Anonymous wrote:we had friends kid rejected main campus and got into altoona. Mom called and complained - kid got in main campus

zero integrity to the process - so use that to ur advantage. Squeaky wheel..

one story is one story.

Long ago? .. it mattered a lot to apply early in the admissions cycle

This poster has the right advice about business school. Apply undecided. No one is into the business school until they grade in after freshman year. So there is very little benefit in arriving as a pre business major. A known fact. Just make sure your advisor steers you to the right classes to take.

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware that acceptance percentages are very dependent on your major. It’s an easy admit for most majors, but for example only 4% were admitted for UP for business this past cycle. So if your child wants business, they should instead apply for undecided and can still take all of the business courses.

Can they transfer into the business school after Freshmen year? Or try to transfer into it.

I would suggest Brandywine or Abington -- two places that are pretty decent to live.

My opinion on squeaky wheel gets the grease is different when it comes to college.

The student who really wants to be at a school will usually work harder, enjoy it more, be a better fit, complain less.

Because schools don't do personal interviews and many are processing thousands of apps and it's a "selling" process by candidates, many sub-optimal decisions happen. At big schools like PSU that have huge enrollment, there aren't a lot of people that buck the system/challenge. So, it's really not a big deal to make a few changes to shift an admitted kid from a branch to main. The kid would end up graduating from the same place anyway after the junior year move-up.

My DD, who theoretically should have been a shoo in based on her stats/other acceptances, was accepted to a satellite campus. She wasn’t that into the school so she didn’t accept and ended up choosing a school she loves, but I was surprised. I wonder what would have happened if we tried to get it changed?

Just be aware that acceptance percentages are very dependent on your major. It’s an easy admit for most majors, but for example only 4% were admitted for UP for business this past cycle. So if your child wants business, they should instead apply for undecided and can still take all of the business courses.

we had friends kid rejected main campus and got into altoona. Mom called and complained - kid got in main campus

zero integrity to the process - so use that to ur advantage. Squeaky wheel..

Just put something there. I'd go with Behrend or Altoona. Ultimately if you are UP or bust it doesn't matter, fill out the form and move on.

My son is applying to Penn State OOS and absolutely would not attend a branch campus. We are VA residents and it would make more sense to attend community college and transfer to a VA public. I realize that some of the branches are stand alone universities but if you plan to transfer, you might as well go where tuition is the cheapest. I'm sure the calculation is much different for PA residents.

Anonymous wrote:Do you have to put a second choice? I don’t think DS will even fill that in if it’s not required. He would only attend main campus. FWIW, they told us during our visit to apply for the summer term if you really want to attend. We’re debating that.

Yes. It is mandatory. I just know my kid won't accept at another campus. They will put one down, but it's just b/c there is the red asterisk next to it.

Your Starting campus is your first-choice campus, and we will review you for admission to that campus first. And, because we want to help you find your place at Penn State, we will automatically review you for admission to your Alternate-choice campus if we can't offer you admission to your first-choice campus. Your Graduating campus is the campus where you would ultimately like to complete your degree.

Do you have to put a second choice? I don’t think DS will even fill that in if it’s not required. He would only attend main campus. FWIW, they told us during our visit to apply for the summer term if you really want to attend. We’re debating that.

They probably make it mandatory because many in-state kids will accept the branch offers. And a few OOS.

I went to PSU-University Park. During our freshman convocation, the speaker mentioned that we were 50% of the eventual graduating class. The rest would move from branch campuses to main campus for junior year.

Last year at least one parent on here reported a successful negotiation to convert a branch campus acceptance into a main campus acceptance.

TL;DR - fill out the form as instructed.

If your student is like mine, they would not accept an offer to any campus other than UP. Does it even matter which campus they put down for the 2nd choice? Is there a strategy there? I don't understand why they make this mandatory.