<p>For current students or anyone who knows current students, please…just a few questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>What are students like? How happy are students here?</li>
<li>What was the deciding factor of Penn for you, and now that you go there what is your favorite thing about it?</li>
<li>Would someone from Wharton be able to tell me about the program/their experience there?</li>
<li>Does the schoolwork/atmosphere create a lot of pressure? </li>
<li>How are the career services in terms of internships and job placement?</li>
<li>My friend is a legacy and he says that'll be a big advantage/decisions factor for him. Is that true?</li>
</ol>
<p>Just looking for some insight. Thank you so much!</p>
<p>1 and 4 Students are usually happy with their course of study but it can be stressful sometimes. However, a large portion of the stress is self induced since students set very high standard for themselves.
2 I really like the support students got to do research. That was my favorite thing there as well as the classes and professors in my major. I did great research and got a first author publication in one of the top three most prestigious journals in my field.
5 career services are supposed to be good but since I wanted to go to grad school in never went there. I did get into the several of the very top grad schools in my field. OCR is supposed to be very stressful but is a great opportunity for students. Overall job placements are excellent.
6 legacy is only factored in for ED. I’m not sure how big of a role it plays but there are definitely qualified legacies rejected every year. Having a sibling who goes/went to Penn is basically the same as being a legacy. There are lots of sibling pairs at Penn.</p>
<p>From my recent interactions with current students (and my own experience several years back), I think most Penn and Wharton students are happy to be there and realize the opportunities they have. It’s a rare person for whom Penn is a back-up plan. Overall the vibe on campus is pretty positive, though I will say it is pretty stressful esp in Wharton. In part that is due to the Wharton curve and in part it’s due to the constant talk about the future that goes on in Wharton (this was my experience too). You have freshman talking about bulge bracket banks as if they are experts and that makes everyone else who doesn’t even know what that is nervous. So you have to learn how to tune that stuff out if you’re not interested and pursue whatever it is you want to do. If you came to Wharton thinking you’d go to law school or go back to work for a hometown manufacturing company or whatever – you have to stay focused on that and not let the constant talk of investment banking sway you too much.</p>
<p>Legacy is a factor, but I wouldn’t say it’s a big advantage unless your family has a named building on campus or is a trustee; there are plenty of legacies rejected yearly. Admissions is so competitive that you can’t rely on anything getting you in for sure.</p>
<p>Several years ago, Penn used to state in the alumni section of its web site that more than 60% of legacy applicants were rejected each year. Penn is now significantly more selective than it was back then, so I’d imagine that an even higher percentage of legacy applicants are currently rejected every year. It can provide an advantage during the Early Decision round–and basically ONLY during the ED round–but only if the legacy applicant is otherwise qualified. In other words, it gives legacy applicants a bit of an advantage over non-legacy applicants during the ED round all else being equal, and confers essentially no advantage during the Regular Decision round.</p>