Ben Franklin Scholar

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I have a few questions regarding this thing…</p>

<p>My friend who goes to Penn said this program is selected as the top 5% of the applicants and he gets to take honor courses…</p>

<p>how are the 5% chosen? is it by SAT scores and GPA only? What type of advantage do Ben Franklin Scholars get, ex, are they given a different penn degree that say “graduated as a ben franklin scholar?”</p>

2

<p>I'm not sure how they choose exactly, but it's not as straight forward as just the top 5% of scores.
AFAIK, there are two levels to the honors program, depending on how many honors classes you take. I'm pretty sure you do get a note on your diploma about it. Obviously the main advantage is unrestricted access to honors classes, plus the whole prestige factor. You can take BFS classes if you're just an ordinary student though, you just need permission. I think it's easy to get in, unless enrolment is maxed out by bona dide BFS people. You can also apply to be a BFS once you're at penn. Check CURF for more info: <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/curf/scholars.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.upenn.edu/curf/scholars.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

3

<p>thx.</p>

<p>"You can also apply to be a BFS once you're at penn."</p>

<p>if i ever get into penn, i don't think my scores and GPA will place me in the top 5%... but i do hope that i could still apply for the scholar if not admitted as one...</p>

<p>i got 690 v 800 m 800 2c 800 chem and 740 writing.. 4.0 GPA.. but i think with the 690, that will kick me out of top 5%</p>

4

<p>don't be too sure, an awful lot of people get listed as potential scholars, including me - even with my 650M on the SAT I. To be fair, I wasn't made a scholar, but I was considered!</p>

5

<p>"get listed as potential scholars, including me"</p>

<p>lol.. what you mean get listed as potential scholars? don't they just tell you if you're a scholar or not when you're admitted?</p>