Why Did You Choose Penn?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>This may be a more appropriate question for current Penn students on CC< as well as those who were accepted through ED '15, but I would definitely appreciate any opinions.</p>

<p>I'm currently having trouble deciding which school is my "number one," if you will. (I haven't gotten into all of the schools I'm about to mention, so I'm trying to avoid considering my favorite as the school I'm surely going to attend...) My top four preferences at this moment are the following: Columbia, Penn, Princeton, and Yale. Thus, I wanted to ask,</p>

<p>Why did you choose Penn? What was the deciding factor that drew you to sign on the dotted line? And, to those of you who are Engineering students, how did you decide between the amazing Engineering programs present at each institution?</p>

<p>Thank you so much!
DR</p>

2

<p>DR, I feel you… I too had no clear cut number 1 dream school. I was deciding among Boston U, Penn State and Penn my senior year. I decided that if I got the Trustees Scholarship to BU, I’d go there; if I got into the Schreyer Honor College at PSU I’d go there; if neither of those happened but I got into Penn, I’d go there. And the third scenario happened, so I chose Penn.</p>

<p>Personally, I love the freedom you get at Penn. You can make your mistakes as a freshman and not have them really haunt you. I love Philly…it is the only city I truly know. I love that Penn is a big school with plenty of options. And in retrospect, I love that the bulk of my resume is made up of things I have done at Penn which have absolutely nothing to do with academics, my major or my minor!</p>

3

<p>My dream school was Penn, and I was just accepted ED this year (luckily because I hadn’t applied anywhere else at the moment). The thing that drew me in was it’s location, it’s courses, and the place itself. I love Philly area, and it is smack dab in the middle of all my family (like anyone is an hour drive away). I am going for business, and no other Ivy offers a business program of this calibre. AND when I visited, I loved it. it was magical, and I had that feeling that I found home :)</p>

4

<p>(“Its location” and “its courses,” not “it’s…” It’s = “it is.” /grammarfiend)</p>

5

<p>oops, sorry. I am typing on my iPhone, THAT was autocorrect.</p>

6

<p>I got in ED class of 2015, so I haven’t actually been a student there yet, but for me it was all about the visit.</p>

<p>I visited both Penn and Yale (Yale being my original top choice) and I felt rather uninvited at the latter, even though I knew a student at both schools who showed me around. Visiting a school is definitely the best way to pick up the “vibe.” I never believed in such a thing until I experienced it for myself. Go to the information sessions, do interviews, that sort of thing. It will help.</p>

7

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<p>I think this is a totally valid thread, but you shouldn’t feel like you need to have a #1 at this point. Chances are the decision will be made a little easier for you come March 30.</p>

8

<p>radco85 and/or mailclu — please post your stats</p>

9

<p>I’ll just copy from my post on the Official Decision thread:</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted
Wharton</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): superscore-2190, 10 ESSAY (670CR, 800M, 720W), best in one sitting-2170
ACT: 35 (34E, 34M, 34R, 36S) 10 ESSAY
SAT II: 750MathII, 700USH
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/350ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): USH (4), Lang (4), taking
Senior Year Course Load: APs – Euro, Calc AB, Psych, Gov, and Macro, rest are honors</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): FBLA (member 4 years, officer for 3 years, president of chapter senior year and secretary of region senior year), French Club, NHS
Job/Work Experience: Pizza Hut, Sears Electronics Associate. Worked 2 jobs over the summer
Volunteer/Community service: Not much, helped with numerous red cross blood drive, led volunteers at one
Summer Activities: two jobs, not much time for any other activities. Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week (PFEW) summer 2009
Essays: I thought they were phenomenal, definitely creative
Teacher Recommendation: one was great, other was good
Counselor Rec: i didnt see it, but she has loved me for all four years. she claims i am her best student
Interview: none?</p>

<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): PA
School Type: very smart Public school
Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
Income Bracket: 60K combined family income
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first generation college student </p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: ACT, GPA, essays, my hook, job experience
Weaknesses: okay SAT and Recs, APs, not much volunteering
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: i guess everything about my app screams WHARTON
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: nowhere yet
General Comments:
SO HAPPY TO BE A PART OF PENN15 CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL AND CONGRATS TO EVERYONE WHO GOT IN!</p>

10

<p>Doing the same</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted
School applied to: CAS</p>

<p>**Objective:[ /b][list]
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): CR 700 M 710 W 670, 1410/2080
[ *] ACT: DNT
[ *] SAT II: US History 700, Lit 740, Math 2 640 (I think?)
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Not sure, 4.04 weighted (not a ton offered at my school)
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 15/190 (I was top 5% til a new school was built and class split)
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH 4
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis): None
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: Dual Enrollment/AP Calc and College Writing, Honors Physics, Business Mentorship Program at JMU, Advanced Choir, Jazz Band, Honors Government
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Lots of acting, best actor/honors actor for District, Regional and VTA (Virginia Theater Association) type stuff. Some academic stuff too, but nothing HUGE</p>

<p>[ /list]**Subjective:[ /b][list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Mostly theater, I also have lacrosse, football, and tennis (the last of which is still current for me). I’m the actor/singer of my school. My main ECs involve musical/play leads along with Drama Club President and some other club involvement
[ *] Job/Work Experience: None
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: Various stuff, Haunted Cave at national park, running chains for junior league football, environmental pick-ups, things like that. I don’t have any that have monster hours in them, but I do have a good variety that adds up.
[ *] Summer Activities: VA Summer Residential Governor’s School for the Visual and Performing Arts (That’s definitely my biggest, and I scored highest out of my county in the adjudication) Other than that, some theater, learning piano, my own ways of being productive for the most part
[ *] Essays: I’m in the upper crust of my school’s toughest English class as a writer, and I went through multiple drafts. My personal was VERY personal and dear to me; it spoke of a huge ongoing struggle in my life. My Why Penn was very heartfelt, with parallels to Ben Franklin and earnest interests/speculations pertaining to my potential time at Penn.
[ *] Teacher Recommendation: One Glowing (drama teacher) and one that was also pretty darn braggy (my college writing teacher)
[ *] Counselor Rec: The counselor this year was new, but I had some good chats with her. She pretty much hit my good ECs and explained one of the lighter aspects of my course load.
[ *] Additional Rec: None
[ *] Interview: None</p>

<p>[ /list]**Other[ /b][list]
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): VA
[ *] Country (if international applicant):
[ *] School Type: Public
[ *] Ethnicity: White
[ *] Gender: Male
[ *] Income Bracket: Low
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None that I know of… Maybe low income?</p>

<p>[ /list]**Reflection[ /b][list]
[ *] Strengths: Theater EC, Summer Gov School, Essays
[ *] Weaknesses: SATs, Courseload/GPA
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I honestly think it was my essays, my area’s level of competition, and the amount of info I soaked in at my visit to Penn
[ *] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Haven’t applied anywhere else</p>