<p>finally! got a response from them! I was accepted into Summer, I didn’t particularly want to do summer, but Penn State is my first choice, so maybe it will be a good experience :)</p>
<p>also question, do you have to find a random roommate for summer, or can you room alone in the summer? </p>
<p>@aquablue0128 you will typically get a roommate for summer I believe. I’ve heard there are facebook groups for accepted students for just that purpose. Congrats! </p>
<p>@aquablue0128 My son procrastinated and applied last minute with very high stats. Not sure of the exact date but he was admitted well after Christmas into Smeal for summer 2013. We know several people with much lower stats that were admitted earlier, but not to Smeal. Our D applied to Smeal in September for 2015 and was admitted on November 3rd, her stats were higher than S. S was very disappointed about summer acceptance but ended up actually loving it, made some friends, learned where everything was on campus, and got a jump on an excellent GPA. He did not do the program which offers smaller classes but we know several people that did and loved it. He went into the fall semester feeling confidant and happy to know several people he met in summer session. He was assigned a summer roommate but given the opportunity to switch roommates for fall before the deadline, as many summer students meet people they want to room with in the fall. </p>
<p>Well another week and no answers! Not that I’m surprised. I was looking at the PSU admissions blog from last year and it seems that they are closed from Dec. 23rd through January 2nd, and no actions are taken during that time…therefore MyPennState will not update during that time. So for those that don’t hear prior to December 23rd, it seems that we can stop checking MyPennState until after January 2nd! The good news is we are getting closer right? After 3+ months of waiting, my daughter is finally feeling like at least she will know SOMETHING soon-ish.<br>
I’m sometimes not sure if finding CC was a blessing or a curse, but it has been helpful at least knowing others are going through the same thing!</p>
<p>Yes, in the last chat session, they said they plan to not send decisions for a week before the holidays. I guess an act of kindness! </p>
<p>@Leyland we missed the last chat somehow. Does that mean nothing after this Wednesday? I’d assume no “coming days” statuses much after that anyway because they wouldn’t have time to update.
I’m glad to know we are heading into the final month of waiting, but then that makes me really nervous since my D is borderline for fall. At least she hasn’t been denied, so I’m taking no news as good news for now!! </p>
<p>I took notes, but now can’t find them (the house is still in chaos from all the apps and tests) but I am pretty sure they said it was their policy not to send decisions a week in advance. I agree–no news is a good thing. But soooooo many people have applied this year from our hs that its intimidating!</p>
<p>applied on Oct 23, and completed my app on Nov 15… been waiting ever since… I heard that they release decision by alphabetical order. can some one confirm that? cuz my last name starts with a z…</p>
<p>Hmm…My dd was accepted in the beginning of Nov. Last name starts with B.</p>
<p>@C1TonDoe They do not do them in alphabetical order. I’ve been told they code them based on major, campus selection, gpa, test scores, etc…then they get filed. Different admissions officers are responsible for different things, so the end output is completely random. My D has has had the same status since September 8th. Many others have been waiting just as long…And yet others have heard within two weeks! Frustrating for sure. If anyone could figure out exactly how they do things, they’d make a lot off CC people very happy! But instead, it’s just random. Good luck! </p>
<p>Ps…our last name starts with an “H”… if it were alphabetical I don’t think she’d be waiting 4 months for a decision. </p>
<p>Son accepted to Smeal on Nov 20, having applied about a month before. SAT1 low 2200s with 1500 2 part score, 4.0 unw avg, top 10% of class, solid ECs but nothing spectacular.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse Congrats! Your post is indicative of the only “trend” I can figure out with notifications…those with the highest stats hear first. I’d been told originally here on CC that top 10% and bottom 10% hear first (ie, obvious admits and obvious denials) and everyone else in January. That seems to be half true…top students seem to hear first, but I’ve only recently heard of any denials. Then again…I’ve seen some pretty high stat kids who haven’t heard a thing yet, so who knows!
