First-year students
For freshman admission, the minimum high school units required are as follows:
- English - four units including composition and literature
- Foreign Language/Social Studies/Art/Humanities - 5 units in any combination. Two units of the same foreign language are recommended. Students who have graduated from high school in 2001 or later and have not completed the recommended two high school foreign language units will need to schedule appropriate foreign language course work at Penn State within their first two years of study.
- Science - three units
- Math - three units, including one-and-a-half units of algebra, one unit of plane geometry and one-half unit of trigonometry.
Transfer students
For transfer admission, the above criteria apply. If a student is missing a Carnegie unit from high school, but has taken the missing coursework in college, that will be taken into consideration.
The transfer of credit is a two-step process. The Undergraduate Admissions Office determines which credits will transfer to the University. The University College determines how credits will be used to fulfill degree requirements for the Business degree.
Penn State credits are expressed in semester hours. When courses transfer to Penn State from institutions that utilize another form of academic credit (i.e. quarter credits, units hours, etc.) the unit of credit is converted into semester hours.
For more information about transfer admissions and whether or not a student is classified as a transfer student, please visit our transfer page.