<p>I’m not sure why anyone would think this question is unfair to ask if you applied early somewhere else or why you didn’t apply ED.</p>
<p>I was admitted ED and during my interview, the interviewer told me that he doesn’t ask as many questions to people who applied ED because he already knew Penn was their number one. </p>
<p>Penn has a reputation for being one of the upper echelon schools with happier students, do you think that just happens by coincidence? It doesn’t, Penn has that reputation because the people who go there all wanted to go there.</p>
<p>OP is only upset because the question didn’t favorably reflect his chances for admissions. Penn is a private school and can admit their students based on any criteria they choose. It just so happens that a student’s passion for Penn is a very important criteria for admissions to Penn. Saying it is unfair for Penn to use the interview to gauge a students interest in Penn is like saying it is unfair for Penn to use sat scores and gpa to try to predict a student’s intelligence level.</p>
<p>“The purpose of the interview is to find out more about you”
Yes, and your level of interest in Penn is an aspect of your personality. By indirectly asking you if there was a place you’d rather be than Penn, they’re able to find information about you that is relevant to their admissions decision, when you went into the interview were you expecting questions like “whats your favorite color?”</p>