Son was accepted Dec. 4th (overnight) and pic has never changed from Old Main. Just checked again. Good luck!
@finalchildof3… please see Lucyvanpelt’s comment above on entrance to major classes. she is correct. those classes must be taken AND student must have a 3.5 cumulative GPA before officially declaring Finance major at PSU. And this must be done before 59 credits are earned… oh and btw, EVERY major at PSU has entrance to major requirements and a GPA requirement pre-59 credits… be sure to review them!
@jlhpsu… I am back with my 3rd. He too like your son applied to Altoona and heard a few weeks ago. My second child is soph at UP and ok but we definately feel commonwealth is a great place to start for my HS senior… I haven’t been keeping up with the forum…so nice to see you are still giving excellent insight since our girls started in 2015 ?
Can anyone give me an honest opinion of my chance of admission into the University Park Divison of Undergraduate Studies?
EA application
Division of Undergraduate Studies
GPA: 3.79
SAT:1180
Class Rank: 54/298 18%
Extracurriculars: Interact Club, Cheerleading, Lacrosse, National Honor Society, History Honor Society, Science Honor Society, Volunteer cheerleading coach for my town, 2 part-time jobs
Leadership: 3 leadership positions (secretary of my class, secretary of national honor society, vice president of interact club)
Awards: 2 varsity academic letters, 1 JV, and a people’s choice award
14 total honors/AP classes
Senior year coursework: AP Calculus AB, AP Literature and Composition, AP Physics 1, AP Government and Politics, CPR, Teen Pep(a gym class, teaches freshman about sexual activity, pregnancy, and prevention)
Campus Visit back in June
No Legacy
First Generation
@caseyshouts What were your stats? I also applied as undecided! I don’t see many people who do so I figured I’d ask Congratulations!
@lucyvanpelt or anyone else who has insight: Do you know if UP accepts AP credit for some of those prerequisite business/math/english classes? My daughter has already passed the AP english, AP Econ(?) and is currently taking AP CALC BC. She took Calc AB as a junior but it was not offerred AP. And do you know if they can use their other AP credit in gen eds like AP History etc? to fill their gen ed requirements? Just curious. My daughter seems confident that she can maintain a 3.5 gpa but as a mom I worry this will be stressful along with the other challenges of being away at school and navigating college for the first time etc.
@finalchildof3 it should be posted on the credit transfer. My son got 6 credits for history and he did the IB. I think you need a certain grade and it is posted. They will update LionPATH over the summer with the approved credits and classes covered
D checked her portal 12:08 am.
Accepted to Penn State, University Park for Fall 2020!!
WE ARE!!!
The wait is killing me!!! AHHHHH! Really hope they get to my application and i don’t end up getting deferred and have to wait even longer.
@Finalchildof3 yes, she absolutely can!
Go to this link and you can get a sense of how her AP credits will transfer.
https://admissions.psu.edu/academics/credit/ap/
So, for her AP credits, this is how I read it:
- AP Econ - Micro: 4 or 5, Econ 102 (ETM class… big weedout that kids struggle with)
- AP Econ - Macro: 4 or 5, Econ 104 (not ETM, but I think required later for Business majors?)
- AP English - this one hurts. Does not get you out of English 15 (Freshman English) ... EVERYONE takes Freshman English (either ENGL 15 or ENGL 30.. honors). Luckily, I knew this, so my kids didn't take AP English, only took Honors level. They spent their efforts on AP classes that I knew will count.
- AP Calc BC - 3, credits for Math 140, 4 or 5, credits for Math 140 and 141. Math 140/141 is the math that is required for Engineers. Math 110 is the comparable business math course. Math 110 < Math 140, so if you have Math 140 credits, they count for Math 110.
- Other APs can count for gen ed requirements... APUSH may count for 6 credits of HIST (score a 4 or 5), which counts for the US Culture requirement and the GH (Humanities). There are lots of ways to slice and dice it. AP US Gov counts for PLSC 1, which meets the US Culture requirement and 3 credits of GS (Social & Behavioral Science).
The business-related ETM (Mktg 301, Mgmt 301, etc.) are NOT allowed to come in as transfer credits - they must be taken at Penn State. That information is buried in the previous link.
Feel free to PM me.
@lastchildof3 Also you should know that tuition increases after 59.1 credits are earned. So, you only want your child to have credits assigned for the AP/ECE courses that are absolutely necessary right out of the box as part of those first 59. Save the rest for later. There is also a required Math placement test that must be done before orientation and registration. She may pass out of some things completely.
Does anyone know if decisions can come out on weekends? Should I be checking?
@vixpixal I don’t believe admissions is open on weekends but I check anyways…I’m obsessed.
Son applied to engineering on 10/30.
Acceptance letter mailed 11/20.
Letter received 11/25.
Accepted to engineering college with intended major of chemical engineering.
3.75 UW GPA
4.16 W GPA
1400 SAT
OOS
@JrzGrlMama @Finalchildof3 Yes, some great points about the 59.1 credits! Tuition does increase at that point, so there are people that selectively submit AP credits. If they are not ETM courses and being used as gen ed or elective credits, some people will wait until later to not get bumped into the higher tuition rate.
There are few advantages to being in a higher credit window - namely, the ability to schedule classes earlier (and hopefully, get the classes and/or sections you want). You also have to pay attention to when it is time to get football tickets, because your credits will determine what day you get them. The trade-off? You are paying higher tuition earlier than you would be otherwise.
@vixpixal , So far (stress on the so far) PSU has sent updates on weeknights to post around midnight, so students have seen admissions decisions appear overnight and in the portals Saturday morning. I have not yet seen weekend updates outside of that Friday-into-Saturday type of batch but I did hear that in the past they had posted 7 days/week as the decision deadline gets closer.
I know what it’s like to keep waiting and I wish you all the luck for a positive decision soon.
@JudyVegas I’m still here lol! Good to “see” you! My son loved Altoona and regrets going up to UP after a year (his major at the time required it). He would have loved to stay there all 4 years in fact. He’s doing well at UP now but the smaller atmosphere was a better fit for him for sure. I’ve got another one who will be in the application pool next year but I think she’s going straight for Behrend.
I emailed Penn State about unlocking my SRAR since there was a change in my courses since I submitted my application (and haven’t gotten a decision yet) but now when I resubmitted my SRAR my portal has been updating really often (about 1-2 an hour) could this be a good sign that I will get a decision soon? (I’m international and couldn’t do EA so technically my last day to hear back is April 1st)
PS: Although I’m international I have completed all 4 years of high school in the US and applied October 31st, just couldn’t select EA because for some reason international applicants can’t
How are things going? Has there been a lull in decisions being released? I was not able to login to CC yesterday due to the changes and am surprised to see so few updates. C’mon Penn State! 
My daughter is adamant about not checking portals as she wants to wait for snail mail acceptances. Funny, right? Anyway, my wife just texted me at work that a thick Penn State envelope came in the mail today and said Congratulations! So I’m assuming she got in (or that would be a very mean joke!). Has anyone here who got accepted received any merit money?