100% agree. Our school did not go to pass/fail either, however per our state requirements, your grade also couldn’t go down in Q4 from whatever it was Q3. So that means a lot of student’s who would have had lower grades, probably had inflated grades for Q4 which would help them. Of course the flip side for those students is that if their other 5 semesters of high school were not consistent with that then it probably doesn’t help.
My son had one Dual Enrollment course and that college went P/F, so the A he should have had went to a Pass. Kind of a bummer but he probably wouldn’t have gotten the credit for the class at the colleges he applied to anyway, yet at the same time a Pass could imply he was getting a C. The only good thing this year is that he is a Teaching Assistant for the same course so that should help as you would hope someone weak in the course wouldn’t be assisting to teach it.
Someone asked why they ask about applying for financial aid so early in the application if they are not need blind. I could see why that is confusing but I honestly think it’s mostly a logistical question because they need to make sure they get your need based award amount (if any) from the financial aid people if they are going to make you an offer. I think Penn is one of the few schools that truly is need blind…however, who knows this year with all that has been going on.
Does anyone know when we’re going to be finding out what the decision date is for this year? The wait is really stressful… I can’t even think when I’m doing homework…
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I told everyone (including myself, mentally) that the decision date is the day before Christmas Eve. This keeps my mind off of thinking about when decisions will come out, and it stops everyone from asking me when I hear from Penn. In reality, I think that they’ll come out on either the 16th, 17th, or 18th.
Anyone know/have a guess as to what percent of applicants are applying test optional this year? I applied with tests (35 ACT) so I hope that the test optional policy will make my score stand out more than it normally would.
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It is hard to say. It is possible only applicants with ACT 35 or above applied for ED?
Agreed. As a fellow 35 act-er, plus knowing a few of my friends with the same, a 35 will become more like the average ACT for accepted students this year since those submitting scores are likely to be the 33+ students.
I think your high school historical data is a good reference.
Is there a way to find out whether or not your counselor submitted an interim report without hearing from your counselor directly? I don’t think mine would reach out to me directly but don’t know otherwise if I could tell through the application portal
I applied M&T ED. 36 ACT, 4.0 unweighted and 4.88 weighted. M&TSI attendee. All Honors or AP level courses. 10 AP courses taken from my HS. 12 AP tests (all 5).
You can check with your counselor. Usually your counselor is contacted by Upenn. It is not through the portal. Probably you are perfect enough to get accepted without additional information. 
I’m hoping that now that it’s “average,” my 35 ACT can be used more as a verifier for my gpa rather than as another statistic. I have excellent course rigor (10 APs, which is the maximum I could have taken, with the rest being honors or dual enrollment courses), though my gpa is nothing amazing (95.3/100). Since not everyone has their test scores, I hope mine can be used to boost and verify my overall academic standing.
if you don’t mind me asking, what were your scores?
Which score? based on the historical data of our high school to Upenn, the minimum score is 35. I had 3 sat subjects and the total AP course is 15. I have national level awards on a few things. I am pretty nervous about the results.
I don’t think it is time to share the stats now. I rather to share the data if I get accepted
Has anyone heard of any RD applicants getting an interview yet? My son had an interview a couple of weeks ago and the interviewer was surprised he wasn’t ED. Just curious.
Lol for people who don’t have a 35 on their ACT: Don’t worry. We literally don’t know what to expect this year so just because kids on this thread may think that a 35 is the “average” for this year, we really never know. Anything around a 32 is perfectly fine because that is typically within range of the average ACT scores of admitted students. The kids on this thread aren’t the AOs reading your application. We’re all going to be fine!
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I had an interview with Georgetown for RD. I think alumni at top schools are getting ahead and hosting interviews earlier than in previous years (likely because they expect that more students will be applying).
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I just scheduled my GTown RD interview though I haven’t had it yet. Vanderbilt has also contacted me for an RD interview. My Penn ED interview was a few weeks ago. Some schools (possibly Penn) are getting ahead in their interviews.
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