Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Berks

Public · Moderately Selective · PA

Photo: BerksCountyUpdate (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationPA · Northeast

SettingSuburban

Undergrads1,872

Student:faculty13:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate22.7%

6-yr grad rate31.5%

Drop-out rate23.2%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$16k

Out-of-state tuition$27k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity42.1%

Gender diversity41.4%

International3.6%

Identity—

Overview

Penn State Berks is one of Penn State's Commonwealth Campuses, located on a suburban site outside Reading, Pennsylvania. It offers a smaller-scale entry point into the Penn State system, with its own residence halls and a self-contained first-years experience for students who plan either to finish a degree on-site or transition to the University Park campus.

Academics

Class sizes are noticeably smaller than at University Park, and many students use Berks specifically for that lower-division, more personal-attention model before finishing upper-division coursework either locally or after transferring.

Worth knowing

The defining feature of a Commonwealth Campus like Berks is the built-in path to University Park — a student can start here and later move to the flagship campus without reapplying, still under the Penn State name and degree.

berks.psu.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate98.7%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1090–1275 · ACT 18–27

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Regular decisionDec 1

AdmissionRolling

Applying