Supply and Demand at Penn State

With 94,000 applications this year, getting into Penn State can be a daunting task. Here are some tips from admissions officials

If you want to get into Penn State's Smeal College of Business this admissions season, you'll face quite a bit of competition. For students beginning their studies this fall, the university as a whole received the most applications of any school in the country—94,000. And Smeal was the most popular among the university's colleges, says Randy Deike, associate vice-president for enrollment management and executive director for undergraduate admissions.

The majority of Penn State's undergrads reside in University Park—the school's main campus and home of the famous Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions football team. Also known as "Happy Valley," the campus and surrounding area provide a positive all-around college experience for most undergraduates.

Unfortunately, not everyone gets into main campus right away, as admissions standards have been rising as application numbers pick up. However, if Penn State is your prime pick and your grades and test scores don't quite measure up, you still have a chance at attending. The university has 19 other campuses around Pennsylvania, and students can study business at all of them, says Smeal Dean Jim Thomas.

Thomas and Deike recently spoke to BusinessWeek.com reporter Julie Gordon about Smeal admissions. Following are edited excerpts of their conversation:

Students apply to Penn State's general admissions office. How does it work for potential Smeal students?

Deike: When students apply to Penn State, they give us a first and alternate choice major and a first and alternate choice campus location. They'll list a major, but then they declare their major in their junior year.

What type of GPA are you looking for?

Thomas: Well, it depends on the major. For example, finance is an incredibly high-demand major, and the GPA cutoff—the enrollment control, as we call it—is a 3.3 out of 4.0, and then it varies. In finance, we have 300 openings and we'll take the first 300 who come in at 3.3. The problem is that we get 375 that have 3.3. So the number isn't the issue. But for the most part, it's a 3.3 that gets you entered into the finance major.

If you take another major, like management, there's a 3.0 GPA cutoff to get in. We have 185 slots in management, and the first that come in with a 3.0 can get in. This year, we didn't get to the 185 for 3.0. So we actually went down to 2.9 to fill the 185 slots within that particular major.

Say you're admitted to Smeal and you want to declare a finance major and have taken those types of classes but your grades aren't up to par. Would you have to choose a different major?

Thomas: Well, you're admitted into a pre-major as a freshman, but you're really not admitted into the major until your junior year. So that's the gateway, as it's referred to, and that's the decision point of admission into the major. But all business students have had the same prerequisite courses.

So they don't take major-specific classes until junior year?

Thomas: That's correct.

Deike: And that's true of all of the majors in all of the colleges at Penn State. The first two years are really a time during which students take a lot of Gen Ed courses, and then the core courses for the college, but they're not really finance majors or accounting majors or management majors until they declare their major in their junior year.

What was the average SAT score for this year's class?

Deike: For new students, the median SAT is about 1220.

I know that the essay isn't a required portion of the application. How is each of the application portions factored into decision-making?

Deike: Right, it's not required. The high school GPA accounts for about two-thirds of the admission decision. SAT scores and other supporting materials, like the activities lists that students will provide and essays if they choose to complete, would make up the other third.

With an institution this size, we certainly don't read every essay, but there are times when students are close in terms of placement at one campus or another. If it comes down to it and there are a number of students with similar credentials, we'll read essays and look at activities lists and make decisions based on the additional information.

Do standards differ for Pennsylvania residents and nonresidents?

Deike: There's no distinction.

I guess there are just more Pennsylvania residents applying, and that's why there are more Pennsylvania residents in attendance?

Deike: Actually, at the university as a whole and to University Park in particular, we're seeing more out-of-state students applying to Penn State.

Thomas: It's the most popular application destination in the country.