Penn Application

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Hi all,
I am applying to Wharton ED and have a few questions. All answers are welcomed, but those from students at Wharton (or Penn) would be greatly appreciated!

  1. Half of my extracurriculars are business (more specifically, finance) related. One is an internship. I have been told that to Ivy's, internships show privilege or family connections. Is that true or will Wharton appreciate it since I want to study finance while there? Will they appreciate my other non-internship ECs?
  2. What are some typical questions asked in Penn interviews? I know the basic questions asked in most interview but did not know if Penn has questions unique to them.
  3. For kids applying to Wharton, what are the two or three most important aspects of the application? ECs? Test grades? Recommendations?
  4. Lastly, how much consideration is given to recommendations? Only asking because I know my AP Statistics teacher rec will be killer and I wasn't sure how much that would boost my application overall. My AP English teacher rec will be pretty great too because she's an amazing writer but not as good as Stats teacher. Counselor rec will probably be 7/10 because I don't have many opportunities to talk with my counselor as she is in charge of 500 kids at our school.

Thank you in advance!

2

Wharton grad here, but I’m not an adcom so take that into consideration.

  1. Impactful ECs are great, especially internships. They'll definitely appreciate your non-internship ECs as well if you have leadership experience in them or can show some achievement.
  2. It's completely up to the interviewer, but I like to keep my line of questioning fairly straightforward at the beginning (tell me about yourself, why penn, favorite class/EC, etc.) and then dive into whatever the applicant seems to enjoy talking about. You can find some samples online http://www.alumni.upenn.edu/s/1587/gid2/16/interior.aspx?sid=1587&gid=2&pgid=8156&sitebuilder=1&contentbuilder=1
  3. Once you meet the academic/SAT benchmark, they're looking for leadership traits and strong interpersonal skills.
  4. A killer rec can differentiate between two candidates who look very similar on paper. Generic recs from counselors are to be expected if you went to a public school, so don't worry about it too much.