Early Action deadline is in less than 2 weeks and we’ve only had two threads started here. It’s baffling. Usually we have hundreds of posts by now. Does anyone have any insight into what’s going on? I’ve been a forum champion here for years and this is bizarre…
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@jlhpsu Agree that the lack of chatter is strange. I am curious as to your thoughts regarding applying to Schreyer for someone interested in an engineering major. I am particularly interested in tradeoffs regarding coops, electives, study abroad, and the like. Thank you.
I agree it’s reallt weird
i think everything about College Confidential is so much harder – the incessant pop up ads, the sorting, the log in demands, the threading, the pinned announcements — it is pretty off putting for a quick angsty question.
Also, PennState has streamlined the messaging and process, so more of the questions are being answered at the source? I agree it’s weird, but without controversy, without a pricetag that makes it possible, maybe fewer families are on the fence and then CC makes asking too hard. Dunno, just a guess
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I think you are probably right. There is probably a Tik Tocker out there answering all of the questions lol.
I’d expect diminishing involvement in the cases you mentioned but this seems like a sudden drop off since last application season. I asked on the Forum Champion thread and some there have noticed the same things in their threads. Maybe people are just reading old threads and getting their questions answered! I know I’m researching now for my son who’s a junior and I’ve not asked any questions anywhere…I’m just reading old threads to get the details.
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We need someone to start a decision thread though. I want to see when decisions start coming in.
It’s also more difficult to find the right thread because of all branches with their own thread, Psu Brandywine, etc,. There should be one thread for branch campus admissions, one thread for University Park-Main Admissions, one for Decisions UP and one for decisions branches. Since UP is way at the bottom of the list instead of being at the top of the page it takes a “lot” of scrolling down to find it. I admit I even wondered if there was one.
Oftentimes, the Admissions thread is just people looking for fellow sufferers in tested patience. They shouldn’t have disappeared.
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There is only one Penn State page under “Colleges”. I can make and pin separate threads for the commonwealth campuses, but in general, right now, everyone looking for info on Penn State will be coming to this page. I have no idea why the CC admin created threads here for Brandywine and Lehigh Valley (which actually links to Lehigh University and not Lehigh Valley). I’m going to delete those threads. They make absolutely no sense here.
Decisions won’t start coming in for at least another month…We usually start a Decisions Thread somewhere around November 1 when the early action deadline passes.
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Okay, thank you!
Sorry, I thought I had seen threads for Brandywine and a few others at the top of the Penn State page but they’re not here anymore so I’m guessing you cleaned that up and it should be easier to find this one! 
Any insight or opinion on the importance of the personal statement/essay? My son isn’t a strong writer, is struggling to get it finished and I’m thinking no essay is better than a weak one. He’s submitting his 1250 SAT and has 3.83 weighted gpa with 1 AP and 6 honors. Mom is a legacy.
Adding - he’s completely undecided on major so is applying to DUS
Could just be 150 words about “Why I chose DUS” and all the subjects he’s interested in based on all his favorite classes (why favorite) in HS, it’d work. He’s not “completely” undecided: he wants intellectual challenges and autonomy, perhaps prove himself on a large campus, hence UP, right? But what exact field will allow him to show his skills is the “undecided” part … That could help with the statement.
But overall the statement is of minimal importance; rigor, GPA (w and uw) matter way more.
3.83 weighted and only 1 AP/6 honors, I’d check “summer session” if you want UP.
Has he taken precalculus? statistics? reached level 3 in a foreign language?
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Agree with Myos to have him write about choosing DUS and list some classes he would like to take while exploring. He should also submit his common app personal statement (and covid/additional info sections if he wrote them).
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Thank you for your advice!
He had pre-calc last year and is in Honors Calc this year. Stopped foreign language at level 2, no statistics. We were going to check off summer start.
He only recently decided he wants Penn State UP. He’s got 500 words on paper about lessons learned from failed sports experiences and how he can apply what he learned from them to campus life. Its feeling like we’re making it harder than it needs to be. And then, I was wondering if his stats were going to place him at the summer start and the personal statement would likely neither help or hurt.
Thank you for your reply.
He is applying directly to Penn State on their website, not using the common app.
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I agree that it’s strange that there is less chatter. And yes, old threads can answer a lot of your questions. I have frequented the African American 2020 thread, the KevinFromOC thread, and others to glean info.
This has happened to the Michigan threads as well… They were some of the most active on CC to bearly a whisper. I think it has to do with the changes they made before EA… If they want to reduce and eliminate use of the website, their doing a pretty good job of it.