only get about 5% of our appropriation from the state. The rest is through donors and tuition. The athletic dept pays for itself. The money goes to research which brings in more donor dollars which brings in more international students.
The facts are that in 2016, 70% of the students at PSU were PA residents and there were 6700 international students. The rest (about 20%) were OOS. If your student doesn’t get in, it’s not BECAUSE they accepted an OOS student over yours, it’s because their profile didn’t fit the admission profile for the year they applied. If an OOS student gets in, it’s because their profile DID fit the admission profile. Penn State wants high entry stats because it makes their university more selective. They will take who has those stats - regardless of where they live.
Also, keep in mind that ‘this thread’s post’ is likely less than 1/10 of 1% of the students who’ve applied to Penn State this year. They will get upwards of 50,000 + applications. Therefore, CC threads are not representative of the admissions cycles.
@jihpsu Since Penn State is a land grant university they have a duty to residents of PA. Land-grant universities were created by Congress in the 1800s to ensure people from all classes in their state and region had access to higher education. I strongly believe state flagships should provide a preference to residents and the top flagships all do (VA, Michigan, UNC, UT, UCLA). They do so without compromising the quality of education or their national rankings (which IMO is not within the purpose/mission of a land grant school).
This topic could be debated at length and is clearly beyond the scope of this thread so I apologize for the tangent.
There are a lot of posts and I think I have read through most if not all, but I do not seem to see anyone accepted as a veterinary and biomedical sciences major. Is it not competitive, or so competitive that they are being extra careful with who they select for that major?
Sadly, UVA is now only 69% in state kids. UNC is 82% (cap on OOS kids at 18%). This is pretty much state driven. If the state caps the funding, the schools have to go elsewhere to get the $ they need, which usually means taking more OOS kids who will pay the sticker price.
I’m curious what others reply back on that! I’m worried about my daughter with her intended major Forensic Science. I’m second guessing encouraging her to put that as opposed to DUS. I haven’t seen anyone else post on that major and I’m hoping that is a good thing lol
I just checked my portal and didn’t know they had sent out acceptances but I got in!
Penn State University Park Campus in the Liberal Arts college with the major of Political Science.
I’ll just put my GPA and ACT and such.
Applied Nov. 3rd
Just checked my portal for the first time in a little while so my decision could've come earlier
Out of State (California)
UW:3.95
W:4.15
ACT: 30 composite
Grammar: 34
Math: 28
Reading: 34
Science: 25
(Clearly an English/History person and not a math/science person)
took 9 AP/IB classes including my senior year as well as a college calculus course.
have had two paid jobs, one internship in an Assemblymember's office. I started a tutoring center for Afghan Refugees. I'm the president of Amnesty International at my school. I have been a part of a Jewish Leadership group for all 4 years of high school. There's other stuff but I know reading this stuff made me feel less anxious before I got any decisions.
@jlhpsu@Cookies510 Cookies, Penn States decision does not take into account residency. You still have not stated that If the 3.6 is a weighted GPA or not. Remember PSU calculates your GPA in this way,
A in an AP/IB/Aice/College level class is a 6.0
A in an honors class is a 5.0-
A in a regular class is a 4.0.
B-4.5
B-3.5
B-3
Therefore, it does not matter what your school gave you as your GPA it only matters what they recalculate it as. (This is the point of their new system it automatically does it for them).
As stated previously DUS upgraded there admission requirements this year because people caught on to it. If you re apply as agriculture major u will likely get in depending on your weighted GPA actually is.
All this info was collected from way way too many calls to the penn state admissions office over the last year while I was awaiting my deicsion… the GPA scale may not be completely the same as stated but I was told it is quite similiar to that.
