Hello! I applied to Penn State’s University park summer session and just wanted to see if anyone had stats for acceptance. I chose to be evaluated for starting in the summer over being looked at for fall first than summer
The stats that you see published on the common data set or for incoming freshmen include those for summer start. They are not separated out in the statistics.
I have a question regarding summer session. I believe I read that Summer Session consists of two classes? Is that correct? Also, how does registration for these classes work? Curious to what a summer session schedule consists of. Thank you.
So sorry for long-winded answer here!
First, here’s a link to the LEAP program: https://summersession.psu.edu/first-year-students
Basically, registration will open up in March. You will have the opportunity to register for two classes in what is called a “LEAP pride” – it’s a coupling of classes with the exact same group of students. Each pride will have an assigned mentor who arranges activities for the group. They go to class together, often eat lunch together, party at night together, etc. This way, you can begin developing friendships and understand how the campus functions before all the masses come in mid-to-late August.
Course selection: one of the two courses is typically the freshmen english composition course (ENGL 015) or public speaking-type class (CAS100). The second class doesn’t necessarily have to be related to your major, but most kids like that because it introduces them to others in their specific college. Other students may opt for a fun gen-ed class…like a photography or film music class…or the AURORA outdoor adventure class that includes a 5-day backpacking trip. And others will want to get a harder course (Calc or Stat) out of the way so that their fall semester isn’t quite so difficult. It’s really up to them.
How to know what courses you need: PSU requires every student to have a certain number of gen-ed courses (GA = arts, GH = humanities, etc.) You really can’t go wrong. If you want to take a course specific to your major, you want to search for that major (“program”) or intended major on the penn state undergraduate bulletin (https://bulletins.psu.edu/). You may see several similar majors, so make sure you click on the right campus. Once you locate your major, you will see a sidebar with the recommended or suggested academic plan for that major. Many majors may have a first year intro course that you can take over the summer.
Biggest piece of advice: you will want to be prepared to register for courses as soon as you are able to. Popular “prides” fill up within the first 24 hours. You won’t have to pay summer tuition and fees until later, so don’t let that stop you from jumping on the pride of your choice. Have a second choice lined up, too.
It is my understanding that you do NOT need to be in a LEAP pride. You can just as easily register for two regular courses. Please be aware that two courses over a six week period is considered full-time due to the compressed nature of the courses.
Enjoy!
Thank you. This was very helpful!
Further advice about summer:
- all classes will be small. It’s to your benefit to take at least one class that would otherwise be a huge lecture hall class in the fall. Personally since both English and CAS are smallish, I’d save them for the Fall.
- if you’re interested in Paterno Fellows there’s a LEAP PRIDE you’ve got guaranteed for you!
Good advice about summer, although I disagree with one point that MYOS made about which class to take. English 15 is a time-consuming class, so I would take it in summer to free up the workload in fall. Alternatively, think about a weakness and take that class in summer. For example, MATH 140 or even Math 110 are weed out classes (Calc for Engineering/Science and Business respectively.) Take them in summer with a smaller class size and more time to devote is a strategy.
I think it’d depend for English 15. I’m always wary of intensive writing in compressed format and one big advantage to it is the small class format which can really help when a student is alone in a huge lecture hall for 3 other courses, hence my recommendation to “save it” for the Fall. On the other hand, it’s good to be done with it and not have it hanging over your head.
Math in the summer, especially the weedout calculus classes, would be faster paced but wouldn’t be weedout (I think) in the summer. They’d still be very hard but you’d only have one other class so you’d be able to focus better. Those two calc classes would likely be especially rewarding for kids who’d taken calculus in high school and would probably have less trouble keeping up with the pace and would benefit a lot from the smaller setting. (weedout class in huge lecture hall = get your freshman confused, disgusted, angry… with college).
I just realized that they didn’t include math 140 (Calc) in this year’s selection of prides. They had it last year. Hopefully it wasn’t problematic for kids to take it ina compresses format. Were I a high school grad just wrapping up AP Calc, I’d take this one over the summer while content is fresh and hope for the easy A/A-/B+. Kids who scored out of Calc 1 don’t always do well jumping into Calc 2.