Two related questions:
I’ve scoured the UPenn website and found no answer to this: can you apply to both the Huntsman program and the Jerome Fisher program with the hopes of getting in one if not accepted for the other? I realize there are more essays involved. I realize that you can be rejected for the dual degrees and still be considered at one of the schools. But nowhere does it say that you can or cannot apply to both dual degree programs. On the common application, it seemingly does not allow you to apply to more than one. So is that the definitive answer? An inference from a default on the common app? If you know, please help.
Also, in my search, I came across this webpage:
https://www.college.upenn.edu/dual-degree
It states there:
“Students in the College have the unique opportunity to receive two Bachelor’s degrees simultaneously.
The application for dual degree with the College is now open. The deadline for submitting an application is December 15.
Students may elect to complete the the College’s requirements along with those of the Nursing School, the School of Engineering and Applied Science or the Wharton School.
A student pursuing the dual degree earns a B.A. from the College and a B.S. from Wharton or Nursing, or the B.S.E. or B.A.S. from Engineering.”
So does that mean that the regular decision deadline for the Huntsman and Jerome Fisher dual degree programs is December 15th? I can find no other reference on any webpage to the deadlines for those two programs. I figured they were the same as for the rest of the college (Jan 5th). But now I am not so sure. Anyone know? Thanks in advance.
thanks for the response. i’m proceeding on that assumption. if anyone knows anything to the contrary, please reply asap. also, if anyone can confirm deadlines…
^this. I would maybe get it if you wanted to apply to LSM (biology + business) and M&T (bioengineering or biomedical science + business). But Huntsman is so so different, it geared towards a completely different type of kids.
well, i’ll tell you why. because the applicant in question is nominally qualified to do either. he has straight A’s, perfect SATs, etc. math and science are child’s play for him. and he speaks four languages. (the little batard speaks english better than me and he picked it up on the fly.) his family background is scientific and international, but there is also a shared, compelling interest in him eventually doing something that is financially rewarding. and more to the immediate point, he doesn’t really know what he wants to study. now, i realize that these colleges (yes, he’s applying to more than one… and they are all so different) want 17-year-olds to know what they are going to study, what work they are going to do afterward, where they are going to live and die, and to whom they are going to leave their money. but most kids i’ve met (including the brainiacs) barely know what they are going to do this coming weekend, let alone what they are going to do with the rest of their lives.
now you may think, “well, these are very specific programs that direct students in very specific ways. if that kid doesn’t know what he wants to do, he should get a job… join the army… find himself.” no. he (and his family) want him to get into the most challenging program he can get into. right now… yesterday, if not sooner. (and if anyone doesn’t like it, they can go find themselves.) the trouble is, as we all know, there is no guarantee of acceptance. so even when the programs and the colleges are all so different, he applies. and he will succeed wherever he ends up… a lab in philadelphia or a boardroom in some foreign capital. i think back to when i was seventeen. i could have done this. i could have done that. i did something. we all do something. had i gotten in a different program, i would have done something different. life is not so rigid. excluding applicants from one program because they applied to another is rigid, arrogant thinking. to the extent that these programs exclude first rate candidates, they only dilute their value.
In this case, It may be good idea to just apply to one school. He can then pursue his own double majors, or triple majors afterwards. Penn is a large university and promotes “one university policy”. There are unlimited possibilities.
@certan ^agreed with above. if the applicant does not know what their academic interests are yet then they shouldn’t be applying to any of the specialized programs at Penn. They can apply to Penn CAS as undecided majors and explore what they want to do once they are at Penn. Down the line they may decide to do a double major, dual degree etc. Penn makes it quite easy and provides amazing resources to do that. The coordinated dual degree and specialized programs at Penn are geared towards kids who already have a demonstrated interest and experience in a specific field or fields, they are not geared towards students who have no idea what they want to study.