Will I get Into Penn State University Park?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
1

I applied to PSU University Park (applied summer session) and was really wondering if I could get in because I want to go so badly. My grades throughout high school weren’t great but I really improved my Junior year but still only ended with a 2.6. The thing is I did very well on my SAT’s and got a 1460 (Reading and Writing- 750), (Math- 710). I really want to go to this school so if someone could give me an honest opinion that would be very much appreciated.

2

Is the 2.6 cumulative? As in, that’s the average over all three years of high school so far?

If so, getting into UP would be very unlikely. GPA is 2/3 of the decision at Penn State. Hopefully you put a backup campus, though, and could do the 2+2 plan.

3

Call now and ask to be considered for 2+2 DUS Altoona or Harrisburg right now. A GPA below 3.4 makes is unlikely to get into up (bottom 25% is 3.5).

4

a 2.6, regardless of test scores, will almost certainly place you at a commonwealth campus. Did you put a back up campus? Altoona and Harrisburg and Behrend are the “best” commonwealth campuses in that they are colleges in their own right with lots of programs and a college atmosphere. You can then go to UP campus after 2 years so you still will get to graduate from Penn State. Also, if you choose the Altoona campus, you are only 40 minutes from UP and the students there do a lot of things up at UP campus. My daughter is at UP, my son is at Altoona. Both love it.

5

Applying Summer Session wont help my chances at all?

6

Scroll down to C11 on this page: https://budget.psu.edu/CDSRedesign/cds.aspx?reportindicator=FreshAdmn&Location=UP&AY=20162017
And you can see that a 2.6 would be in the bottom 5% of enrolled freshmen. The average is 3.59. (It says “4.0 scale” but it seems more likely these numbers might be weighted GPAs, for context.)

So even DUS and summer would be a long shot.

7

summer is not a catch all for people who can’t get into fall. Summer admission requirements are only SLIGHTLY lower than fall. On the common data set that bodangles posted above, you can see that the GPA average is 3.59 and that INCLUDES summer admits. For reference, my daughter had to do summer in 2015 and she had a 3.5 and 29 ACT.