<p>What do you mean by theme?</p>
<p>that would great if you could elaborate on the theme with<em>one</em>voice.</p>
<p>and also i am very curious/worried about something. how much do the political leanings of the adcoms come in when making decisions. i live in a state (OK) that has voted republican in the last few elections and if penn knows anything about my town, it is generally conservative. i am not really political, but if the penn adcoms suspected i was a republican b/c of this, would this hurt my chances?</p>
<p>i work in the admissions office, and for example i heard the admissions officers talking about a boy from somalia who started the first microcredit business incubator for street youth in mogadishu this year... idk much else about him as an applicant, but they were definitely referring to him in reference to this year's theme of "making history"</p>
<p>feel free to ask me any questions, as i work pretty close to the admissions officers in college hall and hear them talking sometimes about applicants</p>
<p>What woud lyou consider the "average" sat for a wharton student who was admitted with any connections, and that wasnt a recruited athlete</p>
<p>Let's just say that it could be any one who may meet what ever theme it may be for the next year. They use this theme to raise money from their alumni. They actually have a booklet, and magazine that is sent out to about 350,000 people who help support the school.</p>
<p>So, what ever the theme is for that year, and if you are a match for it, it could really increase your chances. I was lucky because of the timing and was featured on page 54 of the book.</p>
<p>And, I love it here. I applied to Harvard and Columbia also, but Penn was the best match for me.</p>
<p>OH my friend's dad gave me that booklet thing! is it called Proudly Penn? if so then yeah i see the little section on making history...thanks</p>
<p>it seems that making history is a campaign to fundraise for expansions on the campus.</p>
<p>and with<em>one</em>voice, you can be brutally honest if you about the idealogy thing. i just want to gage where i stand or if it will affect anything</p>
<p>being a republican will not hurt you. actually it would make this campus a little more diverse if anything. there is a chapter of college republicans here, so they got in.</p>
<p>i'm not really a part of any party, i've just heard that alot of the ivies lean left (to varying degrees depending on the college) and i wasn't sure if that was just the professors or if the admissions office has been known to show a bit less of a fondness for those who live in the red states.</p>
<p>i don't think it matters. as long as you are not obnoxious and can present your views (whatever they are) in a rational way, then you are fine. if they won't accept you because of what you believe or they assume you believe, then this place isn't worth it. fortunately, this is not the case.</p>
<p>Those themed campaigns are very interesting..thanks so much for the heads-up bexline and with<em>one</em>voice!</p>
<p>I can sort of see myself fitting their visions..</p>
<p>being from a red state won't matter even though the ivies tend to lean left... you obviously can't help what state you reside in... and even so, penn probably likes to have a mixture of political parties on campus, it lends to diversity and intellectual banter i suppose... plus there's wharton, i bet a lot of them are repub. if you're concerned you could check this map (<a href="http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/images/map-2011.gif%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/images/map-2011.gif</a>) to sort of guage the amount of kids accepted from various states.</p>
<p>If anything, it helps to be from one of the "red" states - they really would like to diversify geographically and WANT people from Wyoming, Montana, etc.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say that having conservative type credentials is disqualifying but it's not a plus either, given the "blue state" type background of the people reading your app. If applicant A is the pres. of her schools Gay-Straight Alliance and Stop Global Warming Club and applicant B is the pres. of his school's Gun Club and Anti-Abortion League, they will unconsciously prefer A.</p>
<p>21 ED applicants to Penn from my son's high school -- 12 legacies and at least 2 big contributors (i.e., buildings). Hope there are no specific school quotas!</p>