-PENN ADMISSIONS-

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1. Which of the four undergraduate schools is right for me?

ANSWER: When you apply to Penn, choosing the undergraduate school or interdisciplinary program in which to apply is the first challenge.

Start with yourself: what are your strengths, weaknesses, passions, and desires? Then, look at the different programs that Penn has to offer and figure out which ones best match your interests. Don't worry if you're still unsure of the path that lies before you. A majority of students are undecided about their major when they arrive at Penn.

After exploring our extensive offerings, many others will change their minds and begin a course of study they never considered before. With the "singular campus" motto, students do have the flexibility of taking class at any of the undergraduate schools, and as an upperclassman, can take classes at any of the graduate schools.

• The College of Arts and Sciences
  Each College class is composed of approximately 1,500 freshmen selected from over 14,000 applicants. And while most students who apply to the College are immensely talented, those who gain admission and choose to enroll tend to be among the most interesting and dynamic of all university applicants worldwide. Penn's College of Arts and Sciences is changing the way students learn, and in turn attracts students who consider themselves to be pioneers. To learn more about what the College of Arts and Sciences has to offer, check out their list of majors, concentrations, minors, and joint degree programs. This checklist gives you easy access to a nuts-and-bolts description of the major, as well as a quick link to the department website. Use it to help you narrow down your academic curiosities!



• The School of Engineering and Applied Science
  Two key elements distinguish the Penn Engineering experience from that provided by many other institutions: exceptional programs, research, and design experience. Our undergraduate programs emphasize both theory and practice while forming intellectual linkages across a breadth of disciplines. The opportunity for hands-on research, over the four years, allows undergraduates the opportunity to learn about the creation of knowledge and delve more deeply into their chosen field, and thereby become collaborators in the search for knowledge. The design experience over the four years and culminating in the senior design project challenges students to utilize their academic training and problem-solving skills in practical ways, and provides them with direct experience in real-world problems that they will encounter as practicing engineers.
  
  Penn Engineering offers two separate degree programs, the Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) and the Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS).

  The Bachelor of Science in Engineering is a traditional engineering degree that prepares students to be professional engineering, computer science or digital media design.

  The Bachelor of Applied Science is a degree option that offers students breadth and allows them to combine a technology-based degree with considerable course work in the liberal arts, communications, or fine arts. This degree is designed primarily for students whose interests are not oriented toward a professional engineering career. It is a popular degree option for those preparing for careers in medicine, business, and law.




• The School of Nursing
  The University of Pennsylvania offers the only undergraduate Ivy League nursing school and is recognized worldwide for its standards of academic excellence. A nationally respected faculty, student involvement in cutting-edge research, the latest advances in virtual learning, and clinical experience in the nation's top hospitals combine to create an educational atmosphere like no other. With extensive options for joint degree programs, minors, and submatriculation into graduate programs, a Penn Nursing degree provides variety, flexibility, and opportunity.
  
  Opportunities abound to interact with School of Nursing faculty in and out of the classroom. Students often assist faculty with research projects, which guide the profession today. And, right here on campus are two world-class teaching hospitals: The University of Pennsylvania Medical Center and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. View the Undergraduate Nursing brochure (PDF).



• The Wharton School
  Founded as the first U.S. business school in 1881, Wharton has been driving change in business education and research ever since. Our students are challenged and enriched by an educational experience that combines the best undergraduate business education with the arts and sciences in an Ivy League setting. Wharton looks for well-prepared students from a wide range of backgrounds, whose academic and personal histories show both promise and passion. While there is no magic formula, Wharton is looking for students who:
  • are leaders, movers and shakers, and will make an impact
  • have strong academic records
  • have taken the most rigorous curriculum offered by their school
  • will have taken Calculus during high school
  • are well rounded
  • have a genuine interest in business, Wharton, and Penn
  For more information, see www.wharton.upenn.edu/community/prospective.

2. Does Penn have quotas for a particular region or school?

ANSWER: No. Penn seeks to enroll students with unique achievements and talents as well as diverse economic, social and geographic backgrounds. We do not have any quotas for any particular population (i.e., race, ethnicity, religion, state, etc.). Applicants are compared to all other applicants, both regionally and globally. For detailed information on the statistics of the most recent entering class, go to the Incoming Student Profile.

