However, if they do accept me. I’ll be fine with about 250,000 of student loans when I graduate, it’s my absolute top dream school since I was in elementary school so I think it’s fine if this dream is a bit pricy.
They are need blind even for waitlisted students as far as I know.
Does anyone know if Penn offers transfer option to students on the waitlist?
They may not just be looking for full pay off the waitlist. They look for anything to help them balance their class where they end up having gaps.
If you are the waitlist it’s because they think you’d be great there, but they didn’t have room.
I’m not saying they only look for full pay.
I’m saying that if what they happen to need is a full pay, they will sift the waitlist for the best fit for the opening they need to fill who is full pay.
If they need a Concert Violinist from Mississippi, and there’s one on the waitlist who needs full financial aid, they aren’t going to let financial need keep them from filling the gap with the traits/skills they are looking for, when it’s right there on the waitlist. That would be an example where the financial strength doesn’t matter, but the other things do.
But if there are two Awesome concert violinists from Mississippi—every other stat is the same—and one needs full financial and other is full pay, who do you think they will pick?
Not only do I worry that the financial aid bucket will be empty if I were lucky enough to be admitted, but the housing choices disappear quickly.
If Penn is your dream school and full loans are okay with you, then I hope you get in! Stay positive.
For me, I need to really mull it over. I want to go to med school and that’s not cheap either. I really have to think about costs.
AND… fear not about covering your demonstrated financial need. If you get pulled off the waitlist because you are perfect for filling a gap they have to fill—if they want you—Penn is gonna cover your demonstrated need. They have a huge endowment and they cover financial need with grants.
Thank you! I hope that happens! And best of luck to you too!
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Guys, update on the status of my portal. I have not received an email from the admissions office yet, but the missing materials section on my portal is now gone. It now just reads, welcome to you penn portal, etc, and that is the last sentence on my portal page. Looks like the missing materials part was some sort of error, yet I don’t completely know at the moment. However, I’m happier now knowing that there is nothing wrong with my application and hopefully I can get off the waitlist!
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i feel so tired of waiting 
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Don’t give up! We got this!
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Did your friend declined Penn’s offer?
Yes
I’m thinking about making some analysis on the waitlist activity for other top universities, would anyone be interested? If so, I’ll post it here.
(It’s no indicator but I personally enjoy the process of doing something compared to just doing nothing and waiting).
I’ve read articles saying that they waitlist people just to maintain good relationships with certain high schools or parents. I have no personal connections and I am first generation. My school is ranked 1500 in national schools, and there’s 1-2 people that got into Penn from my school in the last five years.
In this case, does it sound more likely that I’m waitlisted because they actually consider me as an candidate or just for “diplomatic reasons”?
Yes please, I would love to read this!
They prob didn’t waitlist you for diplomatic reasons. I feel like the only people that actually applies to are like legacies. Not sure about high schools.
how much demonstrated interest is too much demonstrated interest
It really depends on what direction you choose to take. And to be honest, I would say it’s really about who you are and not interest because (at least this is what I think) anyone that is waitlisted and that cares enough for Penn is going to do some research online and base on what I’ve found online, 9/10 of them will tell you to include the if admitted I’ll 100% attend or Penn is my first choice thing. So at this point, everyone tends to have the same amount of demonstrated interest (unless they sincerely don’t care and didn’t put work in it). So then it really just comes down to your application and demographics that matter. However, I’m sure your interest can be advanced if you do something special to impress the AT. I saw someone who recorded a video of herself drawing her life out and with a background voice talking about what she could’ve done better on her application and she was later accepted. However, there’s no indication that it was what got her in. I personally think that at this point there isn’t much that we can do (unless you just won some kind of epic award or something) in regards to increase our chances of getting in. (I’m not sure if that answers your question).
But also never worry that you’re demonstrating too much interest because they love to see that and in fact I regret for showing not enough interest in my original application. Lastly, if you are worried that you have demonstrated too much interest and it gets creepy, don’t worry, on my LOCI I literally sound insane and that I’m on drugs (I was desperate to a point that I get tingles for reading over that letter now).
But do make sure that you don’t sound like you’re mad at them for not accepting you because that would really get on their bad side but other then that, feel free to demonstrate your interest as much as you want!
Any news on when they’ll start accepting off the waitlist? Someone on Reddit said that the admissions office started admitting this Friday. Is this true?
Base on how it goes for past years, there should be news next week. Usually the first wave comes around the second week of Commitment day, and since this year Commitment day is later plus extensions were given, we are looking at about mid-May. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s early June either. I’ll call again on Monday to see what they say, they should have more info now. And I wouldn’t trust those Reddit my friend or my daughters friend got accepted kind of posts. We can only trust that true decisions are coming out when multiple people start to report them on multiple platforms.
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