I was really surprised when I was contacted for an interview just 5 days after I submitted my app. Might just be random selection.
@ComputerAge Is that a mandatory deadline? (Nov 21st) As in, if I don’t get offered one by then, I am almost certainly (if not 100% certain) not receiving one? Does that day apply to everyone everywhere?
Also, for those who haven’t received an interview offer, such as myself and @ComputerAge, I would not stress about it in the slightest. My guess is they know who is and who is not being offered an interview, and if for some reason it doesn’t work out with being offered an interview, I can almost guarantee it won’t be a deciding factor in a decision. This is because Penn can’t (or at least shouldn’t, because it would be unethical) use different standards for different applicants when it comes to something that can make or break a decision. It would be completely unfair to penalize those who had no control over what happens, nor would it make sense to reward those who were lucky enough to receive an interview.
Also, just out of curiosity, would those of you who haven’t been offered an interview be willing to share your intended major and school? (i.e. what you put down on the CommonApp) I’m wondering if there is a correlation between those who have/haven’t been offered an interview because alumni in there area are not familiar in fields that may be perhaps be underrepresented at Penn. For example, my intended major is Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in CAS, but I also indicated (don’t know if this matters or not) an interest in ancient history and archaeology. Now I’m no expert, but I can’t imagine that there are a lot of alumni around that majored in philosophy and have a passion for the humanities. There are more people who have a business background or a science background in my area. Perhaps Penn is making a genuine effort to link alumni who may be more relatable to a certain applicant. (If that is true, then I highly respect that effort and think that is a wonderful thing.) I might be completely off on this, but I was just curious.
@jarrett211 I don’t think there is any correlation between your intended field of study and what your interviewer studied. I’m applying to CAS as a Biological Basis of Behavior major, likely pre-med, and my interviewer was a lawyer and Wharton grad. I really have no idea how they decide who gets interviewed and who doesn’t, except that when the Penn rep came to my school she said that if any of us applied we would almost definitely be interviewed because of the area where we live.
@rosewood98 Perhaps maybe there is a combination of factors. But there have been people from my school who applied after me who have been offered interviews (and they applied to dual degrees and different schools), and I haven’t heard of anyone who applied to CAS from my school being offered an interview. I really do think it is something to consider that they do take into account the major or at least the school. Perhaps not everyone is impacted, but you never know.
@jarrett211 - To be honest, your application is very strong - due to all factors in application+legacy - - admission probably doesn’t see the need for an interview. For a lot of people (like us), they need to make sure the person in the application is for real. For you, the legacy status authenticates it (most likely).
You may still get an interview, as there is time but even if you didn’t, no need to worry.
@jarrett211 They may assign interviews based on school in some areas, but I don’t think they are supposed to. That would be a very unfair system and if they are doing it that way in your area there’s probably nothing you can do. It may depend on the alumni coordinator too. The one for my region has kids at my school, so maybe there is a bias there. Again, like you said, the admissions committee can’t possibly fault you on something beyond your control, and in the end it likely won’t have any significant impact on the decsion.
@rosewood98 I also applied as a BBB major, and I have an interview tomorrow with a Wharton grad! Do you feel like that discrepancy affected your interview in any way?
I already had my alumni interview last week, but do you think we’ll be contacted for an Admissions officer interview or is just one interview enough?
I don’t think there’s such thing as an admissions officer interview…
Right. Just one interview
@shivaya You seem very firm that my application is so strong. I’m flattered lol. I feel like everything besides my essays are average/good at best compared to everyone else here. Also, I can’t imagine how legacy authenticates anything (what does that mean by the way?). Also, @TheWaffleMan149 has legacy as well so I don’t think that really means anything in regards to interviews.
I have “legacy” but it’s my great grandfather, so I checked the first box for general family but couldn’t check the second box for parent, sibling, grandparent or whatever. Do you think this would give me any edge? I tend to doubt it
@c777123 No it won’t count for anything likely. http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/freshman-admission/early-and-regular-decision Read the last sentence in the first paragraph.
Can those of you who have had an interview for Penn already share some of the questions your interviewer asked you?
Thank you!
Yeah @jarrett211
There probably is not a pattern other than a busy interviewer or an application that ended up on the bottom of the stack somehow
I think no matter how qualified or unqualified the applicant is, Penn tries to get them an interview
In general what made you guys decide to apply ED?
@decidophobia I had my ED choices narrowed down to Penn and Columbia. I ran a comparison of each of the areas to consider though, between the two schools, and it was clear Penn was just a better fit for me.
Major (Penn): Philosophy, Politics, and Economics vs. (Columbia): Economics-Philosophy — Edge: Penn by a landslide because even after the fact of the better major, you can concentrate even further within it to really allow me to personalize my education (I’m going to concentrate in Professional Ethics)
Potential Minors (Penn): Mediterranean Archaeology and Ancient History vs. (Columbia): Ancient Studies — Edge: Penn because I have always wanted to see whether a career as an archaeologist would be a cool thing to do
Campus: I liked Columbia’s location a bit better, but I liked Penn’s campus more
Location: Sorry, nothing beats New York City, but Philly wasn’t bad at all.
Things to Do on Campus: This was really a no-brainer for me. Penn has an archaeology museum where I can do work-study, research, or volunteer work. Also, a minor but cool thing is that Penn has its own ice rink, and I love to ice skate. Columbia really has nothing other than a big library to show for what is on campus, so edge goes to Penn by a lot.
Curriculum: Columbia has a really innovative Core Curriculum that fosters an academic community on campus, but Penn has the flexibility with its class requirements and offers more classes — Edge: Columbia, but only by a little bit
EC’s: Both Penn and Columbia have Mock Trial teams that are reputable and respectable, but Penn has a philosophical discussion club which looks really interesting, as well as an undergraduate journal of philosophy which is pretty cool — Edge: Penn
Things to do outside of the Campus: This is where Columbia beats Penn (again, nothing beats New York City), but there are plenty of things to do in Philly, and in reality, Penn has everything I want right on the campus
Extras: Penn allows me to take classes at the law school (I eventually want to be a lawyer (if I find that archaeology just isn’t feasible), while Columbia does not. Huge advantage for Penn.
Atmosphere/Community: Columbia seems to have a better academic closeness to it, but I think Penn is a bit more relaxed and social and i think that will be good for me going to such a difficult school to have people to relax with and chill.
Now, even after this, I realize that I still really wanted to go to one of these schools and that I would be really thrilled at either. At this point in the comparison, Penn had a very solid lead compared to Columbia. What really set it in stone was that my dad went to Penn and that would make my goal of getting into one of those schools a lot easier. I actually have a legitimate chance of going to one of them. All of that together made it really a no-brainer.
@decidophobia I don’t think it made that much of a difference. Your interviewer is likely an incredibly smart person and if you express your passion for what you want to study, they will be able to relate to that. It might have impacted the questions I asked about her experience (i.e. if she was a science major I would have asked about research and labs) but she was also older, and even if she had been in CAS her perspective might not have been up to date anyway. Good luck for your interview!