@Cookies510 I know you and your son are disappointed. What was his UW gpa ? My guess is that his gpa is what did him in. You are saying that his 3.6 is at the bottom range of the middle 50 - however, it is so easy to get confused with W and UW. The 3.55 - 3.97 is UW (4.0 scale), so that is UW.
I know he doesn’t want Altoona, but it is a great option for many kids and maybe you just get him to visit to consider it ?
He can probably do better than Altoona from his selective prep school.
And yes Penn state is super expensive AND has very poor aid. There are States where instate tuition is $7,000-8,000, with state grants to decrease that cost, including UF which is ranked as high as Penn state. In NYS there’s no tuition whatsoever instate if you make under 125k a year (that’s most people in PA). Basically the Pennsylvania situation is the worst in the US with Illinois…
I’m OK with a 2% increase in my taxes directed to lowering costs and improving financial aid the university, except I worry about the federal tax package likely to increase them more. But I’m in the minority, so for now Penn state is expensive instate, has bad financial aid instate, and depends on full pay OOS acceptances due to its low state funding.
Finally, the people posting here may not be representative of who had been admitted overall so far. Typically the “early admits” are those with close to 4.0 GPA or a significantly more competitive profile than those who typically apply to their College (so that it’d be different depending on whether you apply for Engineering, Education, agriculture, IST…)
son#1 accepted to Eberly for Fall on Dec 2
oos
applied Oct 2
portal changed to review status Nov 29
GPA unweighted 3.9
school does not rank
SAT 1440
2 AP’s
all honor classes
public school
son #2 accepted to Liberal Arts for Fall on Dec 9
oos
applied Oct 2
portal changed to review on Nov 28
GPA unweighted 3.55
school does not rank
SAT 1300
1 AP
all honor classes
public school
Actually…PSU does appear to favor both international students and OOS students.
Penn State’s tuition soars and university “appears” to favor foreign students, auditor general says
http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-nws-penn-state-tuition-audit-new-20170622-story.html
"With tuition rising so rapidly, DePasquale said, Penn State “appears” to be enrolling international students and out-of-state students to reap higher tuition revenue. International and out-of-state students pay more in tuition than in-state students.
From 1990 to 2016, international student enrollment at Main Campus in Centre County rose 310 percent and and out-of-state students went up 95 percent. Meanwhile, in-state enrollment dropped 12 percent.
If international and out-of-state students have higher grade-point averages than in-state students, they deserve to be enrolled first, DePasquale said. But the differences in enrollment rates among the three groups is so wide, he said, it looks like in-state students could be getting rejected in favor of others who may have the same academic scores but pay extra."
PA Attorney Generals Report…
PA Auditor General: Penn State Tuition Growth Outrageous…
http://onwardstate.com/2017/06/22/pa-auditor-general-penn-state-tuition-growth-outrageous/
HArd to argue with the facts that the PA Attorney General uncovered.
PA should take the 5% funding to PSU and apply it to the PASSHE schools as they are designed to be “state schools.”
Is 2017-18 the year Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln universities become fully private?
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/10/is_2017-18_the_year_penn_state.html
Penn State University is also a land grant university via their own words…
http://www.psu.edu/this-is-penn-state/our-history
None of the PASSHE schools to close…
PASSHE report: Don’t close any colleges, improve leadership…
http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-nws-passhe-university-campus-release-20170712-story.html
It makes much more sense to close many of the PSU 24 branch campuses.
@bester1 I don’t think it is that easy. What is happening with PA high school trends ?
Looking at PA Education data, in 2004-05, there were 124,775 HS graduates in PA with 87,595 of those college bound. In 2015-16, there was roughly the same amount of college graduates - 125,051 - with 83,542 of those college bound.
In that same time, UP enrollment has gone from about 41k to about 47k. What is fueling the increase?
