<p>i got invited too. I'm a deferred ED-er who got accepted. and i want to go to med school too.</p>
<p>I just found out I got in as well! Dunno why, I think applied as a physics major. Anyways I'm not really sure what it's all about, but I'm just happy to be selected! Does anyone know if this and the other honors programs are mutually exclusive?</p>
<p>edit: also RD</p>
<p>Ok, Vagelos...</p>
<p>It is very difficult and most people do drop out. There is no penalty for this, so I would say at least give it a try because it is a great opportunity. The adviser, Ponzy, though a little crazy (don't mention you are premed) is a great guy who can get you into any class and knows a lot of people at Penn and elsewhere. You will have to endure his 8 am seminar freshmen year and weekly readings of Science and the Science Times but if you actually like science it is not bad. The stipended summer research is a great perk if you make it till then. Only 10-15 actually will still be in the program at the end of sophomore year. As far as being competitive, it really isn't. Most of the students are very friendly and often study together, etc. Good luck, and like I said, give it a shot. You can drop out as soon as the first meeting if you want to and Ponzy does not hold it against you.</p>
<p>re: 2o_o7</p>
<p>Also, this is not mutually exclusive with other honors programs. I know a vag who is also BFS.</p>
<p>As far as ED/RD I think that only people in the RD round receive invitations. This includes deferred applicants.</p>
<p>Actually, I know a couple people who were ED and got invited.</p>
<p>An additional perk to at least giving it a shot: even if you drop out, you still keep Ponzy as your academic advisor, and he has lots of strings he can pull for you regarding research opportunities, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks crashingwaves, good to know. </p>
<p>Well, sounds like there's nothing to lose (besides some sleep from 8am seminars, eek). If I go to Penn, I suppose that I'll at least try this program!</p>
<p>What do Vagelos scholars do upon graduation? Since it's a very small number of students, can anyone give a very detailed answer for graduating groups over the last two years?</p>
<p>VAGELOS SCHOLARS Graduates - Total: 60 in 5 years</p>
<p>Ph.D. Programs (21)
Caltech (3)
Cambridge U.K.*
Cornell/Sloan Kettering
Harvard (5)
Johns Hopkins
MIT (2)
Stanford (2)
UC Berkeley (3)
U Chicago
U Penn
UCSF
M.D. Programs (19)
Case Western
Columbia (2)
Harvard (2) **
Johns Hopkins
NYU (4)
Penn State
Stanford
Sydney, Australia
Temple
Thomas Jefferson
U Miami
U Pittsburgh
U Penn
Washington U. (St. Louis)</p>
<p>M.D.+Ph.D. (11)
Albert Einstein
Harvard/Harvard GAS
Harvard/MIT
Johns Hopkins*
Northwestern
UCLA (2)
U Chicago
U Penn (2)</p>
<p>V.M.D.
U Penn</p>
<p>V.M.D.+Ph.D.
U Penn
Other Graduate Programs</p>
<p>Fels Institute of Government (Penn)</p>
<ul>
<li>Two of the above were also Gates Cambridge Scholars prior to entering their doctoral programs.</li>
</ul>
<p>** One is a combined MBA student at HBS</p>
<p>Employment and Undecided (6)</p>
<p>Is this entirely consistent throughout the years? I mean.. it seems a pretty much guaranteed premed assuming students survive, which definitely is not IMPOSSIBLE.</p>
<p>3 people on my freshman floor started in the Vagelos Biochem Program. Only one is still in it I believe, and he is one of the most intense, obsessive studiers I have ever seen.</p>
<p>He's my roommate, and literally all he does is study. every night, for hours and hours and hours.</p>
<p>This is exactly what I want to hear about! More stories?? Anyone?</p>
<p>you seem to be comletely missing the point. It's not the the program the gets you those great results, it's the quality of the students who actually make it through. Since Penn's premed placement rate is already over 80% for graduating seniors, I hardly see the need to do a special program that's not even designed for premeds.</p>
<p>A note for those posting here, recently (last couple hours) received a notice telling me that I am a prospective Benjamin Franklin Scholar. I have been familiarizing myself with this program, and I was wondering, given the already highly intensive, Vagelos Program, whether it would be suicidal to attempt both (if I get admission to the Vagelos). Suppose I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch, but perhaps just a basic idea of how intensive each program is would be most helpful!</p>
<p>BFS is much more low key, and the requirements seem to overlap with Vagelos quite a bit. If you are dedicated enough to do Vagelos, I honestly think doing BFS on top of that would only be very marginally more work.</p>
<p>well, the requirements for BFS actually do not overlap at all with those for Vagelos.</p>
<p>all BFS requires of you is to take 4 BFS classes during your time at Penn, there's really no reason to turn it down</p>
<p>BFS is great, it's actually in many ways less stressful than taking regular courses sometimes, as while the courses require more work, they are leniently graded in many cases.</p>
<p>Physics 170 is a course that fulfills Vagelos and BFS requirements.</p>
<p>My daughter was invited to the program and the literature describing it was certainly exciting. One outline suggested that 30 entering freshman are invited to the program and that 10 or so "choose" to continue after the second year. After a phone conversations with a student in the program, (who was very nice, by the way) it seems that the number of "invitees" has risen to over 50. Yet, the number continuing after the second year has not increased. This suggests that the "choosing" is not the student's alone. A phone conversation with a student who recently dropped the program revealed that a minimum grade point must be maintained in the math and sciences and that a number of students in the freshman seminar would devote hours upon hours to the readings (far more than she would have be expected in a 1/2 unit course) In her opinion, the program may not feel competitive, but it has a "weeding out" component. My daughter loves the idea of Penn but is still deciding on this program pending additional "research".</p>
<p>The first year of Vagelos is definitely there to "weed out" students who can't make it. Regardless of what any promotional materials might say. The students in it are also quite cutthroat competitive with one another.</p>
<p>Ahaaa, the vag</p>
<p>i disagree about the compeitive thing, the Vagelos kids seem to form their own social circle and usually study together and go to great lengths to help each other out. I have seen a few crazies, but they're the extreme minority.</p>