Hi. My son was accepted for Summer 2015 and I’m trying to figure out the different options available to him. I see the LEAP courses and the different Prides you can join. Is this what most pre-Freshman Summer students do? Do some just take two random classes?
Would love the pros and cons to each and to hear anyone’s experience with a pre-Freshman Summer.
Thanks!
I’d like to hear as well. My D is planning on doing LEAP. She likes that the prides take the same classes so she will get to know some kids well. They only have 24 kids per pride so it’s a small group. I know you don’t have to join LEAP and if you don’t then yes, you just pick two classes that could have anyone in them.
I’m wondering why anyone wouldn’t do LEAP? It seems like a great advantage unless I’m missing something. I think I read that more than half of the summer freshman start in LEAP.
Thanks for the thread @ncny215. Nice to see you and @jlhpsu as we change from obsessing about admission to obsessing about trying to help make it work best for our kids! (reminds of when we joyfully brought home our first newborn and his mom said: “Now what do we do?”). But just like we figured out how to be parents, we’ll navigate through this stage as well. Good luck to all of us (and especially to our kids!)
I’m thinking the LEAP direction would be ideal. My son, in his sweet, arrogant way, says it’s like the ‘short bus’ approach. I need to sit down with him and go over the options. If for no other reason picking a pride seems a lot easier than arbitrarily choosing classes. Plus, our kids were chosen for summer because their HS numbers are, for the most part, below the average for admitted freshman. I’ll give him some time to digest it all, but right now he’s thrilled and is happily wearing a Penn State shirt to school today (I have a Nittany Lion football shirt on today too! At the office!). We’ll figure out LEAP or not in coming days.
One more point I noticed while reviewing the Summer Session info: if we plan on possibly using financial aid for the summer session then we need to fill out last year’s FASFA (2014-15) in addition to the new FASFA that came out on January 1 (2015-16).
The LEAP site is pretty comprehensive, and I want to encourage people to read it first, and then ask questions. For incoming summer-admit freshmen, you have two choices during summer:
Join LEAP
Take classes on your own.
The latter allows you to choose whatever you’d like to take. You will be in class with other freshmen who have not chosen LEAP, plus any upperclassmen working on GenEds or degree requirements. Campus is significantly less populated, but by no means empty. You will dorm on campus as required of all freshmen.
LEAP requires a choice of a pair of classes. The same exact people will be in both classes, and all will be freshmen. You will live in the same dorm areas–it won’t be East Halls as they are used all summer for HS camps. LEAP leaders will schedule activities like a volleyball tournament, library orientation, a Spikes game, creamery trips, shopping downtown, dining hall orientation but there will also be plenty of spare time, it’s not summer camp.
Your pride can be a “generic” one (usually the GenEds of speech and writing) or one more oriented toward your major-to-be. It’s a nice way to start meeting the people who will travel with you through the major. It doesn’t matter what you choose but they fill up quickly, so if it matters to you, don’t take a month to make up your mind.
Some freshmen feel LEAP is condescending, locals often skip LEAP because they already know their way around and/or don’t want to pay to live on campus when they could just live at home and work. Both of my students LEAP’d and it was an absolutely wonderful experience. Made some truly lasting friendships, and had a jumpstart on school. Since they’ve already taken 6 credits, your freshman could take 12 or 13 that first Fall and feel less overwhelmed.
And one last thing – the posts here, and in the admit thread, continue to promote the impression that summer admits are signficantly less academically able than “real” PSU students, and that is not the case. Your students are every bit as much part of Penn State as everybody who arrives in Fall, and every bit as promising as students 
Someone in an older thread mentioned LEAP as a way to save $…as if it is cheaper than taking classes during Fall or Spring semesters…I did go on the site and it had tons of info…it says you are paying for credits, meal plan and housing….so how can it save $? If you know…
Thanks @greenbutton. I’ve copied and will share with my son.
Thanks @greenbutton. I had read the website but it’s good to hear about it from someone who has experienced it.
@greenbutton thanks for the overview!
@TLD1267 I don’t think it saves money. I think that people forget that they would be paying for those credits anyway because the credits work towards your major. But the room and board cost is additional of course. it’s far less than a whole semester though because it’s only 6 weeks.
Agreed @jlhpsu …I didnt understand why people were discussing it as a way to save $…if you can get it all in during the 8 semesters…you would actually save money not doing it….but I do think it is a great way to meet people and get comfortable on campus and get a smaller class size. If you know you can’t finish in 8 semesters than I see the savings.
currently Penn state is my top school, but i am nowhere close to committing. Is signing up for leap considered as me committing to attend Penn State?
I don’t believe, @androidfan, that you can sign up for LEAP until you’ve paid your housing deposit and other ‘acceptance’ fees. You can’t register for LEAP classes until Feb. 17 so no need to rush into it. That said, if you want to invest $330 to hold a place in line for housing and be able to sign up for LEAP, you can do that. If you go to PSU it’s money well spent. If you decide to go elsewhere, that $330 will not be refunded.
The other way that it can potentially save money is if the summer LEAP credits plus any AP/transfer credits allow you to finish in 7 semesters instead of 8.
Regarding Summer session costs: I think the concept of it ‘saving’ money is a bit wishful. In best case scenario out kids will be in four full years, with full tuition, PLUS the summer. Six summer credits plus room and board and books will be about $10K. I think it’s most reasonable to consider that $10K as an additional cost to freshman year. That brings my son’s OOS price tag to $51K not counting books, travel, supplies, etc. And, of course, Penn State is not considered generous when it comes to financial aid beyond Stafford loans/work-study.
Some students are in summer session because they’re strong enough for PSU but not as competitive for their major (that’s especially true for CoE students), or because they applied after the priority deadline.
LEAP is a great way to make friends and discover campus at the best time of year - with the festival, nice weather allowing outings, the pool being open, etc. Kids often underestimate how hard it is to make friends when you see someone once and don’t see them again because the campus is thousands of acres - freshmen on large campuses often feel alienated for a few months. LEAP makes sure they feel that they “fit in” right away. When the Fall starts, they’re ahead not just academically, but socially. They know how things work, where things are, how to handle things. They’re comfortable with the large university setting. It’s a huge advantage, imho. In 6 weeks, they’ve “leaped” ahead compared to regular freshmen. (They’ve also already made some common mistakes that freshmen make when they arrive, and by Fall they know better - since they’ll now be taking 15 credits, their GPAs won’t be as impacted as if they made the mistake while taking 15 credits.)
The only downside is if the course “pair” matches AP credit. That’s a problem since you want the pair to cover new territory (many couse pairs will include Freshman Writing, for example, and if you have credit for AP English Language, then you have fewer choices). But the PRIDE system works very well both socially and academically, and I really recommend it.
I’m applying to the Nursing LEAP Pride. Any comments about the program?
I’m probably going to apply to the summer nursing program. Only because it has first aid and CPR in it. Other than that, I’d do the week long camping trip.
Anyone have any opinions about the Mass Media LEAP???
I don’t think you have to “apply” so much as register. You will get into whatever pride you register for that still has room. That’s why they tell you to pick a couple of prides in case the first pride you are registering for is full. They only take about 24 people per pride.