Hi, everyone! I was recently admitted to UPenn’s class of 2024 and have recently committed. I am very excited to attend, and I have already applied to an honors-type program within the College.
However, on “Ivy Day,” I also received waitlist decisions from Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Cornell. I have already replied “no” to Dartmouth and Cornell because I did not fit as well at them as well as Penn, and I very much love the school I have committed to. That being said, I still have to reply to Yale and Columbia, both of which were as high on my list as UPenn. I truly applied to Yale only on a whim, though, to avoid the kind of “what if?” regret when decisions came out. I like Columbia, as well, but I do prefer Penn’s larger setting. The only issue I see with Penn is that I am not pre-professional unlike many of their undergraduate students, and as an intended neuroscience major, I thought that Columbia/Yale might be better known in that aspect.
While much of this comes down to the juvenile definition of “prestige” that I seek as an eighteen-year-old senior, I truly seek advice. I have heard that schools with large populations of international students (aka Columbia!) may have to accept more from the waitlist amidst COVID-19 fears, and I just don’t want to have any regret down the road. That being said, I don’t want to only put in half-effort. I will definitely put in the work for getting off of the waitlists… I’m just not sure if the minute differences in prestige are worth it. It’s just hard to not get caught up in rankings when they’re published so often and rank Columbia and Yale over Penn. I apologize if this is naive thinking; don’t get me wrong, I am elated to attend UPenn. Please advise, and thank you very much. 