Waiting for Decisions - Penn State Class of 2024

@Sophley I totally agree. My freshman son did LEAP and it was, 100%, the best decision. When he came home for Thanksgiving, he told us that taking English 15 and CAS over the summer greatly improved his writing and presentation skills, and he highly recommends taking both over the summer. He got A’s in both, which started him off with a perfect GPA.

Besides getting acclimated to the campus, etc., it also puts them ahead credit wise, and he was able to register for classes earlier than a lot of his friends. It’s just great on every way (except maybe the cost lol, but to us it was well worth every penny).

And congrats to your son! We are!

My kids LOVED summer at UP campus. It’s 6 weeks. If Penn State is where you want to be, don’t let it deter you. My kids loved it.

What is the estimated cost of summer at UP?

BIG fan of summer… Here is what I wrote to someone about summer:

I am a big proponent of summer start - we made #1 do it and #2 will be doing it this coming summer. It allows the kids to get 6 credits under their belt, adjust to college, figure out campus, dorm living. And for many kids, take dreaded freshman English and get it out of the way. I also saw this past summer that it highlighted a deficiency of a kid (not mine) with study habits - better to make a mistake with 6 credits than a full load of 12-15 credits. You have time to right the ship if needed.

Here is the LEAP website:
https://summersession.psu.edu/first-year-students/leap-program

Good question, Oceanisle. D was accepted last night for DUS UP summer, but I can’t find any clear estimate of cost. It looks like part time credit cost tuition of about $4500 in state for 6 credits, but how much is room and board for the six weeks?

My daughter got accepted into the summer program as a DUS major. I was surprised as her stats were higher than some other people we know who were admitted to communications at UP for the Fall. She applied DUS as she wasn’t sure if she wanted communications or business and this was the advise of her admissions rep.

Her GPA is 3.677 with a 1310 on her SAT and alot of dual enrollment college classes. She is not sure she wants to start in the summer due to some other commitments.

Has anyone ever either emailed their admissions rep or called admissions to ask them to reconsider to a fall start possibly even changing to a communications major and if so did it work?

@sandywerks thank you!

Is there a chance of getting into main campus with a 3.3 gpa and a 990 SAT, undecided, in state, female, and coming from one of the top ten schools in PA? I didn’t mark yes to the summer start… I figure it’s a long shot but I would love to be accepted.

I doubt you can get in with a 3.3 and a 990. If you can improve your SAT it’s possible though

So i just got accepted into Smeal but for summer is it possible to be reconsidered for a different major and for fall ? If so what would be easiest? I’m not sure whether i wanna go summer session or not.

@OceanIsle I think it was between 6-7K - can’t remember the exact amount. My son said it was the best summer he ever had (and he had some very great summers throughout his life). He loved it. Getting Eng 15 and public speaking out of the way was the best thing ever . The writing course helped him immensely. He would 100% recommend summer start. They take 2 classes in a cohort of24 kids. There’s plenty of time for recreation and socializing, too.

Does anyone know how ETM (entrance to major) works?

@rickqwert what major? What college?

@OceanIsle I looked at my bill from 2 years ago and it was $7,004. They have had some tuition freezes since then, others fee may have gone up (R&B?), but at least that is a guide.

For anyone who went to summer session, after the summer session ends, does the fall star right after ?

No, LEAP is six weeks long . You have 2-3 weeks afterwards.

As a PSU graduate from just a few years ago (lol) I just want to say that summers were by far my favorite time of year at PSU!! It was calm. The teachers were relaxed. The classes were smaller. And the whole town was more intimate. I know some kids are bummed they have to go for summer, but try to keep an open mind.

After LEAP, you can store you stuff in the dorm you will be moving into for fall, if you ask. The room you have for summer won’t be the one for fall.

You can only be moved from summer to fall if you have a compelling, urgent, unexpected complication. " I didn’t want to" is not any of those. Summer is fabulous, and not to be missed. Your high school friends sitting around bored can come visit you for Arts Fest, or Fourth Fest, or any number of summer concerts or Spikes games. Summer is not a consolation prize, it’s a head start and don’t jeopardize your entrance by trying to game the system.

ETM (someone upthread asked) happens for most students at the 4th semester mark. You indicate your intent to major, they check to see if you have the gpa reqs (if there is one) class reqs ( education, for example, has those) or portfolio ready (film, and a few others). Nursing is a direct -admit and does not do ETM.

@greenbutton @lucyvanpelt for computer science college of engineering

@rickqwert For Comp Sci, it is as follows:

  1. be in the 40-59 credit window (all courses taken at Penn State, no AP courses count)
  2. meet the GPA requirement of 3.0
  3. have completed (or in process):
  • CMPSC 122 - Intermediate programming (or CMPSC 123, not sure)
  • MATH 140, 141, 230 - Calc I, Calc II, Calc and Vector Analysis
  • PHYS 211, 212 - Physics

Generally, most kids apply in the spring of their sophomore year.

Does this answer your question ?