Accepted yesterday to health and human development(biobehavioral health) fall at university park
SAT: 1220
GPA: (Weighted) 4.7
Rank: 130/900
Essays: strong
Teacher Recs: NA
Counselor Rec: NA
Hook (if any): mother is alum and brother is currently there
Location: OOS but father lives in PA
State or Country:FL
School Type: large and highly competitive
Ethnicity: Cuban
Gender: female
Other factors: took many APs as my school starts us taking them freshman year as well as AICE which is the University of Cambridges version of AP. played a couple of sports and clubs, but super excited and can’t wait to go next year!!! PSU 2022!!!
@cookies510 They do educate Pa kids more that OOS. To the tune of 70% PA kids and 20% OOS and 10% international.
I’m not sure what you think they should be doing? Not accepting OOS applications? I think they are doing the right things to create a diverse educational experience while keeping the quality of admits high.
They are a Land Grant University. Some of those schools you mentioned are STATE SCHOOLS, which Penn State is not. We don’t need to act like one
Subjective:
Essays: good
Teacher Recs: good
Hook (if any): Legacy (father)
State or Country: NJ
School Type: Suburban
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Female
Other Factors: 4 years Varsity sport & county/recognition; National Honor Society, Class Officer, Drama Club, community service for various organizations.
The issue is that Penn State does not feel beholden to the State because it receives so little funding from it (ie., 5%). The actual “state” schools (state funded) are the PASSHE schools. There needs to be agreement among PA residents that the flagship universities ought to be funded better (even 15-20% from the state would help reduce instate tuition) but it’d mean a slight raise in state taxes and I have a feeling that with the tax increase we can expect soon no one in PA is going to want further increases, so unless the state budget is reallocated to returning to 2005-per-student funding, the problem is unsolvable.
@cookies150: I am sorry for your son, it’s hard to have a strong record and a be turned down by your first choice - paradoxically, he has a shot at Temple Honors thanks to the strong curriculum rigor. Depending on your budget, he could apply to UDelaware and SUNYs, as well as WVU, Miami Ohio, Ohio University, and UCincinnati. Lafayette, Trinity College, Union, Clarkson will likely also be holistic and take school profile into account. (Run the NPC’s on all of these).
My best guess is that PSU Admissions process so many applications that they didn’t look at the school profile and his weighted GPA did him in since the unweighted is likely below 3.4.
Daughter applied 10/17 admitted 11/28
Bellissario School of Communications
University Park
SAT 1230
ACT 25
GPA 98.7 weighted
Rank 45/279
NHS, 4 year Varsity Lacrosse, Drama Club, Class Officer, Choir…
Legacy
OOS
Her 1st choice & Super excited!!
Sent in deposits
@njmom. Congratulations to your daughter! Mine applied middle of November for Journalism. Hoping we hear soon. It is hard waiting but keeping fingers crossed. She also applied to Schreyer’s. Happy for you.
@lastone03 it’s all about the funding. Penn State began as a land grant university and never became a state school (ie supported by the state). Penn State, Temple and Pitt are ‘State related’ universities in PA. That means they get a very small % of their funding from the state. In response to that, Penn State does not have to abide by the rules and regulations of PASSHE schools…which is great because many of those schools are having great financial difficulty and in danger of closing. They also don’t have global or even national reputations. They are regional colleges. Penn State attracts students from over 100 countries and we have world class research facilities which would not be possible if we were a state school. 95% of Penn state’s funding is unaffiliated with the state of PA. And they have to fight tooth and nail for even that funding. We are frankly lucky as in state students that we get a break at all on tuition but we do get some.
@Cookies510 I think @MYOS1634 was supposed to tag you in one of the posts above but accidentally tagged a wrong “cookie”. I didn’t want you to miss the post since it has a lot of good info for you.
Daughter accepted this morning
School of Communication
GPA 95.7
SAT 1320
9 AP 10 Honors
Varsity Athlete
OSS. GA
Public school
Applied mid September. Status changed to under review 3 days ago.
Actually, @jlhpsu, most in state students aren’t lucky w/ the costs at PSU. DS studying EE and many of his friends are going OOS because it offers such poor awards to even high stat in state students.
