Pennsylvania State University – University Park
University Park, Pennsylvania | Admissions Phone: 814-865-5471
E-mail: admissions@psu.edu | Website: www.psu.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 56%
Admission Rate - Men: 52%
Admission Rate - Women: 60%
EA Admission Rate: N/A
ED Admission Rate: Not Offered
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): +1%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): Not Offered
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 27%
Transfer Admission Rate: 46%
# Offered Wait List: 105
# Accepted Wait List: 76
# Admitted Wait List: 41
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 580-660
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 580-700
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 25-30
Testing Policy: ACT/SAT Required
SAT Superscore: No
ACT Superscore: No
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 43%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 76%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 96%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 40,363
% Part-Time: 3%
% Male: 53%
% Female: 47%
% Out-of-State: 34%
% Fraternity: 17%
% Sorority: 20%
% On-Campus (Freshman): 99%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 35%
% African-American: 4%
% Asian: 6%
% Hispanic: 7%
% White: 65%
% Other: 3%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 2%
% International: 12%
% Low-Income: 14%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 14:1
% of Classes Under 20: 31%
% of Classes Under 40: 71%
% Full-Time Faculty: 86%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 83%
Top Programs
Architecture
Business
Criminal Justice
Earth Sciences
Economics
Engineering
Information Sciences and Technology
Kinesiology
Retention Rate: 93%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 66%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 85%
Curricular Flexibility: Less Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Public
In-State Tuition: $17,416
Out-of-State Tuition: $34,480
Room & Board: $11,884
Required Fees: $1,034
Books & Supplies: $1,840
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $6,578
Avg. % of Need Met: 64%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $5,444
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 33%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $38,695
% of Students Borrowing: 53%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. Google
2. Grant Thorton LLP
3. Oracle
4. PNC
5. Accenture
Notable Internships
1. Anheuser-Busch
2. Morgan Stanley
3. Aramark
Top Industries
1. Business
2. Operations
3. Education
4. Engineering
5. Sales
Top Employers
1. IBM
2. PwC
3. Amazon
4. Johnson & Johnson
5. EY
Where Alumni Work
1. Philadelphia
2. New York City
3. Pittsburgh
4. State College, PA
5. Washington, DC
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $50,100
EOP (Early Career): $50,900
PayScale (Mid-Career): $105,500
RANKINGS
Forbes: 117
Money: 291
U.S. News: 57 (T), National Universities
Wall Street Journal/THE: 105 (T)
Washington Monthly: 120, National Universities
Inside the Classroom
“We are Penn State,” the signature slogan of Pennsylvania State University, is one of the more recognizable chants echoing across any college campus in the United States. More than 40,000 undergraduates reside in State College, nicknamed Happy Valley, a moniker that has weathered scandal and continues to be a destination point for Pennsylvanians as well as many out-of-staters and international students who make up 42 percent of today’s student population. Not only does PSU have one the world’s largest and most passionate alumni bases, it also possesses as diverse an academic menu as you will find anywhere with its 275 majors and a number of top-ranked programs in a host of disciplines.
There are forty-five credits worth of general education requirements that you’ll need to fulfill whether you are studying turfgrass science, toxicology, or telecommunications—all actual majors at PSU. Fifteen of those credits will come through introductory courses in writing, speaking, and quantification, and thirty will come via explorations of the humanities, natural sciences, social and behavioral sciences, the arts, and health and wellness. First-year engagement courses help students hone study and research skills and introduce freshmen to resources around campus. Students also must take courses that satisfy the categories of writing across the curriculum, United States cultures, and international cultures, but those can overlap with the aforementioned forty-five credits worth of distributional mandates.
Unlike some public research universities that can have student-to-faculty ratios greater than 20:1, PSU boasts a stellar 14:1 ratio. That level of support allows 61 percent of classes to have an enrollment below thirty students. Still, you will take some intro courses in massive lecture halls, and 17 percent of sections enroll more than fifty undergraduates. Even at such a large institution, it is possible to get involved in undergraduate research. Eberly College of Science professors are running upwards of 3,000 research projects per year, and the school has a well-maintained and up-to-date database of undergraduate research positions. All told, 20 percent of graduates report having engaged in undergraduate research. Twenty-three percent of Penn Staters avail themselves of study abroad opportunities in one of 300 programs in fifty countries.
Penn State University’s College of Engineering is rated exceptionally well on a national scale, cracking the top twenty-five on just about everyone’s list, and even hits the top ten in some sub- disciplines such as industrial and biological engineering. It’s no wonder that engineering is the most popular field of study at the university, accounting for 18 percent of the degrees conferred. The Smeal College of Business is equally well regarded, also earning high rankings in everything from supply chain management to accounting to marketing. This school not only ranks among top undergraduate public business colleges in the United States but among all colleges, and it attracts 16 percent of total degree-seekers. In addition to gaining positive attention from the engineering and business communities, PSU is viewed favorably by prestigious national fellowship organizations. In 2019, ten graduates captured Fulbright Scholarships as well as one or more Boren, Critical Language, Astronaut, Marshall, and Goldwater Scholarships in the last two years.
