Penn is my top choice and has been for years now. However, I just discovered today from my counselor that Penn basically blackballs our school (does not take ANY STUDENTS no matter how qualified) because a kid from my school took them to court to get out of her ED acceptance 3 years ago). Since then, students way more qualified than me who I know should have gotten in have been rejected ED and regular. Not one single person has gotten in. My school sends at least 1-3 kids to every Ivy every year so it is definitely abnormal that not even 1 could go to Penn. HOW DO I GET AROUND THIS??? THIS IS NOT ABOUT TO STOP ME FROM APPLYING TO PENN AND AT LEAST BEING CONSIDERED! WHAT DO I DO? Sorry for the caps and thank you for your help 
I have no way of knowing this for sure, however, put simply, Penn didn’t blackball your school. Especially not over one student. If you told me you went to Andover and suddenly no one was being accepted to Penn, I’d say that something weird was going on. But if you’re going to a school that’s only sending 1-3 kids to each ivy every year i would say it’s a lot more likely that Penn just hasn’t seen an application from your high school that impressed them enough within the last few years to warrant an admission. Being qualified to get into Penn doesn’t mean you’ll get in. With an acceptance rate as low as Penn’s, it comes down more to luck than anything else once you’ve met the general standards (good gpa and SAT score, ECs, etc.). Your school is probably just going through a penn dry-spell. Hopefully you’ll be the one to break it! But they’re not punishing a whole high school because of one student. Don’t let the rumors discourage you from submitting an application and seeing how it turns out.
Reinhold Niebuhr said it best decades ago
Don’t waste your time and money applying to Penn. Let it be their loss, not yours.
Or apply and let the chips fall as they may. They’re entitled to accept whomever they want, but given that it’s your ‘top choice’ I assume you’d wonder what would have happened, if you don’t apply…
Your guidance counselor told you this? I wouldn’t assume that Penn has blackballed your school if it’s only been three years with no acceptances. I would follow up with GC. Is she merely setting expectations? Would the school be supportive if you applied ED anyway? What does she suggest you do to show your interest in going there?
Penn offers all types of different summer programming for HS students. Perhaps you could take a class there over the summer and, although it won’t help you get in per se, it can help demonstrate your interest in the school.
I, like PennCAS, am skeptical. I find it hard to believe that Penn (or any school) would completely blackball an entire high school and all of the students in it for years to come because of an unfortunate incident with one student that may have nothing to do with the students at the rest of the school. It would be very silly, since one student backing out of ED has nothing to do with whether future students will do so, and especially has nothing to do with RD.
Also, if by 3 years ago you mean applied in fall 2012 for admission in fall 2013, then there have literally only been 3 cycles since then (2013-2014, 2014-2015 and 2015-2016). It’s entirely possible that it’s a coincidence no one from your HS got accepted to Penn. I could see if this was a 10-year streak, but 3 cycles?
Basically, you have two choices. You can take your counselor’s words at face value and not apply to Penn at all. If you don’t apply, you have a 100% chance of not getting admitted. Or you can try to apply and see what happens. At least if you do apply, you have some chance of getting admitted. If Penn is truly your top choice, I think it’s worth the additional effort to apply and see what happens.
If that is true then move on to another school.
It sounds like students are making up an excuse for their Penn denials. And your GC is incompetent.
I have never heard of anyone taking a college to court to get out of an ED agreement. Sounds like an urban legend. Can you or your GC cite the court case involved?
^ Yes, the entire premise here is mixed up. If you don’t want to honor your ED, you don’t enroll in that school. What would the court case actually be about? True someone in Penn admissions might be annoyed with your school and GC, but probably not enough to affect decisions for many years later.
In any case, there are thousands of colleges out there and a double digit on Penn’s level.
Why fixate on one? How is this different from a crush? And does crushing on someone ever make sense?
There is no one who definitely ‘should have gotten in’ to Penn.
I know high school counselors do get frustrated with many top schools these days as admissions gets crazier every year. I don’t think it is likely that Penn has “black balled” the school, however.
If you are concerned, I would set up and appointment with admissions when you visit Penn to discuss your interest in Penn and your concern about the situation. I think it can only help you if you handle it appropriately.
I’ll join the chorus and say it’s highly unlikely Penn won’t accept students from your HS because of an incident with a previous applicant. For the GC to suggest that seems quite odd. Were the GC or the administration somehow complicit in the prior incident? Even if they had shown themselves to be untrustworthy (say, an untruthful recommendation), I think qualified students from your school would still get a serious look. Realistically, if the school sends 1-3 students per year to an Ivy it’s quite possible the lack of Penn acceptances is simply a statistical quirk that will even out over time. A kid could quite possibly get into Harvard, Yale, and Columbia but not into Penn. It depends on what they are looking for.
If Penn is truly your first choice, apply there. Make it clear in your app what is unique about Penn that fits your interests and passions. At the same time, maintain realistic expectations.
I’m not a huge fan of ED gamesmanship, i.e., applying ED to your third choice school because the odds of getting in are better and you don’t want to “waste” your ED app on your more selective first choice. Get accepted to your third choice ED, and you’ll wonder if you should have applied to your top choice. (Apparently, your older classmate suffered from a severe case of ED remorse!)
If your GC said this, consider that the GC may have caught a lot of flack from Penn when the former student squelched on their ED commitment. The lack of acceptances is likely statistically meaningless but the GC is applying a meaning to it based on her recent unpleasant experience.
As @PennCAS2014 so perfectly put it: your school’s having a penn dry-spell. Maybe it was triggered by the ED incident but more likely it just happened.
If it’s true (and there’s no way to know if it is or not), then don’t waste your time trying to get into Penn. If you’re good enough to get accepted by Penn you’ll be good enough to get accepted by another school that’s just as good or better. Penn isn’t the all-in-all.
I do not believe that Penn has ever gone to court to enforce ED. Not any Ivy. They have too many talented students to choose.
Penn had not taken a single student from my high school for the last five years. They took two this year.
This sounds like an exaggeration. Penn owes your hs nothing, nada, zip. They look at all kids in your area and may be intrigued by other hs’s kids, their performance and their individual applications and supps.
Legacies, double legacies, and 2400s are not guaranteed anything. The whole record and the self-presentation in the app/supp are what advances you or not.
“Make it clear in your app what is unique about Penn that fits your interests and passions.” And for that, you dig into everything you can about the college, what it values and looks for, you research your major, not go on hearsay, ratings, or something someone says someone else told them. Be on your game. Cuz the competition is fierce and still getting fiercer.
And remember, what makes you a big dawg in one hs isn’t automatically what a college wants to see.
Just because someone who is more qualified than you and you think they should have gotten in doesn’t mean that Penn blackballed your school. You have no way of knowing if they deserved a place at Penn. Even with good stats, getting into Penn is never a guarantee. Not to mention if your school only sends 1-3 kids a year, it isn’t particularly surprising that no one has gotten into UPenn. Has anyone gotten into Stanford from your school for the past few years? If not, pretty sure Stanford didn’t blackball your school.
If Upenn is your top choice and you have good scores and statistics, go for it.
Try going in for an interview and demonstrating that you are genuinely interested.