<p>I know of one person who entered Upenn with no hook and sub-2000 SAT I scores. He might be an extreme outlier, but to what extent is admissions into Upenn considered unpredictable?</p>
<p>I mean, they are there to fill a smart, diverse and exciting class arent they?</p>
<p>it’s kind of like a stochastic process and stuff</p>
<p>Honestly, I think out of all ivies, Penn’s admission criteria is probably the shallowest. GPA and SATs above all else! :-(</p>
<p>^
wow, no offense, but i think your knowledge is the shallowest.</p>
<p>k, lemm tell u what they look for</p>
<p>VERY IMPORTANT - essay, rec letter
IMPORTANT - EC, Awards
CONSIDERATE - SAT, rank</p>
<p>Yeah, they’re just like a state school in the admissions process, SAT and GPA above all else. Maybe thats part of the reason why a lot of the general public thinks UPenn is a Pennsylvania state school. I mean, all the normal people look at U.S. News and World Report and asks themselves, dang, how did a public school get so high on the list? Idk, i think how shallow the admissions process is just another indicator of how bad the actual school is. Lets be honest, it’s kinda ridiculous that it’s higher up than MIT and Cal Tech in the rankings. We know UPenn is paying off some people with major bank. Oh well, enjoy trying to get into the Ivy mistakenly thought of as a public school. </p>
<p>P.S. Your grades are super inflated [University</a> of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/penn.html]University”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/penn.html)</p>
<p>@paragonD6</p>
<p>It is a well known fact that SATs and GPA are valued over all other stuff. On what basis are you giving this criteria though?</p>
<p>@sahilchaudhry</p>
<p>okay, so basically i reviewed all accepted applicants’ portfolios for the past couple years, and it seems to me that the most important aspect is EC & Rec letter</p>
<p>it is also a well known fact that Penn looks for well-rounded people with some aspects that stand out from the crowd. SAT cannot provide admission officers that impression, nor can GPA. it is the Essay and the Rec that provides the best image of the applicant.</p>
<p>@110percent，are you going to try to put down all of the Ivy League schools?</p>
<p>@sahilchaudhry
@paragonD6</p>
<p>Besides ParagonD6’s scouting of applicant portfolios, his findings are backed by the Common Data Set for Penn 2009-2010. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202009-10.pdf[/url]”>http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202009-10.pdf</a></p>
<p>See page 10. </p>
<p>According to the university itself, ParagonD6 is totally right: SAT’s and GPA come in secondary (even tertiary) to other factors for Penn admissions. Compare this to the data sets from other Ivies stating they weight GPA a lot higher.</p>
<p>^ how do you quantify character/personal qualities exclusively if other subjective criteria like interviews, essays, recommendations, work experience, volunteer work are all separately evaluated?</p>
<p>I have a hard time believing the university is going to tell everyone outright that they very heavily consider GPA and test scores. By record of acceptances, it seems that they do.</p>
<p>However much they claim that Essays, EC’s, whatever are more important, the class stats say it all. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Valedictorians are heavily recruited. Their acceptance rate is almost 25%…roughly 10% higher than all others. So yes, good grades are desired. But ask yourself, why wouldn’t they be? I personally don’t mind.</p>
<p>@IvytoBeIhope
yeah maybe you should have because penn is looking for people who are completely dedicated to penn</p>
<p>I don’t find ems4106 to be nasty, maybe a little blunt. IvytoBeIHope, you seem like the person who has applied to Penn and Yale (and wherever else) JUST BECAUSE OF THE NAME. You shouldn’t apply to a university JUST BECAUSE IT’S AN IVY LEAUGE, because then you may end up hating the university. I just wish you weren’t second guessing Penn, now if you get in you must go and you’ll be miserable for a year if you don’t like it. What ems4106 is trying to say is that the college selection process should be a long arduous process and we both feel as though you are being very arrogant. “I wish I app lied to Yale instead of Penn! I wanted to but i just figured Penn was easier.” And you have a membership to “Ivy place,” clearly all this is- is just a game to you, to get into the Ivy League. Hell with the Ivy League, I LOVE PENN, regardless of Penn’s rankings and NAME. Rename it to the Pennsylvania College for idiots and I’d still attend because of what the school has to offer and everything that matches my personality. You should’ve done more research.</p>
<p>^^exactly. i get so sick and tired of people going “OMG I NEED AN IVY.” news flash: the ivy league is an ATHLETIC CONFERENCE. THATS IT. (yes they’re all good schools…but there are plenty of good schools out there that are not part of the ivy league)
long story short: apply to the schools that have the programs that fit you, a campus and student lifestyle that fits you, etc. aka a school where you would gladly spend the next four years of your life. if thats not true, you have no business applying ED there.</p>
<p>Just to play a little devil’s advocate, lets not kid ourselves into thinking that people apply to Penn or Yale without considering the name, everyone does. We can say that despite the rankings and prestige we would still apply to these schools, but I find that very hard to believe. And in one sense, what these colleges offer and their “prestige” are interrelated.</p>
<p>If you really want to go to the ivy league, and thats your goal, then good job, Penn ED, is statistically easier to get accepted into when compared to Yale. Will you be happy, well you will find out, but I am perfectly fine with what you are up to IvytobeIhope. Maybe its a cynical view, but deep down, all of us people who have achieved so much in high school are prestige whores, on some level. I mean its a 250,000 dollar education that in terms of pure education, is probably maybe 25% better than a state flagship. is the 100% price increase over a state school worth maybe a 25% increase in educational quality, heck no, but thousands of kids apply every year anyway. </p>
<p>In the end, maybe you will get accepted, or maybe you won’t because Penn sees you are trying to “game” the system, its your life, do what you want.</p>
<p>@truzzi182- Where did you get that information? Brown, I know, publishes its valedictorian acceptance rate and Georgetown supplies that kind of information to its interviewers, but I’ve never heard any statistic on valedictorian acceptances from Penn. </p>
<p>Penn seems to be quite secretive about its admission numbers. Mid-range standardized test scores, for example, are only published for the university overall, not for individual undergraduate schools. I’m not doubting the credibility of your post, just wondering where you came up with that percentage- and looking for a little reassurance! I’m fortunate enough to be valedictorian of my class, but have SAT scores that don’t quite corroborate my rank. Thanks!</p>
<p>Wow. I see the claws are out…
I think it’s safe to trust someone who actually reviews applicant portfolios, and, while none of the people accepted are stupid, I have seen numbers that suggest Penn relies less on objective stats than other ivies. Just because there are a lot of valedictorians doesn’t mean that GPA is the top priority; I’m sure Harvard, Princeton, etc. have a higher percentage of valedictorians. From what I’ve seen looking at the “Accepted, Rejected, Deferred” forums, Penn definitely looks for diversity when it comes to test scores and grades (though of course there are limits-someone who has a 1200 out of 2400 or a 1.9 or something most likely won’t get in haha…).</p>
<p>Penn takes a lot of legacies and a lot of athletes. In all likelihood, these students, who make up a large percentage of the class, bring the numbers down.</p>