<p>i got this letter in the mail today saying that penn hadn't recieved my financial aid application and had a big pink envelope that said something like URGENT...FRESHMAN/TRANSFER. </p>
<p>i called and it as a mistake, they have all my materials and said they had no idea how it happened.</p>
<p>could this mean something either way about admission or am i just thinking too much?</p>
<p>Penn has need-blind admissions.</p>
<p>Therefore, financial aid decisions are made independently and without knowledge of actual admission decisions. The letter hints at nothing regarding your admissions. Sorry.</p>
<p>Good luck, though.</p>
<p>thats what i was thinking until my mom said something... ok thanks.</p>
<p>It may well be the case that Biochem8 is much more knowledgeable about the Penn admission process than I am, but I will put in my two cents anyway. Need-blind admissions just means that they don't consider how much you can pay in making you admissions decision. However, it could mean that after they decide to admit you, they tell the financial aid office so that they can process your financial aid application. Otherwise it would be ridiculous for them to calculate everybody's financial aid package if they weren't going to be accepted. On one of the Princeton threads there is a link to an article saying that Princeton does (or at least did) this is with its application/financial aid process.</p>
<p>try not to worry about silly things like this. it will only make you crazy for the next week or so.</p>
<p>yeah i'm not worried, just curious.
thats what i was wondering....because it seems a little extravagent to process financial aid applications for 80+% of applicants or whatever.... soon enough i'll make more sense of it haha</p>
<p>lmanuelli wrote: "Need-blind admissions just means that they don't consider how much you can pay in making you admissions decision."</p>
<p>Yes, and they achieve this by working completely independently from the financial aid office. The "blind" is referring to the fact that the admissions office is "blind" to the decisions made in the financial aid office and vice versa. There is no communication between the two departments. This ensures that a student's inability to financially attend Penn does not interfere with their academic ability to attend Penn.</p>
<p>Therefore, like I said above, a notification from the financial offices does not indicate that you have been accepted to Penn. The financial aid office is simply trying to finish all its assessments so that if indeed you are admitted to Penn they can provide you with your aid package right when you are accepted.</p>
<p>You only have a couple more days to wait. Stick them out.</p>
<p>I'd just like to point out that Penn isn't completely need-blind, but only for US citizens. :( Well, but probably that doesn't affect any of you.</p>
<p>That's actually inaccurate. Penn is need-blind for citizens of US, Canada, and Mexico.</p>
<p>Sorry for my inaccuracy and thank you for correcting it :)</p>
<p>Biochem8: You are definitely right but I think lmanuelli was discussing about how financial aid office begin their assessment of the files of candidates that have already been admitted. Surely the financial aid office does not compute packages for 23K+ applicants. They must have an efficient system. The office of admissions first assess the applicants and make their decision without any form of communication with financial aid during the process. If the candidate was accepted, the admissions people would then inform the financial aid office to process the admitted student's financial aid package.</p>
<p>Not really sure. Perhaps the financial aid office does process packages for the 23K+ applicants. We will never know.</p>
<p>JohnN wrote: "Perhaps the financial aid office does process packages for the 23K+ applicants. We will never know."</p>
<p>The way it was explained to me was that in Penn's case they like to be able to provide you with the financial aid information and acceptance at the same time. </p>
<p>For example, in my case I was admitted to Penn ED and was able to view my financial aid package the same day I received by acceptance. The financial aid info was included on the admissions website that I logged into.</p>
<p>Since admission decisions often take a very long time they are made relatively close to the release dates. Therefore, it is advantageous to process all the financial aid packages and then once the admission decisions are made use only the packages for admitted students.</p>
<p>If the financial aid packages were not calculate until the admission decisions were made it might be difficult to finish them in time.</p>
<p>Like you said, however, we can never truly know but that was how my counselor explained it to me.</p>
<p>I agree with John but I also see your point Biochem, how do they give you the financial aid package decision on the same day as your acceptance if the decision was just made. Maybe they just give the financial aid office of big list of people that are admitted or are on the bubble so they can calculate all their financial aid packages.</p>
<p>lmanueli wrote: "how do they give you the financial aid package decision on the same day as your acceptance if the decision was just made."</p>
<p>That is exactly my point. Assuming the process is truly need-blind it would be extremely difficult to give someone their financial aid package on the same day as their acceptance if financial aid packages were not calculate in advance. Hence, my explanation. ALL financial aid packages for all students are calculated regardless of their admission decision. Then, once admission decision are made the admission office receives the appropriate packages. For those that weren't accepted their financial aid packages is just discarded.</p>
<p>Again, none of us can be 100% exactly how admissions and financial packages are awarded. But based upon input from my guidance counselors and using a bit of logic the process I've stated seems the most probable. It might seem somewhat inefficient to calculate all financial aid packages even though only ~16% get admitted, but financial aid packages take less time than admission decisions. And by processing all financial aid packages Penn can make sure that every student receives both his/her admission decision and if applicable their financial aid package all on March 31st.</p>