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**Penn Preview Days sees overhaul in structure</p>
<p>Prospective students will personalize their Penn experience</p>
<p>By BRENDA WANG · January 14, 2014, 6:19 pm · Updated January 14, 2014, 11:42 pm**</p>
<p>In an effort to increase admissions yield and the experience of accepted Penn applicants, the Office of Admissions is revamping Penn Preview Days.</p>
<p>Overnight stays are one of the significant changes Penn Preview Days is undergoing this year. Instead of having multiple single-day events, there will be one main event for students admitted through regular decision that will take place from Monday, April 7 to Wednesday, April 9.</p>
<p>“We want to change the experience [so] that people leave here wanting more,” Director of On-Campus Programs Elizabeth Washo, who is in charge of the changes to Penn Preview Days, said These changes will alter many long-established elements of Penn Preview Days, including the name itself.
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<p>See the entire article--including the moving of events to February for students accepted ED--here:</p>
<p>Thanks for the link. I think it is great the ED kids will come onto campus in February so they can check out the housing before they have to make a decision about it at the end of March!</p>
<p>^ They’ll actually have until sometime in May to make their housing requests. The housing selection process is handled at one time, with ED- and RD-accepted students all participating together. Accordingly, it can’t even begin until AFTER the reply deadline for RD-accepted students on May 1st.</p>
<p>^ No, if it’s done as in past years, the housing application will open to all enrolled students at the same time in early May, and with the same deadline in mid-May. And it’s only AFTER the deadline that assignments are made–first by the residential programs based on the short essays submitted by applicants, and then by computer lottery for the remaining spaces in the college houses. Each student gets to make 5 or so choices in order of preference, and then the housing computer randomly awards first choices, then second choices, etc. Again if like past years, the Class of 2018 will learn their freshman housing assignments sometime in early June by logging into their new PennInTouch accounts (which will also have information about their roommates, meal plans, etc.).</p>
<p>I am just going by the checklist that the ED students received with their acceptance letter. It says “Choose your College House” and then “On March 27, 2014, you will be able to apply online through the Decision Portal for your preferred college house. Additionally, on the same date, you will be mailed materials concerning the University College House System and information about your matriculation to Penn.”</p>
<p>^ They may open the housing application on RD Decision day (I went through this a few years ago as a parent, and can’t remember if that was the case then), but the deadline for submission isn’t until May (on or after the reply deadline for accepted RD applicants), and assignments aren’t made until AFTER the housing application deadline. And it’s not prioritized based on date of submission, so there’s no advantage to submitting the application early. Again, this all assumes that the procedure is basically the same this year as it has been for the past several years.</p>
<p>The DP article says that Penn RD admits will be invited this year to Penn Preview from a Monday to a Wednesday, thus including overnights with current students. They feel increasing the time at Penn will increase yield. Penn ED admits however will be invited for just one Friday day, no overnight. </p>
<p>I understand ED students are already committed. Still they too would benefit from the longer preview period. It doesn’t seem fair.</p>
<p>EDs have no need for an overnight. They are already committed and the money could be better spent elsewhere. Frankly, I am surprised they are still “wooing” them.</p>
<p>^ It’s not just about “wooing” them–it’s the only opportunity they would have to actually go inside some of the college houses before having to formulate their housing choices. As it stands now, the accepted RD applicants will have that opportunity, but the accepted ED applicants will not. Having gone through this process fairly recently with an accepted ED applicant, I can tell you that the college house tour was probably the most important part --and the highlight–of the Penn Preview Day attended by that student (when they still had ED and RD students all attending the same Preview Days). And there’s no need for an overnight stay to provide those tours for ED students–they were always a part of Penn Preview Days in the past.</p>
<p>Also, when they first established separate Penn Preview Days for ED and RD students this past year, I wondered about the wisdom of that. While I understand the different needs of those two groups in terms of decision-making about Penn, etc., I think there’s also some “wooing” benefit to having ED applicants mixed in with RD applicants at Penn Preview Days, so that the RD applicants can mingle with peers who have already chosen Penn and can explain why they did. And to accommodate the differences in questions and interests that ED and RD students might have, they did separate them for one hour-long session that day so that their different types of questions could be more specifically addressed.</p>
<p>Of course, the Admissions Office folks are making this change based on their own detailed observations, data, and input from accepted applicants, and obviously believe that the new format will increase RD yield. I hope they’re right, but we’ll know soon enough. And in the meantime, I hope they consider restoring some sort of college house tours to the ED events in February.</p>
<p>This is another change in preview days for ED students. In the past, accepted students could bring both parents, maybe even family. This year, the rules specifically state student plus one, and NOT plus two.</p>
<p>45 Percenter I agree that the housing visit was the highlight for my DS as an ED admit. It seems unfair to have to choose housing having never seen it. </p>
<p>And why only one parent? I guess they are trying to save money in the dining hall?? Seems kind of cheap. I suppose they will need to find less tour guides, but other than that, especially since they aren’t going into housing, where is there a space problem?</p>