<p>"Considering both the specific undergraduate school or program to which you are applying and the broader Penn community, what academic, research, and/or extracurricular paths do you see yourself exploring at Penn?"</p>
<p>What exactly does Penn mean by academic and research paths? I'm assuming that the "extracurricular paths" are clubs. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!</p>
<p>Penn’s supplement in the past has dealt with how you will contribute to the Penn community at large (including but not limited to EC’s). An essay that addresses that might be what they are looking for.</p>
<p>As far as academic and research paths, you could discuss what majors you might be interested in and how Penn can help you accomplish your goals. Not every student at Penn does research (either individual or alongside a professor), but many do. There are a lot of opportunities to participate in research in almost every area of study at Penn and I would suggest you explore those possibilities should you end up attending there.</p>
<p>it feels to me as if its almost the same as last years question, just paraphrased with some new things to be added inside!</p>
<p>That’s what I thought but I wasn’t sure. Thanks so much! </p>
<p>And I heard that Penn is discontinuing Page 217 of the autobiography. Is that true?</p>
<p>bump.</p>
<p>is the supplement even online yet!? it’s not showing up on commonapp for me.</p>
<p>jesuschrist. Just went to check the site after posting that and found it.
<em>facenuke</em></p>
<p>So… ARE they discontinuing pg 217 or not…?</p>
<p>Page 217 is no longer part of the supplement. You can download it from their site if you want, but it’s not on the Common App for some reason (go figure).</p>
<p>It will be good if you guys can show a demonstrated interest in research. Penn takes 125 students each year from the freshman batch and offers them a seat in the Benjamin Franklin Scholars Society. Its a good thing, and its one reason why almost every year the Penn supplemental essay mentions research as a criterion they want you to elaborate upon. It might even help your admission chances, because students just usually write about how they would contribute to the various clubs on campus. You need to understand that there is a very specific reason why they used the term research. They are evaluating you on it.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, I dont mean to say that if you havent done research it is going to put you at a disadvantage. In that case you can write all you want about how you would contribute to Penn in the general sense. But those who can write about it, I advise you to do so. I mentioned a few business ideas I had in mind which I would love to explore if given the chance at Wharton. And I was admitted into both the Benjamin Franklin and the Joseph Wharton Scholars.</p>
<p>@sarvarox12: How do you suggest I approach the research part of my essay if I’ve never done formal research but would like to at Wharton? I want to get into BFS/JWS (as well as Penn, of course) and I have a genuine interest in Finance research.</p>
<p>Yeah, would it be alright to write about research when one has never done it before? I mean I’d be interested in doing research along professors, perhaps biological research but mostly societal development research. But I’ve never done any research before… would they take me seriously?</p>
<p>I have never done any formal research either. Most Whartonites havent. After all there is not much scope to do business related research in high school right? You might find this strange, but even many of my fellow BFS members (those who come from SEAS or CAS) have never done what most of you typically imagine would be research. I often think that BFS, much like admissions in general, is also a matter of randomness and chance. But there are a few tips that can help. If you havent done research, then it wont be a good idea for you to mention BFS in your essay (for obvious reasons), but that doesnt mean that you cant write about your interest in it. There’s a good approach to doing this:
<p>See the basic approach should be to effectively convey that although you havent done any research, you have the potential to do so in college in conjunction with one or more Penn programs. But I would like to warn you that since your essay has a word limit, you need to customize the research bit very effeciently because it would seem wierd that you are are harping on and on about your interest in research but you dont have any credentials in your resume to back up the same. You need to game the essay well.</p>
<p>As for those who have done research, make sure you elaborate upon it, as well as your future plans (this is more important as reasearch that has been done in high school will come through from other parts of your application.) You guys are the ones who can even mention the BFS or JWS by name if you wish and freely talk about how you would flourish if given such opportunities.</p>
<p>Sarvarox12, I’m bookmarking this thread because of your great advice!</p>
<p>Also, what would you write in a situation where one hasn’t done formal research on an individual study, but has worked as a Research Assistant in a hospital?</p>
<p>Sarv, do you know where one might find the research programs for CAS?</p>
<p>Sarvarox12, I am fairly recent to this site and wish I had found it sooner. First of all, I would like to publicly express my sadness that UPenn took out the page 217 essay because that was the only essay I was actually looking forward to writing. But anyways, whats what is what, right? Anyways, thank you for your extremely helpful tips, now at least I have a starting place for my essays. But my question(s) are, I don’t know what exactly goes on at UPenn as a whole (such as clubs, organizations, etc.) all I know is that I want to study business at the Wharton School because when I did a college visit, I instantly fell in love with it. Do you think it would be too risky to say that I truly don’t know what I want to do other than say pursue business as my main major? As for research, I’m really interested in studying micro financing in third world countries such as KIVA, but other than that there’s not much I know about my future in research. I would love to work with professors studying economic theory or analyzing business plans, but I don’t know the ins-and-outs of what research projects are like at uPenn. Do you have any advice for me? I plan to apply early decision because I know that if I get in, there’s no way I’d turn it down for any other college in the country (even harvard or princeton).</p>
<p>You can simply look up the club, activities, and etc. online (type google)</p>
<p>[Office</a> of Student Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/osa/clubs.html]Office”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/osa/clubs.html)</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>[University</a> of Pennsylvania, Department of Recreation Structured Sports, Clubs](<a href=“General - Penn Campus Recreation”>General - Penn Campus Recreation)</p>
<p>I don’t think it would be appropriate if you say that you don’t know what you want to do other than pursue business. That would seem like you don’t do anything but study and ivys want a diverse person who shows interest in many activities, services, and etc.</p>
<p>Research sounds good enough, but personally I’m struggling with this essay also, so can’t give you much help on the research part cause I don’t know either!</p>