What does Penn look for in our App.?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>GPA and sat scores, obviously, are the main things.</p>

<p>But what are the secondary* things that they look at?
(I heard essays and recommendations, but anyways)</p>

2

<p>PASSION! (everyone says this so many times) gosh - it gets annoying.</p>

3

<p>personality</p>

4

<p>actually from <a href="http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=1464&profileId=1:%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=1464&profileId=1:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Very important admission factors:</p>

<pre><code>* Character/Personal Qualities
* Recommendations
* Rigor of secondary school record
</code></pre>

<p>Important admission factors:</p>

<pre><code>* Application Essay
* Extracurricular Activities
* Standardized Test Scores
* Academic GPA
</code></pre>

<p>Considered:</p>

<pre><code>* Alumni Relation
* Class Rank
* Geographical Residence
* Interview
* Racial/Ethnic Status
* Talent/Ability
* Volunteer Work
* Work Experience
* First generation college student
</code></pre>

<p>So according to this GPA and SAT are not the most important... but then again it's probably all hogwash on those sites anyways..</p>

5

<p>how do colleges determine character/personal qualities anyway? since they are categorized differently from the essays...</p>

6

<p>Maybe combination recs, ecs, and essays as well as any correspondence you've had with them - maybe they read your mind.... Although that is a good question - maybe whartonadvisor could shine some light on this as well as the collegeboard's supposed "list"...</p>

7

<p>I guess they get those things from recs, essays, interviews, and other things. Some claim that character/personal qualities is a way to discriminate against hard working Asians and Jews, but idk.</p>

8

<p>hmm... that seems slightly sketchy</p>

9

<p>Venkat89 - </p>

<p>that's in the "Considered" list:</p>

<ul>
<li>Racial/Ethnic Status</li>
</ul>

10

<p>aaron, they may say it is "considered," but penn practices affirmative action to promote diversity. Being a so called "under-represented-minority," gives you an advantage in the admissions process.</p>

11

<p>I've seen articles that say Asians and Jews are usually characterized negatively (antisocial, awkward, idk what else, I can't find the articles right now, but they are somewhere on CC) and white kids are regarded as outgoing, social, leaders, etc. I don't believe colleges do this now days, but some people believe it.</p>

12

<p>one of the major reasons i chose penn, besides the academics, was the diversity. my school is literally 40-50% jewish, 35% korean and <1% hispanic or black. from what i've heard, penn is already nearly 25% jewish and around 20-25% asian (which is already a bit lopsided) but at least the remainder is socioeconomically and racial diverse (including a relatively large international prescence too). i think that increasing that percentage in favor of asian and jewish people would negatively affect the campus community, because most members of these groups have similar backgrounds/experiences.</p>

13

<p>let's keep it clean and take the focus off race a bit.... we all agree race is a factor, and can be a major one, but I don't think it makes much sense in going too much further into racial stereotypes etc - that was not the purpose of this thread.</p>

14

<p>I'm more curious... where does the college board get it's "lists"</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
I've seen articles that say Asians and Jews are usually characterized negatively (antisocial, awkward, idk what else, I can't find the articles right now, but they are somewhere on CC) and white kids are regarded as outgoing, social, leaders, etc.

[/quote]

uhh... jews are white, buddy</p>

16

<p>When I said "white" I meant Christian, WASP type people.</p>

17

<p>Test Scores + all the above</p>

18

<p>As I said in another post, from what I have seen on the Penn stats from high schools around here, the students who are admitted to Penn have high GPA's and nothing else matters. The students could have taken the weakest curriculum available and had lackluster SAT scores, but if they have the high GPA, they were admitted. My son's friend got rejected and was TOLD BY PENN that the only reason was a freshman year C+. So, good luck to all you applicants, maybe Penn will mellow out before they read your applications.</p>

19

<p>newzbuggare you sure???</p>

<p>r u talking about Wharton as well?</p>