Congratulations on your son getting in! </p>
<p>As an alumni and one who did volunteer work with admissions I can say the lack of any standard operating procedure is typical. They get so many applications they really can do whatever they want because they will fill the seats no matter what. I don’t want to talk down the university because I got a great education but be prepared for four years of the same attitude throughout the administration. Individual departments and colleges may show a little more concern but the overall feeling is just pay the tuition or we will find someone else who will take your place. If they appear so disorganized while trying to lure you in, think about how it will be once you commit.</p>
<p>Admissions is one dept you don’t have to deal with once you are at the school. So I would not judge a school solely by the Admission dept. PSU is a large university and some things are going to be done as a group thing. Part of the package and we well understand that. Son has applied to other state schools as my other kids had also done, and I don’t think PSU is any worse than the mainstream. We have a number of family members at PSU and Pitt so I’m familiar with their admissions processes. I don’t find either standing out as terrible. Pitt, I thought was excellent in how they processed them, but no complaints about PSU My own state’s publics have issues as do a number of other schools, private and public.</p>
<p>My husband and I are both PSU alumni (UP), so we are pretty familiar as well with the way things work at PSU and we absolutely love Penn State. That’s why our daughter wants to go there - although we did make sure she saw plenty of other schools before deciding that’s where she wants to go. We received an excellent education there and I’ll be happy if any of my kids end up going there.<br>
I will say, when I spoke to admissions one day, they told me that they get over 65,000 applications for all of their campuses combined - so I guess that is a huge undertaking. But it can still be frustrating. My D has had a lot of anxiety about this! I was on twitter the other day and I saw a kid tweet at admissions thanking them for getting him his decision within 2 weeks of applying - and I almost wanted to throw my computer out the window. Then again - he surely had higher stats than my daughter - so, it is what it is. We wait - as that’s all we can do! Answers will be here soon enough…</p>
<p>I applied in September and my last name starts with a B and first name with an A, so I am almost certain they don’t do it in alphabetical order because I haven’t heard back yet</p>
<p>The way rolling decision works at many schools is that there are set dates that the school reviews apps that they have received. If a student is lucky enough that his app made it under the wire for one of those review dates, he can get a turnaround answer, just like that, very quickly. If you just miss that date when they run appraise the apps, you have to wait until the next date when they take the next batch of apps into consideration. A lot of that is a matter of luck because sometimes there is no set date–just when they hit a critical number of apps.</p>
<p>The top picks are immediately accepted, and then the rest are put back into the “lottery” for later consideration. As spots are filled or not filled with the parameters set, the subsequent processes will have adjusted threshholds for consideration. For example, a high threshhold may be initially placed during the first appraisle, but then adjusted if not enough “catches” occur with those break points in the next roll. There are target numbers of accepts each time the school does this, with some spaces reserved usually (but not always) all the way through the end of the year for some late high scoring applicants.</p>
<p>Also, if any info is missing, the app is immediately rolled to the next date. Sometimes there is a limited number of students they will even appraise with the excess going to the next date. PSU, I understand, is very fair about doing this on a first come, first served basis, which with some schools it is not–just plain old random luck. </p>
<p>I do not know PSU’s formula, whether they cherry pick in their first rolling process, then start getting serious with the next batches. This can be of advantage to some kids who have low numbers competing with those with high numbers at the onset to be placed in a batch with a more normal group of apps. As a general rule of thumb, the kids with high numbers tend to get their apps out earlier, so those early rounds can be very competitive. It may be more difficult to make the upper X% of the batch, when the top students tend to be in them. The later batches may be more normal. As a rule, it gets more difficult in the much later batches as there are fewer seats left. </p>
<p>I never understood the summer acceptance thing, how they decide who gets summer acceptance vs getting rolled into the next batch for assessment.</p>
<p>I don’t think PSU does “rolling” until after November 30th…at least not in the traditional sense. What we were told is that all applications completed prior to November 30th receive equal consideration. After November 30th is more competitive. But PSU has been very clear with us that it is not a “first in, first out” process. They maintain it is random. My D has had same status since early September - but she’s a borderline candidate (3.4 UW, ? W, 28 ACT) for fall, but will be more competitive for summer admission. I do agree with the point that pushing borderline students out to be considered later with the bulk of borderline students does make sense and certainly would work towards my daughters advantage. I’ll try to remember that point!</p>
<p>What I’ve always heard about summer is that they put borderline students that might otherwise be denied into summer. This makes their selectivity higher because selectivity only relates to fall admission. So, technically, they were denied fall admission but given summer admission. They get in, but for statistical purposes, they were ‘denied’. Obviously, if your stats are too low, you won’t get into summer either and will be pushed to a branch campus. </p>
<p>I understand why you would jump to that conclusion about the motives for summer admits. Many Universities do just that (or more common admit in the spring). If that was PSU’s goal, they could admit these students to branch campuses. Internally, all discussions have to do with giving a student with marginal admission stats the chance to acclimate to college while taking a reduced course load and compete with other students with similar admissions stats. While it is true that not all students taking summer courses are on the lower end of the admissions spectrum, most are. It is no secret that students as a whole struggle more the first semester due to the shock of being away from home and having to manage their time for themselves, etc. I think I see more students struggle due to social/acclimation issues than preparedness (non-serious students excluded of course). If they can experience the shock of starting college while taking fewer classes and competing with students of like abilities, they are less likely to drop out or kill their GPAs. Students at the upper end of the admissions scale typical can deal with the stresses better.
My own experience is that Penn State does not value rankings as much as others do. They value people graduating more. I kind of wish they would consider strategies to increase rankings a little more (not meaning to imply I do not welcome those requiring the summer session to increase their likelihood of success), but I’d hate to part of a system that chases US News and world report numbers rather than educating.</p>