I am currently a junior in high school. I am also a legacy (dad went to Penn) that is interested in pursuing business - however, I do not want to apply EA next year to UPenn or Wharton School at UPenn, Although I recognize that UPenn’s business program is top in the world, Penn is not my top choice due to other reasons (very good personal reasons, although I will not list them here). Therefore, I have decided not to apply EA to Penn due to the fact that it is restrictive EA and I want to potentially apply to see if I could get in EA to the other school of my choice. However, I realize that acceptance to the other school is potentially unlikely, and would like to apply to UPenn in regular decision rounds with the rest of my college applications.
How would UPenn look on this decision, particularly because of legacy status? I have heard that it is not good to be a legacy (especially one pursuing business), that does not apply EA to UPenn and Wharton in EA, but instead to another university, and then applying in regular round. I would be happy with going to UPenn, but personal reasons make this choice not preferable.
Would it be better to just not apply EA to anything and apply regular rounds to all my colleges?
Thanks for the feedback - would like to know before I potentially screw up my future somehow.
I don’t think Penn would know if you applied elsewhere EA and then applied to Penn RD. I have heard there are certain schools who like legacies to apply in the early round, Penn being one of them, but have also seen legacies get in at RD after skipping the EA round.
Penn is very clear that legacy status helps if used in the ED round. But if Penn isn’t your top choice then apply RD and take your chances like everyone else. Being a legacy won’t hurt you in the RD round, it just won’t help you either.
@7eeer33 you would not be penalized for applying RD as a legacy but you would not get the benefit of being a legacy. Legacy status at Penn counts mainly if you apply ED. So you get the benefit from being a legacy only as an ED applicant.
Since you say that the other school you want to apply to has SCEA, i am assuming it is one of HYPSM, correct?
So your choice comes down between taking a little bit of higher risk with your HYPSM choice or applying to Penn ED and benefitting from the legacy status.
I think applying early to your first choice is usually the way to go. Do you feel you have a very competitive profile or do u feel you would need the legacy status to boost your chances at Penn? like what are your stats/ECs?
@Penn95 I do feel like I have a competitive profile - however it isn’t that I don’t want to apply to Penn itself EA, it is that if I am accepted EA, that means I have to go to Penn. Which is a great thing! However, I do not want to limit myself, especially given that some current personal issues make the Penn option not preferable.
The problem is that I believe my personal issues can be overcome and that going to Penn would be a great thing - I just would like to make sure that in case these problems aren’t resolved that I have tried all of my other options (which is to apply EA to other schools, such as HYPMS, state schools, and etc.). It is kind of a touch and go situation; I am not sure whether these personal issues can be resolved, but I am also not certain as to whether I should screw with my chances at Penn by not applying EA. Would love some comments about that.
@wisteria100@happy1 Thank you for clarifying that being a legacy would not help my chances in RD.
@7eeer33 Not a big deal, but you are using the wrong terminology. Penn only offers binding Early Decision (ED, not EA) or Regular Decision. And in the ED round the legacies get a SLIGHT advantage. In the RD round, there’s no real advantage.
@desie1 Ah I get it - sorry for the wrong terms! But yeah anyways, the ED decision is binding, which is quite exactly what I wanted to avoid, as if I could get in EA/ED/any other term to the choice school within my state, I would rather go there. However, if I applied ED Penn and got in, I would be soo excited, but I probably couldn’t go, which would be really bad as it is binding, and also limits the fact that I can’t apply EA to my other choice school.
So is what I am hearing here that legacy does not offer a huge advantage to ED applicants? And that I would be better off applying EA/ED to my choice school and if not accepted, apply regular decision to all my other schools (including Penn), where I would be the same as everybody else? And this wouldn’t mess with what hopefully would have been a potential acceptance? (no meaning to sound cocky or anything, I just have strong stats and my school is known for sending kids to Upenn due to our business program).
Legacies are given an extra look in the ED round, but not in the RD round. Why wouldn’t you able to attend if admitted? You can apply ED to Penn and EA to other schools as long as they aren’t SCEA or REA colleges.
If you are a legacy from a part of the country where they don’t get many applicants, it will be an increased bonus. Legacies from the Northeast are plentiful.