UPenn Admissions Fall 2022

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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41

Still waiting for penn interview.

42

My D as well.

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43

geo?

44

My D22 had Penn interview about a week ago or so
We are in NorCal. Alum was in SoCal. She wanted us away from the area and quiet
I was surprised that they chatted for about 90 minutes, as I had expected 30-60 as the target. She thought it went well, so I’m not sure if the 90 is a good sign, or if that is normal for that interviewer.

45

South Carolina - no interviews so far :frowning:

46

CA, no interview so far.

47

Nothing here in NJ.

48

California
LA
Interview scheduled

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49

No interview requests yet - NY

50

Hoping we will hear soon. D22 applied to the College of Arts & Sciences.

51

My kid had the interview last week. It wasn’t a great experience. Oh well.

52

oh. sorry to hear. can you shed some light?

as stated across the board, the interviews don’t have any real significance in admissions review
hopefully your kid isn’t discouraged. best of luck

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53

The interviewer seemed to push back on anything my kid answered. She said it just got too awkward. She’s fine with it but it was odd to have someone conduct the interview like that.

54

My son’s interview was odd to. He would be asked a question and as soon as he stated to answer, the interviewer would interrupt him to talk about himself.

Nothing like his Georgetown Interview.

55

Wow! That’s terrible @Lola1 and @mwstar. Probably untrained interviewers.

For what it’s worth - I’ve heard the interview doesn’t carry much weight in the admission decision. So shouldn’t affect your kids much.

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56

From an interviewers perspective ( not this year) - do not panic if you have not gotten an interview. First of all like the school says it’s not mandatory for admission, but that’s not to say if you get an offer for one you shouldn’t take it. It is as much a chance for you to learn more about the school than it is for them to learn a little more about you.(Interviewers are not given anything but your name and possible area of study interest - admissions tries to match you with interviewers that may have similar interest or whom you can at least have a casual conversation with. I graduated CAS and still interviewed Wharton and EAS students.

Interviewers do not have access to your record and know nothing more about you including anything on your common app - no grades- no scores - no ECs - no nothing - some interviewers may ask for a resume but Penn discourages interviewers form doing this - I never wanted them - One overzealous student sent me his unsolicited. While it did give me information I also had a chance to question him on some things that he had listed but then disclosed he was not very involved with ( sounds like resume padding) - without the resume I would have never known) - so in my mind it backfired for him ( though once again I had nothing to do with the final decision)

From what I remember most interviews need to be completed by the end of February or early March and interviewers can get lists as late as the end of Feb. This is often based upon the number of available interviewers. In the virtual world these past two years there is more possibilities for interviewers to interview people from different regions. Last year for example I’m on the east coast and in addition to my region I signed up to interview anywhere and saw students from the west, south, and midwest too. ( I believe this is the future of college interviews and will allow more people to be interviewed).

With respect to the interviews weight. As an interviewer you never know it’s impact since you are not making the final decisions. You are only told if the students you interview are admitted. From there you can only look back on your notes or the comments you submitted if you jotted things down and say “Yep I knew that she was a great candidate”, " yes I wasn’t expecting him to be admitted", " really she was admitted?", “really he wasn’t admitted?”.

From an interviewers perspective you have to want to do it for the chance to have a conversation with some very diversified, intelligent, and impressive students. There is a time commitment but it’s not that burdensome for interviewers who are volunteers and enjoy the process. You are not doing it because you think you have any great influence on the process (many interviewers may never interview an accepted student while some may interview several - it’s random).

Good luck and don’t panic about the interview.

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57

Sorry in the above meant

“Yep I knew that she was a great candidate”
" Yep, I didn’t expect him to get in"
“Really she was admitted?”
“Really he wasn’t admitted?”

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58

How does Penn determine interviews? Availability or if a candidate is on the line?

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59

One of the documents I need to upload to my Penn financial aid portal is the Student Tax Return, but I don’t think I have one? I was 15/16 in 2020 and I’ve never had a job before so I’m not sure what to submit.

60

You need to submit the non-Tax Filer form. It’s available on the Student Registration and Financial Services page.

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