Currently, I’m going into my sophmore year of high school. I won’t go around throwing out stats and such, but I have already displayed a particular interest in environment and plant science related EC’s and classes. I’ve gotten a research volunteer role at the nearby college on plants, am in the FFA doing events, and I will be working at a green house. I do many other things that aren’t related to plants and such like band and theatre, but like I said, I won’t go around throwing those out.
Will this hinder my acceptance to this school? I want to major in business, and possibly minor in plant science. Could I apply for the school under the implied major of plant science?
Guess I just need some general guidance. My guidance office wasn’t much help.
If you look at the Common App (which you can do now) you will see that Penn asks you to apply at a particular school. So, you’d apply to Wharton, and then the plant science major as a second choice. It will probably be much easier to get in as a plant science major but then you won’t be in the business school.
Can’t I just get accepted in the plant science program, and then if I get accepted, switch on over? I’m sorry, I’m new to the process. UPenn seems to work differently than most colleges I’ve been looking at
That’s understandable, however, pretty unfortunate. I’m in a small town in rural Delaware, and it’s very hard to get remarkable business related EC’s. Of course, I’m not making a checklist, I’d just like there to be such things.
The plan I had was that I’d start a plant related company, and to go to the business school there so that I get some top tier education on finance and such. Should this be stated in my common app?
I’m also not black or anything, and I’m not rich either.
It’s not as simple as switching over. You can transfer into it or double major, but you would have to go through a transfer application process. It’s a very competitive school. https://undergrad-inside.wharton.upenn.edu/itdd-faq/
It is easier to change majors/programs at some schools than at others. I think it’s an important consideration for any student who is not 100% sure about what he or she wants to study, so you are ahead of the game just by bringing it up here.
I don’t think Penn has an explicit Plant Science major, though you may be able to focus research on plant science as part of a biology major.
If you are actually interested in Wharton, then apply to Wharton to start. The requirements to apply to Wharton as an internal transfer or dual degree are far below the threshold actually required since there is more demand for slots than supply of slots. You typically need a 3.7-3.8 GPA in the College or SEAS, and you need to have taken courses to position you to jump into the Wharton core as soon as you start. Another reality is that the College is not tremendously easy to get into to start, certainly not substantially easier than Wharton. It isn’t like you’re looking at a university with one school that is desperate for applicants and another that is highly coveted by high school students. If Wharton’s acceptance rate is 10% and the College’s is 15%, that still means that more than 8 in 10 people who apply will not get in. Not worth the risk of applying to a program you don’t actually want to finish with.
With all that said, if you are talking about majors within a school, Penn doesn’t care at all. I thought I wanted to be a math major when I applied, and I wound up taking a whopping one math course in my time. Nobody from admissions pays attention once you matriculate.
You sound passionate about plant science and doing research, why apply to Wharton? You can take some finance classes without being a business major (I assume).
You won’t find gaining acceptance to the College much easier than Wharton so you should really just apply to the school that will fit your intellectual interests most closely. The difference in acceptance rate between Wharton and the College is probably about the same as the difference between Stanford and Princeton or Harvard and MIT, which is to say, negligible. And the stats of the incoming students at Penn’s undergrad schools are all comparable. Wharton students are encouraged to take and do well on Math SAT subject tests, whereas students in the College will have taken and done exceptionally well on any number of SAT subject tests, which may or may not include math. Additionally, there is no GPA requirement specific for a wharton internal transfer, it’s all about showing why that curriculum would fit your interests better and ensuring that you are doing well enough at the university to make switching schools academically feasible. It’s not about preventing a ‘bait and switch’ since getting into wharton is not harder than getting into the college or engineering (it’s possible that Engineering’s acceptance rate is now lower than Wharton’s-- and acceptance rate doesn’t dictate difficulty). You will need at least a 3.4 to switch to any school within Penn and more importantly, you will need a good reason why your academic interests are not being met in your current program with the added flexibility offered by Penn’s liberal policies regarding taking classes in other schools at the University. The same goes for students moving out of Wharton. I knew a handful of kids that transferred both into and out of Wharton, and the only thing they had in common was a desire to study something else- otherwise their GPA’s were anywhere between 3.4-4.0.
That being said, combining programs between Wharton and the college is very doable if you are interested in connecting both disciplines. You can take classes across Penn’s undergrad, graduate, and professional schools thanks to the One University Policy and you can definitely do research across the whole school. It is an institution uniquely positioned to offer a student with interdisciplinary interests the opportunities and resources they need to pursue the education that best meets their needs. It sounds like you would greatly benefit from studying in the college or wharton and using the resources of the other to pursue your ultimate goals after graduation. good luck
Thank you so much! I know that acceptance to either wouldn’t be easy, I was just worried due to a lot of people telling me that internal transfers are difficult. Did you know of any who were declined the transfer?
Also, any tips for a hopeful applicant? I’m not following a checklist, but what do you think were the most important things of applying other than grades?
I can’t really remember if I know anyone who was declined. Perhaps I’ve posted about it in the past when it was fresher in my memory? At the same time, i think that speaks to 2 things:
Most people who want to switch are able to because they have genuinely good reasons for doing so and appropriate GPAs.
Most penn students don't feel the need to internally transfer because the resources of each school are so readily available to students in other schools that it's not that important. If you want to study business but you're in engineering, then just take a lot of business courses! You'll still have access to the same career services and job opportunities. You can also partake in university-wide minors that combine the resources of several programs. For example, students love the consumer psych minor which combines classes and resources from Wharton and the College. Others enjoy the Legal Studies and History minor which again combines the College and Wharton. There is no need for 99.9% of students to be enrolled in one of the other schools to get what they need from Penn. And for the small percentage of students that feel they do need to switch schools, they are able to because they can easily demonstrate why their current school isn't in line with what they need academically.
I think teacher recommendations are the most important part of your application. You are going to college to be a student and nobody can speak to your abilities as a student better than teachers. Make sure your teachers have a lot of info about you and are prepared to make direct comparisons like "Johnny X was one of the most diligent students i have ever taught. "
