<p>"Name a Penn professor with whom you would like to study or conduct research and explain why."</p>
<p>This (required) question is on the UPenn commonapp supplement and jeez...its so difficult to write. Anyone else having problems with this one? I personally think this would be more appropriate for people applying for graduate studies.</p>
<p>Wow, what a ridiculous question.</p>
<p>omg thank god im not applying to UPenn, that one would kill my brain</p>
<p>Just look at their research online and find research that interests you. Then talk about the research and your passion for it.</p>
<p>Yea, that's something I typically see on graduation applications. The significant majority of students don't know what specific concentration, let alone major, they want to study until their junior or even senior year of undergrad.</p>
<p>You should probably read the bios of each of the professors in your intended department of study, and see if any of their research strikes your interest. And if you do get accepted, I'd be very surprised if they actually hold you to it.</p>
<p>It's like 4 lines. Just get on their site and research your major, find a professor, and explain why you are interested.</p>
<p>LOL .. that's an inappropriate question because pre-frosh (usually) haven't met any professors yet, obviously</p>
<p>Of course they haven't met profs, but Penn wants you to go online, investigate some of their professors' work, pick one you find interesting and write an essay.</p>
<p>not to sound lazy but that sounds more like a functional assignment then something that will reflect on the students personality</p>
<p>Perhaps the intention of it is to see how interested the applicant is in his or her potential field of study. Maybe they're looking for students who are passionate in a subject. I'm sure they have enough essays and ECs that reflect their personalities.</p>
<p>It doesn't mean I agree with this, but I'm just speculating.</p>
<p>The point of any college essay is to see how well you can write and how much you reveal about yourself.</p>
<p>There's no such thing as a bad prompt or question for an essay; it's all about how you write.</p>
<p>In other words, it doesn't matter at all what the question is or what it's asking. What matters is how well you can respond to it and show something about yourself. Hell, the question could be "What is your favorite brand of toothpicks and why?" and it wouldn't matter what you actually said is your favorite brand; what would matter is how you went about doing it and whether you reveal something about you as a person or not.</p>