Outside the Classroom
Only 35 percent of Nittany Lions technically live in university-owned housing, but that doesn’t quite capture the cohesive spirit of the PSU community. Greek life is a major social force at the school as 17 percent of men join frats and 20 percent of women become members of sororities. A tragic hazing death a few years back led to a shutdown of one fraternity and increased administrative scrutiny of the practices of others. Unfortunately, the school is no stranger to national controversy. Yet, even after the infamous Sandusky scandal, Penn State football is a tradition like no other as 106,000 pack into Beaver Stadium to watch the Lions battle with Big Ten rivals like Ohio State, Michigan, and Nebraska. Thon, an annual charity dance marathon, is one of the grandest and most impressive events on campus, raising over $10 million to fight childhood cancer in 2019. With over 1,000 clubs and activities to choose from, it’s hard not to find your niche at Penn State. Campus itself covers almost 8,000 acres and contains its own arboretum, the Palmer Art Museum, and the famous (and delicious) Penn State Creamery. State College may be in the middle of nowhere, but it truly is the ultimate college town, walkable and brimming with terrific restaurants, bars, and shops.
Career Services
Not counting graduate assistants and office managers, there are thirty full-time employees occupying the Bank of America Career Services Center at University Park. However, there are additional offices that serve specialty groups such as the Career Resources & Employer Relations department housed within the College of Engineering that is staffed by seven professionals, the Smeal College of Business that has nine career services employees, and eleven other staff members are spread across campus in other departments. Based on this grand total of fifty-seven career counselors, internship coordinators, employer relations specialists, and related positions, the student-to-counselor ratio is 708:1, higher than most of the schools featured in this guide, but not at all bad for a school of PSU’s size.
Career fairs, such as the major one held each fall, are massive undertakings, some featuring 300+ companies. The Fall Career Fair is four days in length, and that time is divided to cover technical jobs, nontechnical jobs, internships, and interviews. It also offers many smaller (but still large) targeted fairs in areas such as nursing, education, graduate school, small business and startups, and impact (nonprofits). The majority of graduates, 63 percent, report participating in at least one internship while at University Park. More than one 2018 graduate held an internship position at companies like Amazon, Pfizer, and Xerox. Within the first week of students returning to school for the 2019-20 school year, Microsoft and Lockheed Martin were already actively recruiting on campus. PSU does not publish statistics on how many students take advantage of career services offerings, but it is clear that this staff facilitates powerful, door-opening opportunities for those proactive enough to seek them out.
Professional Outcomes
By the day of graduation, 72 percent of Nittany Lions have found their next employment or graduate school home; within some of the universities many colleges, that rate is even higher. Upon receiving their diplomas, 82 percent of Smeal College of Business Class of 2018 grads already had their next step lined up. They flock in large numbers to some of the nation’s best finance, accounting, consulting, and technology firms. More than 500 PSU alumni are currently working at each of IBM, Deloitte, PwC, Amazon, EY, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle. Hundreds more work at Citi, Salesforce, and Facebook. Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh, DC, San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles all have a strong PSU alumni presence. The median salary for Penn State grads ten years after arriving at the school averages $50,000. Of course, salaries vary greatly by academic discipline; business graduates’ salaries start at $60,000 while engineering students start at over $70,000.
Medical school acceptance rates for PSU graduates hover around 60 percent, well above the national average, an impressive figure when considering that over 300 students applied in 2019. Seventy percent of those accepted into medical school enroll at Pennsylvania-based institutions including the Penn State College of Medicine. Overall, presently PSU alumni are enrolled in sixty medical schools throughout the country. Likewise, many prelaw students go on to pursue legal educations at one of the university’s two law schools (Penn State Law and Dickinson Law), other strong local options like Temple or Villanova, or prestigious national universities like the University of North Carolina, Stanford, Cornell, or Wake Forest.
Admission
The nearly 53,000 Nittany Lion hopefuls seeking a place in the Class of 2022 were accepted at a 56 percent rate, a figure that somewhat undersells how competitive gaining admission right out of high school truly is (transferring later is easier). For some, Penn State is a clear number one choice and often a family tradition, for other Pennsylvania students it occupies mere safety status. Overall, the yield rate—the percentage of accepted students who go on to enroll—is 27 percent. Freshmen who entered the university in 2018-19 possessed mid-50 percent standardized test scores of 1160-1330 on the SAT and a composite score of 25-30 on the ACT. One-quarter of applicants scored over a 700 on the math portion of the SAT; only 12 percent achieved the same on the verbal section. With 43 percent of freshmen having earned a place in the top ten percent of their high school class and 76 percent in the top quartile, most Penn State admits sport strong grades, generally a mix of A’s and B’s in at least some AP and honors courses.
The only two “very important” factors in the admissions process are GPA and standardized test scores. The rigor of one’s high school coursework sits alone in the next tier of still “important” factors. Soft factors like essays, extracurricular activities, work experience, talent/ability, character/personal qualities as well as state residency status and ethnicity are “considered” in candidate evaluation. An early option allows students to submit an application by November 1. After that admission is rolling, but you should absolutely meet the priority date of November 30.
Worth Your Money?
PSU’s in-state tuition cost of roughly $18,500 and total cost of attendance of $32,000+ isn’t as cheap as, for example, schools in New York’s SUNY system that have a COA approximately $10k cheaper. A non-Keystone State resident would pay a COA of over $50,000, which would not make sense in most circumstances. Denizens of Pennsylvania will generally reap the benefits of this flagship institution’s strong reputation and incomprehensibly vast alumni network.