<p>Hi, I plan on applying to penn ED this upcoming fall and have been doing some research about the school and found out about the Vagelos Life Sciences and Management Program. I'm interested in both science and business and have been undecided about which to pick for a while now so this program is like a life saver. However, I'm unsure about what kind of jobs graduates from this program will have. Can anyone help me out?
Thanks so much.(:</p>
<p>Also, if I could get any opinions if I should even apply since I know the program itself is very very selective.
GPA: Unweighted: 3.8791 Weighted: 5.8553
SAT: 740 CR, 740 WR, 780 Math. 2260 composite. (Will be retaking in october)
SAT II: 730 Biology, 780 Math II, 710 Physics (Maybe retake in november)
PSAT: 236 (waiting on national merit information)
AP's: 5 Biology, 5 Macro, 5 Calc AB, 5 Eng comp(There are 4 others but i got 4's so I won't mention them)
EC: 4 year varsity tennis, 2 year captain
1 year varsity swimming
2 year chemistry club officer
3 year asian association officer
3rd place state DECA in marketing
National DECA competition
Math league, science league, robotics and all that wonderful stuff.</p>
<p>And as for my courses, I have been in the most challenging classes.</p>
<p>you look like you have a solid chance. No need to take retake those tests. If you get rejected it won’t be because of your SAT 1 or SAT 2 scores, trust me. Focus your efforts elsewhere, like writing that stellar essay. The fact that you’re asian obviously doesn’t help. And why would you not show the 4’s? You don’t want colleges to think you didn’t take the test. They would much rather see 4’s and 5’s. </p>
<p>Your EC’s are very cookie cutter. anything unique? I mean unless there’s something else you’ve done that’s not listed, your chances come all down to the essays and teacher rec’s.</p>
<p>I’d honestly rank your chances as below average. Given the credentials of most of the accepted kids I know, you’ll need something more to get into one of the coordinated dual degree programs. </p>
<p>Your chances are a single degree program aren’t bad. I just don’t see enough on the science side for you get into LSM. </p>
<p>As for what jobs, a ton of the dual degrees end up going into banking or other finance jobs. The dual degree might give you a leg up in recruiting but if you’re not getting a top gpa then you’d be about equal to getting a single degree with a 0.2-0.3 higher gpa for the pure finance jobs. It will give you a leg up on things like hospital management or working in the biotech industry though. It really depends what you want to do with it. Some people even go on to become just doctors (I believe fewer but don’t quote me on it).</p>
<p>But it wouldnt hurt to try would it since i have a second option right?
Also, i have a friend who wasnt spectacular but spectacular enough to get into the engineering school and transferred into m&t his sophomore year. Would that be a better option since im not exactly sure if bio is something i want to pursue?
Thanks for the opinions none the less(:</p>
<p>Hi guys. I noticed there’s not much information from prior students in the program out there, and while this may not help Joooy hopefully it can help other students in the future. </p>
<p>I was in the inaugural class of LSM, class of 2006-2010. There are some incredibly competent, interesting, and ambitious students in the program, 7 years later some of the guys I met freshman year are still near and dear to me. That being said, there were a lot of people I thought were very mediocre in the program too. Standards have gotten stricter over the years, but I would absolutely encourage everyone who’s interested to apply, not too much additional work, and if you may be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>The curriculum sounds tough, combining two very different fields of study, but it’s definitely manageable. Topics are diverse, so are topics within a single degree degree, let’s take pre-med as an example. The difference between a math class and a chemistry class is arguably as great as that between a chemistry class and a finance class. If you can handle the range of materials within a given major, you should be able to handle the two in LSM.</p>
<p>How many students stick with it, and where do they end up post graduation? There were definitely a fair share of dropouts, and over the course of four years many people (like myself) realize one aspect of the program isn’t great for them (though I did stick through with it). The flexibility allowed is incredible. For example, I started out in college thinking pre-med, dropped those ambitions mid year, and now I’m happily working at a tech focused hedge fund. If I had not joined LSM, I would probably be in med school right now, which I know isn’t the right field for me. While I and a handful of peers have chosen to avoid either science or finance post graduation, there are many many many alum’s who merge the two. You will find many LSM’ers at Wall Street healthcare banking groups, healthcare related hedge funds, and healthcare related venture capital.</p>
<p>Hope this helps, and good luck to all of you who aspire to join the program.</p>
<p>Just a reply to one part of Caveboy’s post: “The fact that you’re asian obviously doesn’t help.”</p>
<p>LSM has no “affirmative action” or similar. They do look for geographic diversity but they already effectively get that from the applicant pool. Some examples: the current freshman class is 60% male and 68% asian. 16% are international.</p>