Frequently Asked Questions About Admissions
At the Office of Admissions, we love hearing from students and families who have questions about Bucknell. Below, we've collected some of the questions we receive most often.
If your question isn't answered below, please get in touch. You'll find our contact information at the end of the page.
Frequently Asked Questions About Admissions
Both Early Decision I and Early Decision II require that you, your high school counselor and parent/legal guardian complete and submit the Early Decision Agreement Form by the deadline and commit to enrolling if admitted.
The EDI application deadline is Nov. 1, and the EDII application deadline is Jan. 10.
The January deadline for EDII gives students additional time to decide if they'd like to commit to Bucknell before applying. However, because the EDI process is the earliest in our application cycle, EDII is more selective than EDI.No, we do not have an Early Action application option. However, if Bucknell is at the top of your list, we would encourage you to apply Early Decision I or Early Decision II.
While grades are an important part of the admissions process, we take a holistic approach to application review. In other words, along with your GPA and standardized test scores (if you choose to include them), we also consider extracurricular activities, volunteerism, charity or mission work, etc.
In short, we invite you to apply to Bucknell, regardless of your GPA.
Your school official should send us your high school transcript and/or progress reports with this information as is, regardless of whether a GPA score is weighted or unweighted. Bucknell recalculates GPAs received so that we can review all applicants on the same scale.v
Our Office of the Registrar will review all college-level course credits once you have been admitted to Bucknell.
A good way to gauge whether or not your credits might transfer over is to consider the following:
- Was the course taken in a college setting and given by a professor?
- Is it comparable to a course we currently offer here at Bucknell?
Basically, you have a better chance that a course's credits will transfer over if the course is similar to one offered at Bucknell.
Interviews are not a part of the Bucknell Admissions process, though we welcome calls or emails from you at any time.
Please go to our Plan a Visit page. On this page, you'll find more than just general tour options.
You'll also get details on our upcoming open houses, specific facility tours, visit programs just for high school juniors and seniors, and a chance to take a virtual tour.
Once you've narrowed down how you'd like to experience Bucknell, please click on the "Schedule a visit online" box.
Yes, and we're one of the few universities that does!
Shuttles are offered during University breaks, such as the beginning and end of each term, fall break and Thanksgiving breaks, and winter and spring breaks.
Shuttles are only for students, staff and faculty. Because of liability concerns, we cannot transport family members or friends.
This is related to an issue with the Common App. We still get the info electronically, so don't worry that your score might not show up right away.
Yes, they can send them via email to our application documents processing team at appdocs@bucknell.edu. However, please let them know that this email address is strictly for document submission.
If your high school counselor has any questions, they can write directly to admissions@bucknell.edu.
Yes! Please email appdocs@bucknell.edu to let us know how you want test scores considered in our application review process.
Yes. Bucknell superscores both the SAT and ACT, meaning we take your best section-level scores if you take a test more than once.
For the SAT, this means we take your best Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score and your best Math score — even if they were from different tests — and combine them to create the superscore we consider when looking at your application.
For the ACT, this means we take the average of your best scores from each subject from multiple test attempts. If you take the test multiple times, this could result in the score we consider being the same or higher (never lower).
As a reminder, Bucknell is test-optional, meaning you'll decide whether to include test scores when applying.
Tools like ChatGPT and other AI-based programs are making a significant impact on society and various industries. We believe that these tools can help you generate ideas for your application, but ultimately everything you submit as part of your application to Bucknell should be your own. You should not copy and paste content into your application that you did not create. If you choose to utilize AI–based programs, we encourage you to rely on them as you would a teacher, family member or friend — for brainstorming, editing and honing your work.
Waitlist Information
With far more applicants than available spaces in our incoming class, competition is high and leaves us unable to admit a number of talented, promising students. To a special group of applicants, we offer a place on the waitlist.
The waitlist helps us build a class that meets our enrollment goals as closely as possible. The process works like this: As admitted students make their final decisions about where to enroll, some choose not to come to Bucknell. To account for this, we offer admission to more than the 1,010 applicants who will ultimately form the incoming class. In some years, however, the number of admitted students who choose to enroll at Bucknell is lower than we have predicted. Open spots in the class then can be offered to some of those on the waitlist.
We expect this year's waitlist to have about 1,000 students. Offers of admission to students on the waitlist depend on many factors, including enrollment trends in each of the various academic programs. In the past three years, the number of candidates receiving offers of admission from the waitlist has ranged from 10 to 60 students per year.
No. For the most part, space in academic programs determines offers of admission from the waitlist. If space opens up in your program of interest, we may be more likely to extend an offer of admission. If space in your program of interest does not open up, you are unlikely to receive an offer of admission.
To indicate that you want to remain on Bucknell's waitlist, please go to your Application Status page and complete the Waitlist Interest Form no later than April 15. Your school should also send updated grades as they become available, and you can send any personal achievements that occurred after submitting your application to appdocs@bucknell.edu. By July 1, we should know whether we will offer admission to any students on the waitlist.
After accepting your place on the waitlist through your Application Status page, you can email your admissions counselor to express your interest in attending Bucknell. If you did not list a second-choice major on your application and would like to add one at this time, you can also include this in your communication with your admissions counselor. You can find the admissions counselor for the region of your high school here: bucknell.edu/admissions-aid/find-your-counselor
Offers of admission from the waitlist are made based on the availability of financial aid, therefore it is important that your financial aid status is correct and complete. Log into your Application Status page to make sure that all required documents have been received. If you no longer wish to apply for need-based financial aid, instructions on how to update your application can also be found on your Application Status page.
You should take action to ensure that you are enrolled in a college or university for the fall semester. Please be mindful of the enrollment deposit deadlines or candidate reply dates from the school(s) you may have been admitted to in order to accept an offer of admission.
Financial aid availability depends greatly on the response from those who were already offered admission and financial aid. If you are offered admission from the waitlist and financial aid funds are available, we will let you know at the time of the offer.
Yes. After we have confirmed that we have reached full enrollment for our incoming class, no later than Aug. 1, we will notify every student who remains on our waitlist.
Deferral Information
When we defer your Early Decision (ED) application to Bucknell, it means we will consider your application as part of our Regular Decision process. Below, we've answered some questions about what this means and next steps. If you have further questions, please contact the Office of Admissions at 570-577-3000 or admissions@bucknell.edu.
Deferral means we are unable to offer you admission at this time, but we believe your application warrants further consideration as part of the pool of Regular Decision applicants. You are released from the binding commitment of your Early Decision application.
Our continued review of your credentials takes into account that Bucknell is your first choice. We recognize this and will attempt to extend extra consideration as appropriate.
Unless stated otherwise in your letter, you need to send your updated grades when they become available, as well as any new extracurricular or personal achievements you would like us to consider in the Regular Decision review process. If you applied Early Decision I, these updates need to be submitted by Feb. 10, 2025. Early Decision II applicants should submit any updates as soon as possible.
Your application, with current grades, will be considered with the entire Regular Decision applicant pool. You will be notified of our decision on or before April 1, 2025.
The number of deferrals varies from year to year. Typically, less than 25% of ED candidates who are deferred are later offered admission through the Regular Decision process.
Yes. In fact, we strongly encourage you to apply to other schools in order to ensure your place in college next fall.