<p>"A Penn education provides a liberal arts and sciences foundation across multiple disciplines with a practical emphasis in one of four undergraduate schools: the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Nursing, or the Wharton School.</p>
<p>Given the undergraduate school to which you are applying, please discuss how you will engage academically at Penn."</p>
<p>I'm a bit confused with the last part. If I'm applying to Wharton, should I discuss how I will "engage academically" at Wharton? Or at Penn as a whole?</p>
<p>Also, I have written my Ben Franklin essay. It's really creative. I feel that the "engage academically" essay lends itself to less creativity. I'm not sure how to write it. Should I focus on one aspect of Penn? Or multiple aspects? Any advice is appreciated :)</p>
<p>Hey runnerxc,
Unfortunately, this prompt IS sort of vague, but also really narrow at the same time. I think that if I were in your shoes, I would talk about Penn as a whole AND Wharton, since technically you’d be a student of both. If you can pull Wharton and Penn together, you’d have a great essay. Some people choose to just talk about their intended school, but they forget that the Wharton culture is different from the Penn culture in general (same goes for CAS, EAS, nursing, etc.). Synthesis and comparison is always deeper and more interesting than just describing something!</p>
<p>As always, make sure you don’t kiss butt (“Penn will help me to shine like the sun with all their incredible programs!”).</p>
<p>If you’re asking these questions, you’re on the right track; it’s always good to get some clarification!</p>
<p>i second jreeder. even though you are in a school within penn, your undergraduate school and the university itself are VERY intertwined. as a wharton student, you will undoubtedly take classes in the college (language requirement, critical writing program, etc.) with engineers (math) and possibly in nursing (healthcare mgmt). so, even though there ARE distinctive cultures of each undergraduate school, all four contribute to the university as a whole. even when i was applying, i didn’t fully understand the dynamics between the school and the actual university. so, if you are able to tie BOTH into your essay, you’ll be golden.</p>
<p>Do you all think that engaging academically would include contributions to student life and EC’s? Obviously, the main focus of the question should be directed at academics, but as we all know, there is more to academics than just the classroom.</p>
<p>PsychoDad10: I definitely think that you can engage academically outside of the classroom at Penn and I wouldn’t discourage anyone from including that in their essays. I recall mentioning activities I was in interested in doing in my essays as well.</p>
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