Rejected... ?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Penn State
1

<p>Can someone shed some light on this? I'm pretty disappointed, I was really interested in Penn State.</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT I: 2050 (660M, 690R, 700W)
ACT: 32
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.89, 5.78 Weighted
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 28/459
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History(3), AP Psych(4), AP Lang(4), AP Environmental(3)
Senior Year Course Load: AP European History, Classical Literature(H), AP Literature, Anatomy(H), AP US Gov/Comp Pol, Photography, Comp Theatre (H)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Vice President - Thespian Troupe 7485 (2010-2011)
Secretary – Curatori Sententia, Book Club (2011)
Founder and Editor - High School Literary Magazine (2012)
Drama Club (2009-2012)
Environmental Club (2010-2011)
GSA (2010-2012)
Piano: 14 years. I now teach piano to young children in my neighborhood
Church choir – featured soloist (2010-2012)
Rho Kappa Social Studies Honors Society (2012)</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience:
Employed at PacSun (Summer of 2011)
Piano Teacher (3 years)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service:
St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry: stock shelves, serve the homeless (2009-2011)
Metropolitan Ministries: Provide children in need Christmas presents (2009-2011)
Masque Community Theatre: Travel to disabled children’s centers and veterans’ hospitals and perform nonprofit musicals (2008-2011</p>

<p>Summer Activities: Travel, community theatre
Essays: Didn't spend much time on them, but they were very good.</p>

<p>Intended Major: Musical Theatre or Double major: Psych/Counseling
State/Country: FL
School Type: Newly opened public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: >100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Degenerative cranial disorder. Hooray!</p>

<p>Reflection</p>

<p>Strengths: Test scores, GPA, Essay, ECs.
Weaknesses: Rank? I guess?
Why you think you were accepted/denied: Honestly I don't really know... I thought PSU wasn't too much of a stretch. Guess not.</p>

<p>General Comments:</p>

<p>Where else were you accepted/denied?
Accepted: University of Florida
Accepted: Texas State (Full-ride scholarship, 4 years)
Accepted: New College of Florida (4k a year scholarship)
Accepted: Florida State University (I think it was around 2.5k a year scholarship)
Waiting on DePaul, UMich, Vandy, Duke, and Princeton (Yes, the last three are reaches!)</p>

<p>Anyone know why I wouldn't have been accepted? :/</p>

2

<p>That is strange, for sure. Did you apply by November 30th?</p>

3

<p>Wow - that definitely doesn’t seem right - if you applied by the Nov. 30th priority deadline and are very interested in PSU I would definitely call admissions to have them re-evaluate you. It can’t hurt -</p>

4

<p>Did you apply to Musical Theatre? I think that is one of the hardest programs to get into.</p>

5

<p>Musical Theatre is extremely difficult to get in to – so it will depend on what the pool is like, and luck, to some extent. Remember that PSU goes pretty much by your gpa and test scores and doesn’t look at ECs and the rest. There is no figuring it out, I’m afraid. </p>

<p>I think it was reasonable for you to expect to get admittance, and reasonable to be disappointed, but heck, you got great scholarship offers and bright prospects! Congrats to the school that you choose, because that is where you belong. Why ask PSU to reconsider when you have great choices?</p>

6

<p>Call admissions- I’m absolutely shocked that they wouldn’t accept you.</p>

7

<p>sometimes if you call and say you are willing to change your major you can change a rejection into an acceptance. As others have said, it is best to call admissions yourself if you are still interestedin attending Penn State.</p>

8

<p>Definitely unfair case. Call them to switch into “undecided” and get your app reviewed again. You might have to write an appeal. If PSU is your top choice, definitely call them. I know they do rolling admission, so it might be that your app was last to look at and they didn’t have enough space. Call them!!!</p>

9

<p>I dont know, if you applied musical theatre its ridiculously hard. I watched a PSU video on it that said one year they only admitted something crazy like 8 students to the major.</p>

10

<p>going by your stats penn state must reject students from the school and program when they apply to musical theater. if you call them and ask to be considered for a diff major they will DEFINITLY accept you. the musical theater program has a 5% acceptance rate and over 800 students usually apply so it’s very hard to get in no matter how good you are. i don’t know if their still having auditions but i applied to penn state for B.A. Theater. i absolutely loved the faculty and everything about it. so maybe you want to consider that? you can also audition for theater later once you’re in the school. and you can audition for a minor in music which i might do:) idk if i’m going but its one of my top choices:) i’ve been applying to schools for musical theater and straight theater since i’m a much stronger actress than singer. i chose not to apply to musical theater at penn state though because i deff would not be accepted and i think i’m leaning toward more straight theater with a possible music minor or voice lessons on the side. but penn satte has great theater departemnts and music and dance departments so you could deff try to get a well rounded musical theater eduaction their :slight_smile:
feel free to message me if you have any questions about penn state b.a. theater or my audition experience their i’d be happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability! you’ve got great options though so i’m sure you’ll be happy wherever you go! good luck!!:)</p>

11

<p>I don’t see an advantage to switching your major just to get in to a school that has rejected you once already. If you get in DUS, you would still have to make the major later, and run the risk of being rejected again. I think if you can’t imagine yourself as anything other than musical theatre, go somewhere that wanted you from the start. If you still think you “have” to be at PSU, try and transfer in. Right now you feel wounded and rejected and your pride is hurt — but don’t let that rule your decisions. (Admissions isn’t stupid – it can see you still want in musical theater, and they are less than likely to allow you DUS, knowing that. If everyone who called and complained had their decision reversed, wouldn’t everyone do it?)</p>