What are Penn State Lehigh Valley's admission requirements? While there are a lot of pieces that go into a college application, you should focus on only a few critical things:
In this guide we'll cover what you need to get into Penn State Lehigh Valley and build a strong application.
School location: Center Valley, PA
If you want to get in, the first thing to look at is the acceptance rate. This tells you how competitive the school is and how serious their requirements are.
The acceptance rate at Penn State Lehigh Valley is 85.3%. For every 100 applicants, 85 are admitted.
This means the school is lightly selective. The school will have their expected requirements for GPA and SAT/ACT scores. If you meet their requirements, you're almost certain to get an offer of admission. But if you don't meet Penn State Lehigh Valley's requirements, you'll be one of the unlucky few people who gets rejected.
We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League.
We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools.
Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.
Many schools specify a minimum GPA requirement, but this is often just the bare minimum to submit an application without immediately getting rejected.
The GPA requirement that really matters is the GPA you need for a real chance of getting in. For this, we look at the school's average GPA for its current students.
The average GPA at Penn State Lehigh Valley is 3.16.
(Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA.
With a GPA of 3.16, Penn State Lehigh Valley accepts below-average students. It's OK to be a B-average student, with some A's mixed in. It'd be best to avoid C's and D's, since application readers might doubt whether you can handle the stress of college academics.
Each school has different requirements for standardized testing. Most schools require the SAT or ACT, and many also require SAT subject tests.
You must take either the SAT or ACT to submit an application to Penn State Lehigh Valley. More importantly, you need to do well to have a strong application.
Many schools say they have no SAT score cutoff, but the truth is that there is a hidden SAT requirement. This is based on the school's average score.
The average SAT score composite at Penn State Lehigh Valley is a 1110 on the 1600 SAT scale.
This score makes Penn State Lehigh Valley Competitive for SAT test scores.
The 25th percentile SAT score is 980, and the 75th percentile SAT score is 1220. In other words, a 980 on the SAT places you below average, while a 1220 will move you up to above average.
Here's the breakdown of SAT scores by section:
| Section | Average | 25th Percentile | 75th Percentile |
| Math | 560 | 490 | 620 |
| Reading + Writing | 550 | 490 | 600 |
| Composite | 1110 | 980 | 1220 |
The Score Choice policy at your school is an important part of your testing strategy.
Penn State Lehigh Valley has the Score Choice policy of "Highest Sitting."
This means that you can choose which SAT tests you want to send to the school. Of all the scores they receive, your application readers will consider the SAT score from your single highest test date (the sum of math, reading, and writing).
This is important for your testing strategy. Because you can choose which tests to send in, and Penn State Lehigh Valley only considers your highest score on a single test date, you can take the SAT as many times as you want, then submit your strongest score. Your application readers will only see that one score.
Therefore, if your SAT score is currently below a 980, we strongly recommend that you consider prepping for the SAT and retaking it. You don't have much to lose, and you can potentially raise your score and significantly boost your chances of getting in.
Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and SAT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.
Just like for the SAT, Penn State Lehigh Valley likely doesn't have a hard ACT cutoff, but if you score too low, your application will get tossed in the trash.
The average ACT score at Penn State Lehigh Valley is 24. This score makes Penn State Lehigh Valley Moderately Competitive for ACT scores.
The 25th percentile ACT score is 21, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 27.
If you're taking the ACT as opposed to the SAT, you have a huge advantage in how you send scores, and this dramatically affects your testing strategy.
Here it is: when you send ACT scores to colleges, you have absolute control over which tests you send. You could take 10 tests, and only send your highest one. This is unlike the SAT, where many schools require you to send all your tests ever taken.
This means that you have more chances than you think to improve your ACT score. To try to aim for the school's ACT requirement of 21 and above, you should try to take the ACT as many times as you can. When you have the final score that you're happy with, you can then send only that score to all your schools.
By and large, most colleges do not superscore the ACT. (Superscore means that the school takes your best section scores from all the test dates you submit, and then combines them into the best possible composite score). Thus, most schools will just take your highest ACT score from a single sitting.
We weren't able to find the school's exact ACT policy, which most likely means that it does not Superscore. Regardless, you can choose your single best ACT score to send in to Penn State Lehigh Valley, so you should prep until you reach our recommended target ACT score of 21.
Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and ACT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.
Both the SAT and ACT have an optional essay section.
Penn State Lehigh Valley requires you to take the SAT Essay/ACT Writing section. They'll use this as another factor in their admissions consideration.
Schools vary in their SAT subject test requirements. Typically, selective schools tend to require them, while most schools in the country do not.
We did not find information that Penn State Lehigh Valley requires SAT subject tests, and so most likely it does not. At least 6 months before applying, you should still doublecheck just to make sure, so you have enough time to take the test.
Because this school is lightly selective, you have a great shot at getting in, as long as you don't fall well below average. Aim for a 980 SAT or a 21 ACT or higher, and you'll almost certainly get an offer of admission. As long as you meet the rest of the application requirements below, you'll be a shoo-in.
But if you score below our recommended target score, you may be one of the very few unlucky people to get rejected.
We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League.
We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools.
Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.
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Every school requires an application with the bare essentials - high school transcript and GPA, application form, and other core information. Many schools, as explained above, also require SAT and ACT scores, as well as letters of recommendation, application essays, and interviews. We'll cover the exact requirements of Penn State Lehigh Valley here.
If you're interested in Penn State Lehigh Valley, you'll probably be interested in these schools as well. We've divided them into 3 categories depending on how hard they are to get into, relative to Penn State Lehigh Valley.
These schools are have higher average SAT scores than Penn State Lehigh Valley. If you improve your SAT score, you'll be competitive for these schools.
| School Name | Location | SAT Avg | ACT Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ | 1235 | 25 |
| University of Alabama | Tuscaloosa, AL | 1184 | 27 |
| Colorado State University | Fort Collins, CO | 1180 | 26 |
| Quinnipiac University | Hamden, CT | 1175 | 26 |
| Ohio University | Athens, OH | 1170 | 24 |
| University of North Texas | Denton, TX | 1160 | 23 |
| University of Texas at Arlington | Arlington, TX | 1160 | 23 |
If you're competitive for Penn State Lehigh Valley, these schools will offer you a similar chance of admission.
| School Name | Location | SAT Avg | ACT Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hampton University | Hampton, VA | 1130 | 22 |
| Washington State University | Pullman, WA | 1125 | 23 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio, TX | 1125 | 22 |
| East Carolina University | Greenville, NC | 1105 | 22 |
| Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University | Tallahassee, FL | 1105 | 21 |
| Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis | Indianapolis, IN | 1100 | 22 |
| Texas State University | San Marcos, TX | 1095 | 23 |
If you're currently competitive for Penn State Lehigh Valley, you should have no problem getting into these schools. If Penn State Lehigh Valley is currently out of your reach, you might already be competitive for these schools.
| School Name | Location | SAT Avg | ACT Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberty University | Lynchburg, VA | 1069 | 24 |
| University of Texas at El Paso | El Paso, TX | 1040 | 20 |
| Texas A&M University - Kingsville | Kingsville, TX | 1040 | 20 |
| California State University Sacramento | Sacramento, CA | 1035 | 19 |
| California State University Northridge | Northridge, CA | 1030 | 19 |
| Indiana University of Pennsylvania | Indiana, PA | 1017 | 19 |
| California State University East Bay | Hayward, CA | 992 | 19 |
We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League.
We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools.
Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.
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