Application Review Process for First-Year Students
Application Review Process for First-Year Students
You’ve submitted your application – what happens next? Penn State receives more than 100,000 first-year applications, so be sure to review the details below to understand the review process and your admission options.
First, review our Steps to Apply to make sure you have a complete application. We do not review a student’s application until all the required materials have been received.
Application Evaluation
The most important piece of our review is your academic record, which represents your individual four years of academic development. Penn State’s assessment of application materials includes the academic courses, grades, and levels of those courses for years 9-11 and standardized test scores, if provided. Additional factors may include an audition, a portfolio review, the personal statement, and the activities list. We take a hard look at the many roles you serve as a student, sibling, athlete, son or daughter, volunteer, and/or employee. Assembling a class of students with diverse interests and experiences is a task that we take seriously.
Estimating Your Eligibility
Penn State does not have a minimum GPA or standardized test score used for admission. We consider a full range of factors when reviewing students’ applications. To determine your competitiveness as an applicant, review the Middle 50% of the previous year’s class.
Review of Additional Application Components
Penn State typically reviews applications for admissibility to the chosen campus, rather than a particular program (except for a few majors, like Nursing or many programs in our College of Arts and Architecture). As a result, changing the major on your application typically does not change your admission decision – often, an application review for a different major will lead to the same decision regarding the campus to which you have been admitted.
When evaluating applications, we look at the standardized test and academic performance in math more closely for admission to our math and science programs. Additionally, some of our programs like Nursing or Architecture, are more competitive for admission than other programs due to enrollment limitations.
Students interested in attending the University Park campus all four years and would like to increase their chances of admission to that campus have the option of indicating interest in the summer session. Students can select this option when completing the application.
We review students’ applications for their chosen semester of enrollment first, which is typically the fall semester. If we are unable to offer fall admission, and a student indicates that the summer session is an option, we then review the application for admission to the summer session. Admission to this session is slightly less competitive than fall admission. If a student initially applied for the fall semester but is admitted to the summer session at the University Park campus, it is mandatory to attend the summer session to study at the University Park campus.
Possibly! By applying before the Early Action deadline, you will be among the first students to be considered for admission to Penn State, when we have more flexibility in our decisions. Admission to Penn State becomes more competitive as the year progresses, which is why we encourage students to submit a complete application prior to the Early Action deadline.
First-year students are required to provide both a first-choice and an alternate-choice campus on their application, regardless of the application method used. Including an alternate-choice campus allows us to efficiently review a student’s application for admission to Penn State, should they not be admissible to their first-choice campus.
We always review a student’s application for their first-choice campus first. If we are unable to offer admission to that campus, we then review the application for summer session (if the student applied to University Park and selected the summer option in their application) or for admission to the alternate-choice campus. If the student receives admission to the alternative campus, this decision means we were unable to offer admission to the first campus. Students may then choose to remain at their offered campus for four years if their program is available, or they may opt to participate in our by completing two years at that campus and their final two years at another campus.
Application Outcomes
It’s important to read all the admission decision details in MyPennState! Students who complete their application by the Early Action deadline have three possible decision outcomes:
Admit: Applicant receives an offer of admission to Penn State – to their first-choice campus, summer session at University Park (if applicable), or to their alternate-choice campus.
Defer: Deferring a final decision on an application to ensure that we provide each student with the greatest opportunity for admission. Deferred applicants will be notified of an admission decision by the end of January.
Deny: Penn State is not able to make an offer of admission.
Students who apply after the Early Action deadline also have three possible outcomes:
Admit: Applicant receives an offer of admission to Penn State – to their first-choice campus, summer session at University Park (if applicable), or to their alternate-choice campus.
Waitlist: Penn State invites a group of talented students to remain in consideration for the University Park campus through a waitlist. Applicants receive a final decision as soon as we can make one, but no later than May 15.
Deny: Penn State is not able to make an offer of admission.
Any first-year students who have been admitted to Penn State have until May 1 to accept their offer of admission.