First-year applicants have choices when applying to Penn State. Research your campus options to find the perfect fit for you.
One Application, 20 Campuses.
In addition to choosing a program of study when applying to Penn State, students can choose from 20 undergraduate campuses throughout Pennsylvania. Our campuses range in both size and location, as well as in their academic programs and extracurricular options. What does having 20 campuses mean for students?
Start at one campus and complete your degree at another, the 2+2 plan provides options for achieving your goals.
Explore the 2+2 plan
Starting and Ending Campus
When completing the application, students have to select both a starting and ending campus. In some cases, students desire to have these campus selections be the same; but in other cases, students wish to start at one campus and then complete their degree at another campus.
Here's how the process works:
- The ending campus is where you will need to finish your degree. Some campuses offer more majors than other campuses, and all of Penn State's degrees are not offered for completion at every campus. In your final two years, you will have to go to a campus that offers your intended major in order to finish that program. When reviewing our majors listing, we indicate where you must complete the degree.
- Students then have to select a starting campus. Most of Penn State’s majors can be started at any campus–some can only be started at select campuses. If a starting campus is not an option based on program limitations, it will not be available for selection when applying.
- Selecting a different starting campus from your ending campus is called the 2+2 plan. This option is the most common path to a Penn State degree and affords students many benefits—check them out here.
- Students are required to list an alternate choice campus. This option is only used if we are unable to offer admission to the first-choice campus
Alternate Campus Offers
Providing Penn State with an alternate choice campus gives students more admission options. Our promise to future students is that they will be evaluated for each campus in the order they specify. If future students fulfill the admission requirements for their first-choice campus, they will be accepted there. Providing an alternate choice campus will expedite the admissions process should we not be able to extend an offer of admission to the student's first-choice campus. Supplying an alternate choice campus has no impact on the review of your first-choice campus.
- All first-year students are required to select an alternate choice campus before we can review your application for admission.
- When students indicate an alternate choice campus, we will only review their application for that choice if we cannot offer admission to their first-choice campus. If we can offer admission to the alternate choice campus, the future Penn Stater will receive an offer for that campus (and the offer will indicate that we could not offer admission to the first-choice campus).
- If we cannot offer admission to the first-choice campus or the alternate choice campus, we will reach out to the student regarding admission options.
Providing an alternate choice campus gives students the greatest chance of joining the Penn State family. If students receive an offer of admission to their alternate-choice campus, they are still able to pursue their academic program by participating in our 2+2 plan.