Someone knowledgeable about Admissions?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I have a question about DDs application to Penn, but she does not want me to post her personal information on CC. </p>

<p>Is there someone who is knowledgeable about Penn admissions, who I could send a PM to ask a question? (But not in an official position at Penn).</p>

<p>I would very much appreciate it.</p>

<p>M2L</p>

2

<p>Is there a broader topic you can post on the public forums? I’m not extremely knowledgable about Penn admissions, but I’m sure many of the posters frequenting the Penn forum can answer almost any question about the school.</p>

3

<p>Basically, a woman who claims to be knowledgeable about admissions at various schools is telling my DD that her chance to be admitted to Penn is basically zero, and that she should forget about it and focus on lesser schools.</p>

<p>If that is correct, it would be helpful to know. However, but if that is not correct, I would like to know that too. I was hoping that I could share DDs details with someone who has decently familiar with Penn admissions and see whether they believe she is correct, or being too negative. DD will not let me post them.</p>

<p>For me, it is difficult to differentiate the person who is knowledgeable and telling you like it is, from the person who was rejected from top schools and therefore thinks that everyone has no chance.</p>

<p>If someone could assist me, I would appreciate it.</p>

4

<p>Literally no one can really tell you that for sure. There are threads “pinned” at the beginning of this forum. There are the official RD and ED results for the class of 2017 and the official ED results of the class of 2018. They are long but if you read through those threads you will see the stats and activities of students who applied to Penn and whether they were accepted, rejected or waitlisted. You will have a better understanding of the stats needed to gain acceptance and also unfortunately you will also see that there is a bandwidth. You will see some applicants you think should have been accepted but were not and visa versa. Know that even if your daughter has the stats she should still make sure she applies to other schools that would be matches and safeties for her. The most selective schools are NEVER a reliable acceptance for anyone. Good Luck</p>

5

<p>I was not expecting to know for sure whether she would be accepted. I was just trying to understand whether she had a reasonable chance, and this person was saying that she did not.</p>

<p>I did look through a couple of results threads, and a couple of people have PMed me. i sent them DDs profile and they seem to agree that while certainly not a lock, as you are saying, her profile is strong enough that she does have a realistic chance at admission to Penn. </p>

<p>Your advice about applying to additional schools is excellent. She did apply to a handful of top schools that interested her, and she has already been accepted EA to the University of Michigan in the event that those do not work out.</p>

<p>Thank you for your thoughts.</p>

6

<p>I’m somewhat familiar (through research) with the profiles of Penn admits. </p>

<p>This should probably be the best resource (Penn’s CDS, 2013): <a href=“http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202012-13.pdf[/url]”>http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202012-13.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Scroll down to section C. </p>

<p>Best of luck to your daughter!</p>

7

<p>I was admitted to Penn regular admission last year, and I did not think I stood a chance at all. I’ve heard many similar reactions from my friends. Plenty of people told me that I didn’t go to a competitive enough high school and that I didn’t have a high enough SAT score to make the cut, but guess what? - I did! And not only am I getting a fantastic education, I got an amazing financial aid package! Honestly, anything is worth a try :)</p>

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<p>No one can say the someone has zero chance anymore than someone can say that another has a 100% chance.</p>

<p>It’s not hard to spot a kid that is a strong or weak applicant but most people who’ve gone thru the process don’t talk in absolutes, there is too much randomness in the process. I met a student that had a 1700 SAT. Great kid though, driven to excel. Someone thought he had a chance when others would’ve said forget it.</p>

9

<p>For what it’s worth, here’s how Penn describes its admissions criteria–note especially the second-to-last paragraph:</p>

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</p>

<p>There’s more here:</p>

<p>[What</a> Penn Looks For - Penn Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/what-penn-looks-for]What”>What Penn Looks For | Penn Admissions)</p>