<p>Hey, do you guys know what times I can call Penn SAAST and actually get a reply? I keep getting the voicemail…</p>
<p>try monday thru friday around in the morning like 11:00 or lastest 4:00 and use the number they give you on the site</p>
<p>@rocketblues Or you can try emailing. She is usually prompt with replies.</p>
<p>Yeah, I ended up emailing her on Friday and she said that my application was still under review… after four weeks haha. Man I’m getting pretty impatient!</p>
<p>yeah same here, mine’s is still under review. when did u send urs again?</p>
<p>Well, I sent all my stuff in on April 27, but apparently they “received” everything a week or so later, which was May 6; so it’s almost been 4 weeks. 
Maybe because of financial aid? I don’t know haha. When did you send yours in?</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the advice about the word limit (: I sent in my application fairly late (mid-may). I just received a letter from them in the mail and I got waitlisted for Nanotech. Does anyone know how SAAST, or Upenn in general, decides waitlisting? I mean, do they rank the applicants or do they decide by the date in which they received their applicants? Are the chances of me getting off the waitlist pretty slim? Any input is appreciated (:</p>
<p>Good luck to anyone who hasn’t heard anything yet!</p>
<p>does anybody know the selectivity of the program? thanks :D</p>
<p>@rocketblues
well I sent mine the saturday before the due date so something like march 24. I heard something from them a month ago but they forgot to review something in their selection so I’m still under review. Hopefully I will hear something by this week coming up.</p>
<p>@pngn168
they look strongly at your grades from math and science. If you have C’s in those fields then it is hard to get in. Also they don’t look at your finanical standing until after they accept you in. So let’s say you have C’s in those fields but you had some hardships like being able to have the available items such as books, supplies household situation or etc. they don’t play that factor until after they accept you. So pretty much if you are a person in that situation especially with the financial aid your pretty much screwed. Well…no I take that back it is just hard to get admitted in.</p>
<p>I heard this from a friend of mine who is trying to get in.</p>
<p>alrite, thanks for the info 
and good luck on hearing back from UPenn!</p>
<p>I’ve been receiving some PMs about my stats, so I’ll just post them here for potential applicants:</p>
<p>Class: 2011
Gender: M
Ethnicity: Pakistani
High School: Catholic Private
State: OH
Program accepted to: UPenn Biomedical Research Academy</p>
<p>Academics:</p>
<p>GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 4.40
Class rank: Top 2% of about 380</p>
<p>A’s in all courses.</p>
<p>Scores:</p>
<p>PSAT (Sophomore) - 216
Haven’t taken the SAT</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
100+ hours of hospital volunteering (patient transport)
Shadowed 2 doctors (70+ hours each): a cardiologist and family practice
Work at a doctor’s office filing papers, greeting patients, and answering the phone
Science Olympiad
Model UN
Robotics
Spanish Honors Society
A medical camp located at a community college nearby
Recreational Soccer</p>
<p>Awards:
First Honors each semester
15+ Science Olympiad medals from various invitationals, regional, and state competitions
Model UN - 1st place Carnegie Mellon University Conference, 2nd place Gannon University Conference
National Spanish Exam Silver Medalist (Scored 85+ percentile)
Ohio Math League Contests (Scored 4-5/6 multiple times)</p>
<p>Good luck to those waiting to hear back! :)</p>
<p>Final payments have to be in by June 17, so U Penn should then know for sure if there are additional spots open.</p>
<p>hey for those who know that are going how are you getting there? Found any good prices? Just curious.</p>
<p>@BlackRose21: I’m getting there in a very complicated way… first, I’m going to take a flight to Japan, then to New York, and finally, take a train to Penn. =S I’ll probably be a few hours late to the program.</p>
<p>I tried getting a direct flight to Penn but there weren’t any left…</p>
<p>I am going to SAAST this year… my class is robotics. I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions on what to pack, since they didn’t give us a list.</p>
<p>@johnconner
wait where are you from? That is a pretty complecated way to go there. But you do what you have to do to get there right? </p>
<p>@crazygirl2011
there is a list of what you need to pack on the website under admissions and then under admitted students.</p>
<p>Hey how many people are still waiting for a response from Penn?</p>
<p>I’m from South Korea haha.</p>
<p>OOOOO ok that makes sense.</p>
<p>@BlackRose21 are you actually coming to SAAST this year? or have you gone before?</p>
<p>@BlackRose21: I would be driving to philly, but will take a train to New York then take a flight to get home. I think taking a train would be a good idea since the 30th street station is near to the campus.
For those who know that are going, is anyone getting the gym membership? Will we have time to go to the gym? Is it worth it? I still can’t decide on that.</p>