Schreyer Honors College (SHC)at Penn State

We know and understand how disappointing this can be for our applicants. The strength of our applicant pool and the limitation of our entering class size inevitably results in a very competitive selection process. Each year, we must tell many very strong students that we cannot admit them into the Schreyer Honors College. An average acceptance rate for the Schreyer Honors College is between 20-25%.

We receive many inquiries every year from families and counselors of applicants denied admission. Here is what we recommend:

• Encourage the applicant to contact us if they would like feedback on their application. We would prefer to speak directly to the student instead of a parent or counselor. We can possibly explain where the application fell short or how they could have improved their application. This conversation can be very useful to the applicant as they move into their college years.
• We cannot discuss other applicants' decisions including why some got in and others did not. We can discuss an application with the student who submitted it, but will not compare with other applications.
• We do not accept late materials for consideration or appeals of our final decisions. We will politely decline if requested.
• We invite all applicants who did not receive admission to the Schreyer Honors College to enroll at Penn State and consider the Gateway application process once they are a Penn State student. This entry point is available to currently enrolled Penn State students who would like to enroll in the Schreyer Honors College in their sophomore or junior years. Criteria for selection will be performance in Penn State coursework.
• Over the past 5 years, approximately 34% of those who did not receive admission to Schreyer Honors College still chose to attend Penn State for all the benefits and advantages of a Penn State education.