Summer Admission

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
1

Hi all. DD applied and checked the box for “optional” summer 2021 start. She just got admission letter and it states “Attending the summer session is a requirement of your admission to enroll at University Park.” She is a straight-A student with AP/IB credits so I don’t think she was on the bubble for fall.

Any insight on why summer only? Can she request a fall admit instead?

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  1. What major (college) did she apply for?
  2. Did she apply EA/RD/rolling?
  3. Is her HS considered “rigorous”? (because not every “straight-A student” is equal)

She can request a fall admit, but she will need to change something. She was already evaluated for fall and was ‘no’, then they went to see if she checked the summer box.

Most frequently, people request a change based on major. For example, if she applied for Smeal, then she can ask for re-consideration in DUS (undecided). There is no difference and you still need to complete the required ETM (entrance to major) classes to ‘get into’ your major - which you can do from DUS or Smeal. You CAN’T do it from Ag, for example though, so be strategic if you switch colleges.

Given that she is just hearing, I am guessing she is in the rolling admissions pile - which means that similar candidates who applied EA are ‘in line’ first and may have been offered Fall admission. As the cycle goes on, it become more competitive to get in.

good luck.

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  1. Liberal Arts (Pre-Major)
  2. RD
  3. HS is rigorous and she is taking the most challenging classes they offer (AP Calc, etc).

She is already accepted to UMD College Park honors, Purdue Honors, and Miami of Ohio Honors, so PSU wasn’t necessarily a stretch. If they really passed on her for fall then she will likely pass on PSU.

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Then the thing that hurt her was RD - assuming she is a 4.0 student and LA. Sounds like she has other options she would prefer anyway, so may not be worth it if she isn’t really going to attend?

Did she apply to Schreyer? If she gets in to Schreyer, I would ask them to call Admissions and see if she could do fall start. They can work with overall Admissions. I think I heard decisions will be out early March.

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Thanks for the information. It was just surprising, and the application made it sound like the summer program was optional, not mandatory. Since she’s is out of state, she was looking for whether any merit aid would be offered, but that seems unlikely now.

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@15J1217 Just wanted to share that I think she is a victim of timing being in the RD pool. I know another kid - strong stats (not as strong as your D, but still strong) - who was in RD pool. If he had applied EA, would have been fine. Was just waitlisted for UP. Is incredibly bummed.

I think Admissions has NO CLUE what the numbers will look like: how many kids will accept vs. defer? Are there geographical issues that may sway yield? How many kids that deferred from last year will show up as freshman? They are probably being conservative.

good luck

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