<p>How important are the essays in penn admission?</p>
<p>Penn is a social Ivy. They highly value grades and stats, but to distinguish applicants apart the essay is the most important factor. So, if you do have good grades, decent test scores, the essay will determine if you will get in or not. That’s based on what I have heard…I wish you the best of luck! If you’re here trying to learn about Penn as much as possible, I don’t think you will have a hard time getting in 
People who research this school are usually the ones who do will in the long-run. Best of luck</p>
<p>deathblade: among the tens of thousands of applicants with a similar swath of grades and test scores, the essay is one of the few opportunities to stand out. How important do you think it becomes?</p>
<p>It’s pretty freakin important.</p>
<p>Very important. My stats were pretty typical of the average applicant, but I had some pretty good essays so I guess that helped.</p>
<p>cordova1992? what if your stats aren’t that good but your essays are really unique? My biggest 2 weaknesses in my apps right now are my SAT subject scores (540 spanish, 640 Chem, 690 math ii) and my science teacher’s letter of recommendation. -___-" </p>
<p>I had my chem teacher for the first 2 years of high school and then last year(junior year) i had the science teacher I asked for the recommendation from because my chem teacher was gone from the school(retired or moved, no one knows) and apparently it was highly recommended for you to get a recc from the area of study you want to go into.</p>
<p>But anyways that recc was only a paragraph long and i know what it says because he EMAILED it to me. XD and of course uploaded it onto the commonapp. Well thank goodness he did because when i wanted him to send it to another school(not ivy), he lost it on his own computer and I emailed that back to him XD </p>
<p>He’s fresh out of college but he knew us(my twin and I) very well. (our reccs ended up being identical aside from name because we were a team together for a project and both separate captains for envirothon that he described briefly in the letter) I’m disappointed but I sure hope my math teacher recc shines over the other and that penn realizes that there are some teachers that can’t write reccs -___-"</p>
<p>Can good essays overshadow that bad recc? (its not BAD just short and nothing special)</p>
<p>I have not gotten into Penn, although I am applying. I did get into Cornell as a transfer student. I will try to help you as much as I can.</p>
<p>cordova1992? what if your stats aren’t that good but your essays are really unique? My biggest 2 weaknesses in my apps right now are my SAT subject scores (540 spanish, 640 Chem, 690 math ii) and my science teacher’s letter of recommendation. -___-" </p>
<p>I think those SAT scores are fine. However, if you are a minority, it could make less of a difference. As far as your recommendation letter goes, I think you should ask another teacher for a supplementary education. I’m sure that will help. </p>
<p>I had my chem teacher for the first 2 years of high school and then last year(junior year) i had the science teacher I asked for the recommendation from because my chem teacher was gone from the school(retired or moved, no one knows) and apparently it was highly recommended for you to get a recc from the area of study you want to go into.</p>
<p>But anyways that recc was only a paragraph long and i know what it says because he EMAILED it to me. XD and of course uploaded it onto the commonapp. Well thank goodness he did because when i wanted him to send it to another school(not ivy), he lost it on his own computer and I emailed that back to him XD </p>
<p>He’s fresh out of college but he knew us(my twin and I) very well. (our reccs ended up being identical aside from name because we were a team together for a project and both separate captains for envirothon that he described briefly in the letter) I’m disappointed but I sure hope my math teacher recc shines over the other and that penn realizes that there are some teachers that can’t write reccs -___-"</p>
<p>Can good essays overshadow that bad recc? (its not BAD just short and nothing special)</p>
<p>I think good essays can definitely overshadow bad reccs. But they have to show and not tell who you are. It’s nice to be unique, but ask yourself, does this ‘uniqueness’ really help distinguish you apart from other applicants? What do YOU have to offer that someone else can’t?</p>
<p>Very Important from Penn’s Common Data Set.
<a href=“http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202010-11.pdf[/url]”>http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202010-11.pdf</a></p>
<p>Wow DrGoogle where did you find this? That was really helpful (:</p>
<p>^ Penn’s Common Data Set can be found here:</p>
<p>[Penn:</a> Institutional Research & Analysis](<a href=“http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set.html]Penn:”>http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set.html)</p>