3. How can I determine if I would be a realistic applicant to Penn?

ANSWER: Many students (and parents) like to get a sense as to whether they are "even in the ballpark" when it comes to applying to Penn. Of course the selective nature of Penn admission has changed over the years. While this means your parent's alma mater is in great shape, it also means, to the chagrin of many alumni with college-bound children, that Penn is a "reach" school for many applicants today.

A prospective student can self-assess by using the following criteria:

• does your academic profile compare favorably with Penn's most recent Accepted Student Profile?
• are you taking the most rigorous course load available at your high school?
• can you articulate how your interests and extracurricular activities will allow you to contribute to the community at Penn?

Answering yes to any of these questions may place a student "in the ballpark". However, it is important to note that the vast majority of Penn's applicants fit this profile, so the Admissions Committee goes beyond these kinds of qualifications to select the most compelling, interesting, and exciting students whose applications demonstrate the strongest fit with Penn.

4. What does Penn look for?

ANSWER: Students and parents often look for a specific answer to the following question: If a candidate presents A, B, and C, will he or she be admitted to Penn? Unfortunately, so many factors are at play in the selection process that outcomes for most candidates in the pool are impossible to predict. We estimate that over 80 percent of the students who apply for admission to Penn are qualified to do the work here. The great majority of students who are admitted, however, stand out from the rest because a lot of little things, when added up, tip the scale in their favor. The difference between a successful and an unsuccessful candidate at Penn is often painfully small.

What does matter in the admissions process? Penn is above all an academic institution, and thus academic strength is our first consideration in evaluating any candidate. The most important document in the application is the high school transcript, which tells us a great deal about a student's academic motivation and performance over time. We look for students who have consistently taken a broad range of challenging courses in high school and done well in them. There are no score cutoffs for standardized tests: the mean scores for admitted students on the three portions of the SAT generally fall in the high 600s to mid 700s, and the ACT composites are from 31-34, but successful candidates present a wide range of test results. While there is no hard and fast rule, it is safe to say that performance in school is relatively more important than testing. A very strong performance in a demanding college preparatory program may compensate for modest standardized test scores, but it is unlikely that high standardized test scores will persuade the admissions committee to disregard an undistinguished secondary-school record.

High school teachers can provide extremely helpful information in their evaluations. Not only do they discuss your performance in their particular class or classes, but they also often write about such things as your motivation, intellectual curiosity, energy, relationships with classmates, and impact on the classroom environment. Obviously it is important that you solicit recommendations from teachers who know you well.

Just as teacher recommendations are meant to give the admissions committee a glimpse of what you are like in the classroom, the counselor recommendation can provide us with a picture of your place in your high school class and in the larger school community. Your counselor can help us assess the degree of difficulty of your program, tell us what a particular leadership position means at your school, provide information on your background, and, in general, provide the sort of textured comments about you that would help your application come to life.

Leadership and Extracurricular activities
The Penn supplement portion of the application tries to get at the personal side of the applicant through the use of essays and short answer questions whose scope is broad enough to accommodate most writers. We encourage you to take the writing of the essays seriously and to write openly and honestly about activities, interests, or experiences that have been meaningful to you. What is most important is that you write in your own voice. The essays are your one chance to communicate with the Admissions Officers reading your file. If an essay doesn't sound like the person who writes it, it cannot serve him or her very well as a personal statement. As with every document in the application, Admissions Officers read essays very carefully and try to get a full sense of the student behind them.

In the end, everything in an application matters. The good news is that so many little things figure in an admissions decision that it is fruitless to worry too much about any one of them.

5. Since Penn accepts SAT and ACT, is there a preference for one standardized test over another?

ANSWER: Penn will accept either of the following as a complete battery of testing for the application:

SAT 1, and two SAT Subject tests (also called SAT 2's)
Or
ACT with the Writing section

These are equal options, and it makes no difference which one a student submits.

