Hey! So I recently got accepted to UPenn, something that I am truly grateful for and have beyond words to like even convey that. However, I’ve been thinking about it and this is what I’m feeling. Is this normal?
I feel like I won’t find friends or a community. I feel like I’ll be the dumbest person there and get Fs. I feel like I won’t be successful. I feel like I won’t get into med school. I feel like my high school hasn’t prepared me well and I’ll fail.
What is this? UPenn is an amazing school and I’ve been looking forward to this for like the past four years. What does this mean? Is it normal to feel this way?
If they didn’t feel you could succeed, you simply would not have been admitted. Many students experience these feelings.
Do think about your med school ambitions. Be prepared to work as hard as you have ever worked if med school is your goal. GPA matters hugely. You will need top grades for all four years. Understand that you might change your mind about med school and that is okay.
It’s called Imposter Syndrome. It’s completely normal and more common than you might think, especially in the T20s. I can promise you they did not make a mistake.
Maybe a better way to look at it is a less competitive atmosphere. It’s worth considering if it might be better to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Or just a bigger fish. What other colleges were you accepted to? I am sensing that you are not certain about Penn.
ETA: It seems that you applied to a lot of extremely competitive schools and some BSMD programs, which are also very competitive.
As of now, I’m considering Kean (full ride until masters), Stockton (7 year BS/DO), Tulane, and Penn. I love Penn (always have), but I’m just nervous that I won’t be able to keep a high GPA. I’d have that nervousness for any other “top-tier” school, but just wanted to see if this is normal or what. In competitiveness of student bodies, I think my first two choices would def be less competitive than Penn.
Other schools:
Seton Hall Early Interview MD
Montclair State
Is Penn affordable? I ask because med school is very expensive.
Kean, Stockton and Montclair State, while reputable institutions, will not offer a comparable educational experience to Penn. I believe that Seton Hall is somewhat higher ranked than the first three. Tulane might be a happy compromise between the NJ publics and Penn.
To repeat what others others have said, you would not have been admitted if Penn did not think you were capable of succeeding there. Congrats!
I can’t speak to the original poster but some of these test optional kids who snuck in to tippy top schools may struggle. Again, maybe the OP got 1600/ 36 but is still worried about how they’ll do at UPenn but this will be a year with many struggling students based on some of the kids from my sons’ high school who “outkicked their coverage” and landed great admissions despite not being all that strong academically.
Doubtful. These AOs are experienced. I have to assume that they know how to put together a class that will not flunk out when they acceptance rate was less than 5%. Many top colleges where TO before this year and they don’t seem to have had problems.
High test scores told adcoms one thing at need blind universities: a 1500 often correlates as full-pay (especially when coming from certain schools or zip codes - and there the competition is with universities offering merit aid). Sorry to be cynical but test scores/socio-economic status is the highest correlation there is, not academic success. There have actually been lots of studies about this. Test optional selective universities have conducted studies about this policy show no difference between the students admitted TO or with tests. Finally, TO means just that: optional. Anyone who had scores could submit them. In many areas of the country, no one had any scores. (For instance, Florida was the only state that required test scores. As a result, applications dropped 50% at some public universities because all test dates from May till December were cancelled and students simply couldn’t apply – which means that if anyone is unhappy with their admission results and has test scores, Florida universities are likely to be on the list of universities that miscalculated yield or didn’t enroll enough students, published by NACAC in early May.)
Academic success is linked to course rigor and grades (also, success in college is successfully predicted by previous success in college classes…) In the end, this year was wonky because covid upended so much, so while some students who’d have had a shot at several universities with sub-25% acceptance rates only got into what they considered “safeties” or “matches”, at highly selective universites no one got in who shouldn’t have.
When universities are THAT selective, they don’t admit anyone who wouldn’t succeed. In fact they could admit a second set of students whose academics show they’d be successful. So, after first cut for academics, they craft their class based on institutional needs and a mix of what they want.
@alwayshappy25 : as others have said, this is called Impostor Syndrom, look it up. It’s normal and quite common. You’re going to change “universes” - but it’s also part of growing up.
There are ways to mitigate the pressure at Penn, BTW.
If you got into Penn, choosing Kean, Stockton, Seton Hall, or Montclair would just be shortchanging yourself.
I could see hesitating between Tulane and Penn, especially if Tulane offered you a scholarship.
However, with Penn or any top schools, they have SO MANY talented applicants that they wouldn’t admit anyone whom they even hesitate about. If you got in, it means you can do the work and have the qualities to succeed. The very experienced adcoms at a top college, who are used to seeing the world’s brightest students’ applications, saw your preparation, skills, qualities, and decided you would be a great addition to the student body.
Now, it’s up to you. Why don’t you give yourself a chance and prove them right?
As I posted on another thread, I’m not sure that I agree that admissions counselors at every school will get this right. Again, schools that have been TO for a few years look for specific predictors of success and I’m skeptical that all the new schools that went to TO this year will have the same skill-set. There are only so many 4.0 with a patent and a national chemistry/ physics/literature award who applied TO to go around and after that, admissions counselors are reading highly curated essays and projecting that the 3.8 kid who took 4 AP classes will perform as well as the 34+/1520+ 10 AP kids.
As I said in my first post, I’m sure the OP will do well at Penn. His Tulane acceptance should give him confidence that he was supposed to be there and I bet he’ll do great.
Thanks so much I really appreciate your help! I haven’t gotten my FA package yet, but from the NPC, it seems that it would be affordable. Of course, if its too much, then I don’t think I’m going to consider it since, as you mentioned, med school and its applications are pretty expensive. How much (in loans) do you think its worth it to go to a school like Penn?
Yeah, def I agree with what you mention in your first paragraph
Yeah, I didn’t submit test scores, but I feel like if I had the opportunity to take the test when I actually was prepared for it, I would’ve been able to get a 1500+. I took it once during my sophomore year just for the fun of it and got in the mid 1400s which I know isn’t good but my family also couldn’t afford all of the tutoring services and all. Anyways, yeah, I do feel the imposter syndrome but one can only hope? I feel like I did good in school and out of school with other exams but just overall like the academics and all I’m scared of. But thanks so much!
Oh my god I am literally crying at your response thank you so much for the words of encouragement-- I really could not ask for more! I think your comment really gave me a bit of motivation to pursue the option, so thank you so much! It makes me feel a lot more confident than before
And of course, I think the correlation between test scores vs. socio-economic status is a lot stronger than academic success.
Thanks so much for your answer! Yeah, at times I feel like maybe they made a mistake with me but there’s really no way of knowing until I try, so that’s what I’m likely going to do (assuming FA comes through ahahah). Thanks so much once again for your words of encouragement
Finances are something that only you and your family can decide. However, on CC most people will advise students not to exceed the federal student loan amount (about 27K over four years) and if med school is on the horizon, look for an undergraduate option that leaves you with zero debt.
That said, as I mentioned above, there will be a significant gap between your instate public safeties and Penn and that is worth considering. Did you not apply to Rutgers? With your profile, I’d think that admissions to Honors would have been likely.
Yeah, I do have a few options in between. Rutgers Honors (SAS), Baylor, Northeastern, BC, Brandeis (QBReC), Reed, Syracuse (full tuition), Rochester, USC, etc. Rutgers Honors is actually pretty cheap (only around 5k inclusive of everything) thankfully since we’re instate.
