<p>I am a pharmacology undergraduate at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP). I have a 3.96 GPA, 1400 GREs (800 math, 600 verbal), research and presentations, and Teaching Assistant experience as well. </p>
<p>I am applying to UPenn for both pharmacology and biomolecular engineering. </p>
<p>My question is: Does USP have a good reputation? Will it be an asset for admissions? Would it be at the caliber of a state school, like, say, UD or others? </p>
<p>Thanks to anyone who can help.</p>
<p>Pharmguy, I have to be honest here, as a professional scientist, I have never had any interaction with (or even seen papers from) this institution. I asked a colleague of mine who worked at TJU in Philadelphia and she had never even heard of it. So, you probably won’t get any points for prestige or name recognition. However, with a stellar GPA and GRE scores, research and teaching experience, you probably won’t see any negative impacts in your admissions. Quite the opposite, I suspect many top schools will be clamoring over your application. Best of luck</p>
<p>oh boy…never heard of it? what i struggle with is that i was actually a top high school student and got admitted to UD and Villanova chemical engineering programs. i think i made a big mistake going to USP.</p>
<p>It sure sounds like you are putting a lot of worry and stress into something that you can’t change about your app. People go to all kinds of places with less name recognition than USP yet still get admitted to respectable grad schools. I don’t know if UPenn does this, but many schools websites will post profiles of current grad students and will include their undergrad institution. </p>
<p>You do have an advantage that you aren’t counting on, if Philly is anything like Denver, the faculty at UPenn may know faculty at your undergrad institution due to collaborations or obscure small scale poster sessions/conferences that take place on the city scale.</p>
<p>Finally, if you are deadset on having a more competitive application and you believe that brand power is the key - take a couple of years off and get a lab tech job at UPenn or any other prestigious school.</p>
<p>i suppose you could be right. thanks for all your advice.</p>