I am currently a junior in high school. I am looking to apply to PSU fall of next year. I was wondering what college I have a higher chance of getting into at UP? I am looking to be a biology major or go into pre-med. The schools I were looking at were Eberly college of science or Health and Human Development. Which do you think I have a higher chance of getting in and can I apply to both this fall? My stats are:
SAT:1210
GPA: 3.9 UW 4.125 W
Math: 5 Classes including AP STATS no senior year
English: 4 classes
Science: 4 classes including AP Biology and Honors anatomy
Social Studies: 4 classes AT Psychology
Need financial aid, <21,000 a year
Gender: M
Race: Caucasian
EC: Virtually none
School: Online Charter School, Best in state
State: PA
I’d suggest studying and retaking the SAT to get above a 1300. Penn State looks alright for you otherwise, although the lack of ECs is also kinda worrying. Both Eberly and HHD should be about the same difficulty to get into.
What would you say my chances are if I decide to not take the SAT again? I am thinking about going to DUS for first year so I can transfer to Eberly for Pre-med major. Thoughts?
If you need financial aid, please consider schools other than PSU, which gives little institutional need-based aid. Our family has a $0 EFC and the net price calculator showed an estimated net cost of over $24,000.
I have considered schools other than PSU.
^Good. I wouldn’t even let my daughter apply to Penn State, knowing that we couldn’t afford it. If you need a lot of financial aid and are willing to go to a smaller school, there are many fine private schools in Pennsylvania, some of which might have a net price much lower than PSU.
Penn State is going to be affordable through financial aid and Pell grants. The government is going to pay for most of the tuition and the financial aid will cover the rest.
The middle 50% for the new SAT in Math and critical reading is a 1240. So you will want to get your score up to be in the middle 50%. Any score below the middle 50% increases your chance of being deferred to a branch campus. Otherwise, your scores look good.
Id argue that HHD is going to be a bit easier than Eberly. My recommendation is that you find one or two things to get invloved in just so that you can list it, even though PSU isn’t super concerned with that stuff. If you think you can put the time in to prepping for the SAT and boosting that a bit, id say that’s your best bet at assured admission. Honestly, if you apply within the first few weeks of the application opening with those stats, and list summer as a second choice of semester, you should have no problem.