Auditor General DePasquale Says Penn State Shows Some Progress Since Sandusky Scandal; Background Checks Still Missing, Tuition Growth Outrageous…
http://www.paauditor.gov/press-releases/auditor-general-depasquale-says-penn-state-shows-some-progress-since-sandusky-scandal-background-checks-still-missing-tuition-growth-outrageous
Penn State’s Performance Audit Report
http://www.paauditor.gov/Media/Default/Reports/PSU%20Audit%20Report.pdf
@bester1 I’m not clicking through all the links. Why don’t you start a new thread instead of posting on a decision thread -
Page 65 of the Auditor’s Penn State Performance Report states…" From 1990 - 2016, at PSU’s University Park Campus, the number of residents students decreased by 12 percent, while non resident and international students increased by 95 percent and 310 percent, respectively. Penn State University’s expansion of non-resident enrollment threatens accessibility for Pennsylvania residents".
I would think this statement alone from PA’s Auditor General is enough to post on a thread about acceptance/decisions. This also answers your question about fueling the increase.
Originally, I was just responding to posts #339 - #341.
Posted items are factual items. I apologize if they upset you.
@MYOS1634 I appreciate your recs. It’s funny you suggested Clarkson because no one I know (outside of college hockey fans) has heard of it but my husband is a grad. I’ve been to Potsdam once and will never go back…entirely too cold!
Unfortunately my son is only interested in a big state school & PSU is all he’s ever wanted since he has been indoctrinated into PSU culture since birth. (currently second-guessing my strategy) However, there aren’t a lot of big state school options once out of state tuitions are considered (we can make Penn State work but are not willing to pay out of state tuition unless its in the same ballpark as PA schools). I suggested looking at Delaware (my brother is a grad & its a great campus) but their OOS tuition is high and they don’t offer any aid to OOS students - same with Maryland.
He applied to Florida State but they appear to favor Florida residents so I’m not confident it will be an option. He briefly considered Alabama but doesn’t think its a cultural fit (current events aren’t helping to change his opinion). We’re currently reevaluating options and researching other big state schools that have a similar culture/campus feel to Penn State & offer merit aid for high SAT scores. A tall order.
We live in a large city so he’s accustomed to a huge array of diverse social opportunities. Attending a small rural or suburban school doesn’t appeal to him (hence his lack of interest in Altoona or any other branch campus). He’d probably love schools in Boston or NYC but I’m not sure affordable options exist in those cities. So if a big school option doesn’t pan out he’ll just live at home & go to community college for a year or two and then transfer. Especially if he ends up going to grad school. No sense paying $25 - $30K for something he isn’t excited about. Temple may also be an option but he has not heard back yet and there is clearly no sure thing in this crazy process. He also applied to Pitt but who knows if he’ll get in. He has friends from his high school with similar stats as his who were accepted last year to Penn State UP but not to Pitt.
@bester1 facts are facts and they don’t upset me. I just don’t think it is as simple as “they prefer OOS to IS”. I just showed some quick numbers that show the number of HS students in PA that are college bound is decreasing and the enrollment at UP is increasing. Where does the increase come from? Are they supposed to drop admissions standards? When you have a smaller base of OOS/Int’l students, the % is going to look greater.
The PA Auditor General has a dog in the fight - they want residents to get angry. The reality is that Penn State receives such a small amount of their funding from the state. They want to cap the OOS students? Fine, then pony up and contribute more to the PSU budget and keep tuition costs down. (ie. North Carolina model)
I’m just suggesting that we keep this as a decision thread.
Actually…the opposite is true. He doesn’t want the residents angry but the desire is to have PSU implement a long term cost control strategic plan. I don’t think the PA state taxpaying contribution of $230 - $250 million is chopped liver. I believe it results in an approximately $10,000 cost reduction for in state students. Having said that, two students(both in state and oos) with similar high school efforts and achievements…the in state student deserves the admission. Otherwise, become a private institution and reallocate that $230 million to the PASSHE schools or community colleges. As it stands, PSU is not affordable for all the classes in the commonwealth.
