Congrats
Rejected SEAS CS
1560
3.8 12 AP classes
President of 4 clubs
CEO of Business with 10,000 in revenue in two months
Lead Charity initiative to raise 2,000 in a week
Coded two iOS apps
Was a leader of one of Penn’s largest student organizations before being accepted at all
Yep this process is all ■■■■■■■■
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Status: (Waitlisted: Applied Regular Decision)
ACT (E, R, M, S, Total): Not taken
SAT (ERW, M, Total): 720 Reading, 780 Math= 1500 Composite (I only got one chance to take it)
SAT Subject Tests: Not taken
GPA W: Our school does not weight. I am at the top of the class though.
GPA UW: 3.92 (1 B+ in AP Chemistry)
APs: Took 10 AP classes and 5 honors. Didn’t submit last years scores, but had 4’s and 5’s in the previous year
State/Country: New York
School: Private/ Competitive College Prep High School
Hooks: None. In fact I am a upper-middle class Asian applying into STEM.
ECs: Started a nonprofit that served 200+ kids, published independent research, volunteered at a student led coding camp, volunteered at hospitals, engaged student government, team captain, supported family when our mom had a stroke, attended a selective medical camp, and
Essays: Talked about my interested in computational biology and how I believe it can revolutionize medicine through gene therapy.
Interview: Penn interviewers tend to be pretty low quality. Mine showed up 30 minutes late to my meeting and all my other friends had similar issues. The lady for mine was a lawyer, but she was so sweet. Penn interviews are evaluative and the interviewer does send a recommendation to the admissions committee. In sense, they are important. The interviewer are mainly looking for intellectual curiosity (i.e. how can you engage in a fruitful conversation with a professional). Although my interviewer’s profession was different than what I wanted to pursue in college, we still found common ground in Medical Ethics and had a really nice conversations. These people are looking to see if your are curious and willing to learn and expand your mind. My advice to anyone is to NOT go into these meetings with a mindset that closed and shows that you know everything.
Conclusions: My stats were clearly weak compared to others in CC and reddit, especially for an Asian going into STEM for an ivy league; however they weren’t an outlier in the admissions office either: My stats were still in the middle 50th. Although this was not an acceptance, it’s not a rejection either. Waitlisted students are students that PENN wants, but didn’t have enough space to put all of them. I think the essays, extracurriculars, and interview were the main components that drove this app somewhat forward. I also had external background situations that affected my performance last year, but I worked bloody hard and showed a ton a growth personally. College want students who learn and grow from any situation. Good luck.
FYI, I was waitlisted from Princeton, Cornell, PENN, Rice, Dartmouth, Emory, and WashU
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Anyone from India who got into Upenn?
DS accepted.
Received the BFS letter:
“We are writing personally to encourage you to consider being part of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars(BFS) in the College of Arts & Sciences. You are among a handful of students we consider to be a particularly good fit for our program. If you decide to apply for this opportunity, you will be invited to join.”
What does this mean? We don’t know anything about this program, so trying to understand if this means that he will be evaluated again or not? The letter adds “the outcome is not in doubt in your case”. Also, what are the benefits of this program?
Trying to decide between Duke, Emory Liberal Arts scholarship (about $100k), Univ. of Oxford PPE.
Waitlisted at: Columbia, Chicago, Northwestern, Dartmouth, Cornell, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore
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all I know is that the BFS program is really really amazing and selective. I didn’t get one w/ my acceptance but I’m pretty sure it’s research focused
congrats!!
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Think hard about turning down the Oxford PPE offer. My son just finishing his 4th year and has had an amazing experience there. Which college at Oxford?
So my son got a letter in his decision inviting him to apply but it sounds like your son got a likely letter for the program. Like he should apply and he will get in.
I got into Penn! I’ll probably attend, but I’m considering Dartmouth and Pomona, too. Rank 13/86, 1430, international finaid.
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Congrats! Just out of curiosity (and feel free not to reply if you don’t want to!), did you ask for a full-ride or just a part of the tuition?
I asked for just a part of the tuition, but they weren’t stingy.
Got it, thanks
Hi Everyone!
Congrats to all who were accepted!!! This was a crazy year to apply, and it came during a difficult, isolated senior year.
I was accepted to CAS RD a couple of days ago, and just realized there were additional letters in my acceptance page. Under “Scholars Programs,” my application lists “BFS (college),” and “Civic Scholars.” In both of the scholarship letters, they ask for additional applications that would be due by early May. I was wondering whether these letters indicate any additional chance at becoming a BFS or civic scholar, or rather if these are attached to every applicant’s acceptance letters. Also, because the due date is May, I’m guessing Penn will be assuming an acceptance of their offer before hearing back about these programs. I’m currently deciding between Penn, UCLA (in-state so very affordable!), Duke, and Yale. If anyone has any insights about the BFS and Civic letters attached to my acceptance page, it would be greatly appreciated!
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I don’t believe these letters (especially the Civic one) were sent to all the admits. They seemed to have identified a few potential candidates for BFS and Civic scholars and invited them to submit applications. Qualifying for BFS as a Freshman would be fairly difficult as a Penn Faculty needs to make a recommendation.
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Thanks for letting me know Samroy!
As a Faculty member at UCLA I am flattered to see that you are still considering UCLA along with UPenn, Duke and Yale…
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does anyone whether visitors can walk around campus freely?
Yes, you can, but you most likely can’t get in all the buildings.
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My son also has the BFS and Civic scholars applications attached. I wonder how many people have these attached to their acceptance as well. Do they live together if they are awarded the scholarship? I know of someone who has a different scholarship and they live together in dorm at Penn. My son is deciding between UVA Echols, Vandy, UNC honors and USC. He has not seen Penn. I hear it is similar size and feel to Vandy. We are trying to fit in a visit within next two weeks. Any tips of what we should see please share.
Yes. You definitely can. Don’t think there are any tours being organised due to Covid. Otherwise, you could have gone on a formal tour to get a good idea of the campus. You tend to look at the campus quite differently once you have the offer in hand.