<p>I believe it does matter. Your son cannot be accepted into a school he did not apply to. Also the different and colleges and campuses at Penn State have different requirements and are applicants are not judged all the same.For example, it’s easier to get into a satellite campus than University Park so the criteria are lower. Also Colleges like the Eberly College of Science requires the applicant to take more core course in high school than someone applying undecided or Division of Undergraduate Studies.</p>
<p>If you believe you son may have a better chance of getting into a satellite campus then you should have most definitely listed one on the application, as Penn State usually will not choose one for you. Is all you need to do is email PSU admissions and inform them that you would like to add an alternate campus for your son in the case that he is rejected from UP. If you email them you usually get an answer within 24 hours.</p>
<p>If you “only” apply to University Park (and do not list a second choice), and do not make the cut for UP, they will (presuming you have decent stats), offer you a spot any ‘one of their satellite campuses’ and send you a lovely big brochure touting their wonderful 2+2 program. A few years ago, all this came in the big white envelope with “congratulations” blasted across the front. Such a letdown; but I ended up getting in UP anyway :-)</p>
<p>cbd-that’s CRAZY! Some kind of marketing gig they’ve got there! I’m amazed at some of the colleges that have initiated programs like this. My daughter is a Junior at NYU, and they had a “general Studies program” for kids who Jussssssst missed the mark statistically. They accept you, but not in your major or school of choice. And you take basic core classes for two years and if you maintain a pretty high GPA (3.0 or something) you THEN move to the school you applied to 2 years earlier. Now, it seems, the GSP (Or LSP I think they call them) are encouraged to spend freshman year ABROAD due to limited housing…NYU’s idea of 1+3??? I remember the NYU CC blogs lighting up with parents’ comments on their kid’s GSP acceptance…"It’s like doing two years of Community College but it’s $65,000 a year instead of $6,000!!!</p>
<p>Just to muddy the waters a little more-- PSU’s yield has been declining (41 percent in 2006 and is 33 percent this year), due in part to students applying to more schools. This could result in their accepting more students; they really need full enrollment to “balance” the budget. That may mean more students accepted from the yellow zone.</p>
<p>Thanks, I did phone them yesterday and they said that he would be offered another campus, but I’m not sure it’ll go that far because he’s a recruited athlete who has to be at University Park–it doesn’t matter what campus he’s accepted in he’s definitely going to be moved.</p>
<p>note for chancers: the class of 2015 results thread indicates that early decisions were people in the blue bubbles on the chart; however, more recent decisions have included people in the yellow bubbles. </p>
<p>no one on this board really knows whether anyone will be accepted or not; however, this bubble chart and the decisions thread are the best info that we have.</p>
<p>I can’t even send an email to PSU Admissions. Having a problem when clicking the email box, and getting an error message. Does anyone have an email address so I can avoid clicking the box on the Admissions website?</p>
<p>There is a website called college data and they do scattergrams and if you click on the dots you can see the applicant’s gpa and scores.They have lots of categories of dots. These are self reported by the kid so the high school scattergrams I think would be more accurate because some schools have grade inflation. Its cool though</p>
<p>Likley: I’ve seen that site. There are a lot of kids that don’t seem to follow up on their applications, but you can search a school’s “acceptances and denied” and get results. Does your school have a Naviance site that tracks several years of their students acceptances? They have a scattergram feature. I prefer it to College Board or published stats cause it’s apples to apples as far as GPA. It also factors in an adcoms “sweet spot” for a certain school’s graduates. There’s no way to break down one year from another, (at least on my kid’s site) but our head counselor was cool about sharing the info.</p>
<p>Also for chancers, thanks to Mom of Boston and Likehood in “status Change” thread. Here’s a link to PSU/UP’s actual admitted student profile. If it doesn’t show up check out Mom Of Boston’s link.</p>
<p>It’s a pretty dramatic difference from the “bubble chart”. As these are ACTUAL stats of last year’s freshman, I agree with the posters they make more sense. They certainly jive with our school’s Naviance. Note: the 25 percentile SAT is 1620 and the mid-50th point about 1778. The Average GPA reported is 3.53. The stats of the “average” UP kid don’t seem to even put them in the middle of the yellow “bubbles”. Remember-50% of the kids had LESS than that. So take in all the information. The, what appears to be wishful thinking bubble chart, the actual stats of last year’s class, and your own schools Naviance. Maybe it’s part of PSU’s strategy to publish these bubble charts in hopes of creating an atmosphere where accepted students all feel thrilled to have slipped in even though they weren’t bubble-worthy…and more likely to attend??? Hang in Yall!!!</p>
<p>my son did better on the ACTs than the SATs but i have never seen a bubble chart or something like the freshman profile above that give info on the ACT scores vs. chance of admission. Does anyone have any information on that??
His GPA is 3.75 and his ACT was 29 combined. And we are still waiting!!!</p>
<p>Ms Mcgee: 29 is a pretty score! here’s a conversion chart. A lot of midwestern schools have their stats ACT related (don’t know about their Naviance, our’s is only SAT)
I just pulled this from the internet, doubt it’s any tight “scientific” formula. My daughter had gotten a 30 on the ACT and I remember it not being worth to send into schools as her combined was 2030. I think this one MIGHT be a little low on the SAT end? I always thought a 30 was closer to 2000. But I’m certainly no expert! Hope it helps!</p>
<p>I don’t think imani’s link worked but you can google “ACT concordance 2400” to get this info</p>
<p>PSU’s bubble chart suggests that they are looking for certain SAT/GPA combinations; the higher your SAT the lower your GPA can be. The higher your GPA the lower your SAT can be.</p>
<p>so if i read the bubble chart, a 3.75 with even an 1920 is a blue dot – why haven’t we heard yet !!! still do not even have the “coming days” status!! still stuck on when a decision is made blah blah blah! so frustrating</p>