In state students are being denied and that is a poor decision and is simply being noted in a decision thread.
The students going to PSU do amazing things. Amazing. This is a leadership issue. I wish all of those deciding to attend, attending or trying to get in the best of luck. It is just time for the residents of the Commonwealth to understand what where we are in higher education, how we got here and how can we move forward.
@bester1 @lucyvanpelt Come on. This is a decision thread. Out of respect for people who read this thread specifically to understand stats of those accepted/denied, can you please take your side conversation and start your own separate thread? Please. Thank you
my stats are very low, I initially applied to the premed but I emailed to ask for a change because it is just too competitive (3.0, 1240 but really strong grade trends 2.45-3.0-3.45 all unwtd and a 3.8 senior year so far)
@cookies510: would your son apply to the College of Mineral and Earth Science? Ag? Liberal Arts? IST? Comb through all the majors offered in each college carefully. If you want him to be reconsidered for another major it has to be done very quickly - I’d say your window of opportunity is within 48H of rejection or so.
However this shows students should be encouraged to like various schools - having a dream school too often leads to heartache and if the student is focused on that one school then doesn’t get in, it is emotionally very hard to rebound, especially with deadlines around the corner.
Even if you’ve not heard back from Temple, make sure he’s applied to the Honors college (or check the conditions for Honors College and have him complete them ASAP if necessary).
It probably doesn’t feel like it, but 1360 single sitting isn’t considered a high score. 1460 superscored qualifies as a high score but not all universities superscore when considering for merit, so make sure to check.
At this point your son has to rebound quickly and decide what his “needs” are v. what his “nice to have” are.
Cost is going to be the #1 limiting factor.
Then, everything is on the table and he has to decide what matters most to him: the specific major he 's interested in? D1 sports? an urban university? a large university? No snow? He probably should only pick out of the list and everything else is nice to have but not a deal breaker.
In other words, would he rather choose another major in order to have sports? Or let go of sports if it’s in a big city? etc.
I think that “big city” is the easiest for him to let go since State College is definitely a college town.
Large, urban universities he could consider: DePaul, Loyola Chicago, Loyola New Orleans, UMN Twin Cities, IUP-UI (honors), FIU (honors). An issue is that, apart from UMN, many will be more commuter than universities in college towns.
If he can consider a college town if there’s big D1 sports, add Michigan State, Iowa State, UIowa, Indiana U, Ball State, WVU, USC Columbia, Ole Miss, USouthernMiss, Texas State, Montana State, Towson.
An issue is that the merit scholarship deadline is often on December 1st, so you’ll have to cross reference that today and figure out with NPC’s and the CDS where he stands (he should be top 25%, if not top 10%, for merit).
Has anyone who applied to University Park gotten their decision yet? I applied in October and I know the deadline just came up but still-- should I expect an email or something in the mail? Or should I check the portal?
If you go back to the beginning of this thread, you’ll see everyone who has heard. Decisions come anytime between now and end of January. They don’t email you, you need to check the portal for change in your status. Applied 9/17 and haven’t heard yet. but others have. Hope that helps.
Question for anyone here who also applied to University of Pittsburgh- have you been accepted to PSU? I was accepted to Pitt about 2 months ago and know the schools have pretty similar acceptance rates and acceptance stats. Just curious if anyone has been accepted to both, or one and not the other.
@nyuhopeful44 & @Anxiousmom12 My son received a decision via snail mail a few days after it was posted in the portal. (Posted Thursday, snail mail received Saturday)
@pagirl1999 In theory you would think so but I’m not so sure. I know one kid last year who was accepted to PSU UP but not to Pitt. I think he applied to engineering at Pitt & DUS at Penn State but I’m not certain. For this year I know a several kids who have already been accepted to Pitt but I don’t think they applied to Penn State.
A few years ago PSU used to pre-post the picture of the campus that you most likely will be accepted to on the portal. Anyone know if they still do that?