Hey all!
Penn has been my first choice for a while, however my family and I did not want to bind ourselfs under early decision due to financial restrictions, so I plan to apply RD instead. However, I would still like to express to admissions that this school truly is my first choice and that I could not apply because of the binding action.
Recently I had discussed with my guidance counselor that I should contact the regional admissions officer via email, detailing my situation while also expressing my interest from tour I had at the school last November. However, I recently discovered under the Additional Information section of the Common App, applicants are able to modify the information they submit per school.
Given these two options, either contacting the regional admissions officer or adding this information under Additional Information, which method of contact do you feel would be more effective?
Unfortunately you don’t have much leverage at this point. You can write in your supplemental that Penn is your first choice, but other than that there’s not much else you can do. I’m not sure the admissions officer will be very receptive if you reach out at this point. It will seem as if you didn’t do your research on the school – the financial aid office will make it work for you once you’re on campus.
Ok, I thanks for everyone’s input. It is just that I remember hear on an admission panel, which Dean Furda participated in, that if an applicant is in a situation in which they had a first choice school but were financially unsure of whether they should apply ED, that they can express that in their application if they would like.
Do you think it would be a good idea to add a description of my tour and lunch with a student in my supplemental essay? Or would listing my visit on the Common App be just as effective of a message?
Besides that, would there be any way at all I could format my application so admissions officers may not assume that I’m just another RD applicant applying to all ivies just to see if they can get into one (though I’m only applying to Penn and one other) or can I only focus on writing a strong supplement?
It will not make any difference to point out that you are not a regular RD applicant. They do not take into consideration how strong you are interested in them. Just present a strong application and hope for the best.
They also do not care how many ivies you applied. You may apply more to maximum your chance.
“Dear UPenn admissions person, just like everyone else who didn’t apply ED, I really like Penn, but not enough to risk getting shafted on FA, please believe me when I say that Penn was really my fav all along, and please understand that I’m applying now because I really love you…”
Hey, demonstrate clear interest for the school in your essays. Give a clearly defined reason why you need to be there. Of course Penn wants to know they’re your first choice! What school wants to lose their admitted applicant pool at the end of the day to other highly selective schools? Uh, not Penn, or anywhere else for that matter. Believe Dean Furda when he says what you can do/write on your app. I’ve been to one of his talks before and he really seemed to want to help us put our best foot forward. I don’t think he was just making that up. He seemed sincere. I wouldn’t bother your regional admissions officer. That sounds like a bad idea. However, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t state that Penn is your first choice in the additional info section, and that due to your family’s financial situation you didn’t want to put them in a potential bind by applying early. I mean, your family’s financial problems aren’t your fault. I think being direct like that shows that you care about your parents and don’t want to run your family into the hole by financing your education. It also indicates that you would have applied early had your family been in a better financial situation…an important point for them to know since I’m guessing they want to retain as much of their admitted applicants as possible. If I were sitting on your admissions committee, I’d actually want to know stuff like that if I were considering your app for admission over someone else.
Thanks for the advice, but I’m guessing it might be a little too late to do that considering I already submitted my app lol. However, I did have a supplementary recommender send in a rec for me (which I asked for her to make Penn specific) so I guess as of now I’m just going to have to wait and see how everything goes!
