<p>I'm applying RD to the M&T program, with SEAS as my secondary choice. I've already written my M&T essay, which addresses my interest in combining business and engineering, tech entrepreneurship, etc.</p>
<p>However, I still need to write my "engage academically" essay. My question is: should I be writing this as an M&T applicant, or a SEAS applicant?</p>
<p>And going off that: who sees what? Does M&T see all of my essays? If I'm rejected M&T and go into the SEAS pool, do they see my M&T essay? I already addressed by interest in entrepreneurship in the M&T essay, so I'd rather not retread that ground, but it's a huge reason for my interest in engineering and as such I want to make sure the SEAS adcoms see that side of me.</p>
<p>Should I make my "engage academically" just about Penn in general? About SEAS? Or a rehash of my M&T essay?</p>
<p>So I got accepted into a dual degree program this year and here was how I approached the essays:</p>
<p>For my “Engage Academically” essay I focused on the school I wanted to enroll in (which was Nursing in my case) and how one of the aspects I was interested in was the NHCM Dual Degree Program. Then I talked about classes within the School of Nursing, clinicals, and how I could help out in the Philly area. I pretty much generalized my interest in NHCM and focused more on the specific classes and the emphasis my nursing acumen would provide. </p>
<p>For my actual NHCM prompt, I was more specific. I wrote why I wanted to enroll in the program and what I was going to do with my dual degrees. </p>
<p>As for admissions, I was told by my admissions officer that the officer sees the applicant’s admission first, regardless of school. Then, if applying to a dual degree program, the application (and essays) are viewed by representatives from both schools that you are applying to. If, by chance, you are not accepted into the dual degree program then only your “Engage Academically” and “Ben Franklin” essay would be read. So, I guess it would be best to just mention your interest in M&T, but not focus on it too much for your “EA” essay. </p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>I believe the way it works is that the specific M&T committee first reads through your whole application and make a decision. If you get rejected then the application moves on to the secondary school for which I believe they primarily care for SEAS-specific, why Penn sort of stuff (kinda ignoring the M&T essay). I’m sure they can see the essay but I would use M&T to talk about the entrepreneurship and engineering combined stuff and use the engage essay to talk about just Penn as an SEAS applicant but definitely throw in a reference to entrepreneurship and being able to dual-degree sorta stuff in engage academically part because interdisciplinary still remains one of the best reasons for Penn. Also if M&T sees you reference your interest in both essays your interest will seem a lot stronger. That is the approach I used when I applied to dual-degree, and I think it works well (similar to pmsleepy’s). Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you both very much for your input. I’ll be sure to have some underlying direction in both of them (entrepreneurship), but focus more on the engineering side of it in my “Engage Academically” essay. I just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t be redundant to reference my interest in entrepreneurship in both essays.</p>
<p>I agree with the above two replies. For the “Engage Academically” essay, I talked about Penn as a whole, focusing on Wharton and just briefly mentioning the LSM program. In the LSM specific essay I expounded on the reasons why I wanted to attend the LSM program and the benefits and unique characteristics of that dual degree program.</p>
<p>When I talked to my regional admissions officer, she said that first she scans all application from the region. For applicants to coordinated duel-degree programs, the regional admissions officer can advise that the applicant moves on in the dual-degree reading, that the applicant moves on with their backup school, or they can completely reject the applicant, though that happens only occasionally. The dual degree application is then read by a more senior admissions officer and if they find it acceptable they can refer it to a dual degree program committee composed of the senior people in charge of the dual degree program who then make the final decision, for the M&T program in the OP’s case. If the committee doesn’t accept the applicant into the dual degree program then the application goes on to be judged for the backup school blindly, meaning that the admission officer do not know that the person was considered for M&T or another coordinated dual degree program.</p>