I'll discuss it further, and offer my opinion:
At some point several years ago, the SAT and ACT were a bit more regionally separated. That is, in some parts of the country students tended to take the SAT, and in other parts of the country students tended to take the ACT. In some regions, students might have had access to only one of these tests. The colleges were wise to this, and I believe most decided to look at either test, so they could have a more geographically diverse applicant pool. Students in the northeast region of the United States historically tended to take the SAT. Now the ACT is almost equally available, so some students find they now have another option. The very fact that some want to try their hand at both tests is a sign of two unfortunate trends:

1. Some students are focusing too much on the testing portion of the application, and assigning too much importance to test scores. Some students will go ahead and take all of the testing options, giving up weekend hours that could be spent on enriching, interesting or fun activities, like reading books, volunteer work, or a part-time job. When students are in college-search mode, some of these weekend hours could be spent researching various college options. When preparing applications, a few weekend hours might be better spent revising application essays.

2. There is way too much gamesmanship in the mind of the college applicant, and gamesmanship is not an attractive quality in college applications. Some students give so much thought to how they will look to a college, that they forget they will apply to less than 1% of the available 4 year colleges in the US. They should devote more time to the college search, rule out some "really good" colleges that don't match their interests, and round out their college list with perhaps a few "lesser known" colleges that truly do match their interests. By putting their mind to a very thorough college search, they might ultimately look more mature, inquisitive, focused and driven - things that just might help when they are writing an essay for a particular school.

I'll admit, this is just my opinion. In the final analysis, it will never hurt an applicant to take a whole bunch of tests just to see how they do. ---Steve

6. What is meant by "academic and social communities" in the required Penn supplement essay question?

ANSWER:The essay is one of my favorite topics when it comes to application advice. I guess any question is open to interpretation, and I’m happy to share my personal analysis. The fact that you are asking this question is already a good sign to me – that you are giving thought to what they are really asking.

I see two distinct cues in the question: “academic communities,” and “social communities.” A third cue is the phrase “that most interest you.”

By “academic communities,” I think Penn Admissions would like to know what academic features at Penn really appeal to you (courses, professors, research… they’ve kept the phrase broad intentionally). You do not need to select a major. If you have, then that’s an obvious starting point. Even the truly undecided student has intellectual curiosity. What do you find at Penn, in the academic sense, that you can’t wait to experience for yourself? What, in the academic sense, is special about Penn, as opposed to other top institutions? What, academically, reflects some of your own intellectual experiences and curiosity?

Personally, I am not crazy about the wording choice of “social communities.” My advice to legacies is to think more along the lines of extracurricular interests. Here you might take an approach analogous to what I described with academics. Which extracurricular features at Penn really appeal to you? What do you find at Penn, in the extracurricular sense, that you can’t wait to experience for yourself? What, in the extracurricular sense, is special about Penn, as opposed to other top institutions? What extracurricular opportunities reflect some of your own experiences and interests?

To strengthen your response to the question, you may want to conduct further research about Penn, and I’m happy to tell you that you can accomplish most of it or all of it on the Penn website. In the final analysis, make sure your essay really reflects you and your genuine interests, and that it somehow shows how those interests play out at Penn.

I am glad you are giving this some thought, but don’t “over-think” it. Also, click here for more essay writing tips.

Good luck!
-Steve

7. How does the Admissions committee consider alumni support of the University?

ANSWER: The Undergraduate Admissions Office extends consideration to legacy applicants, regardless of the family’s support of Penn.

The Office of Development and Alumni Relations may make the Admissions Office aware of how an applicant's family has supported Penn. The Alumni Council on Admissions has observed that, while the Admissions Committee may view and consider this information, it has not been influential in the decision process. The application review process focuses on the applicant’s performance, the applicant's talents, and the applicant's overall fit with Penn.

Each year, many qualified applicants are denied admission to Penn. Among them are many students whose parents, grandparents, or other relatives have been faithful volunteers or donors for Penn. We realize it is very difficult for these families to receive a negative Admissions decision, but we must also acknowledge that the Admissions process is not an appropriate way for Penn to recognize past contributions, nor is it a means of attracting new contributions for the University.

Staff members in Development and Alumni Relations have no access to information in the Admissions Office, so they are unaware when an alumnus has a relative applying. We also have no access to an Admissions decision until after the applicant has been informed. If you have a child considering an application to Penn, and you are solicited for increased support to Penn, financial or otherwise, it is our recommendation that you respectfully decline the request, and inform the staff person that you have a current Admissions interest.

8. What if Penn says "No"? What should I do?

ANSWER: See our webpage for more information.