<p>i needed to save a lot for what I thought about penn for the supplemental essay for a dual degree I wanted, so I feel that if I make it any longer, it becomes kind of repetitive…</p>
<p>@bananafreak2u: When I wrote “Why Penn”, I made reference to the dual degree program and what I wanted to focus on. Then, in the dual-degree specific essay, I expanded upon what I hinted at in Why Penn. And look—I’m one of the 12-13 acceptees into the Vagelos Life Science & Management program, Early Decision! :)</p>
<p>Mine was around 500 words double spaced.</p>
<p>Mine ended up being 433 words… that’s okay right?</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s fine. They just don’t want it to be much longer than 500 words. My guidance counselor said that if you make it too long, then the admissions people will just get frustrated while reading it because they have so many essays to read. But 433 is a good number of words.</p>
<p>Some excellent advice in this thread, thank you everyone who replied :)</p>
<p>hi the essays have not come out yet…is the Why Penn?? a repeating essay yearly? should i start answering this if i am looking to apply in the fall?</p>
<p>Yes. It is a yearly prompt. I would say to give it some thought before the fall. No need to start writing it now unless you really want to.</p>
<p>word count isn’t nearly as important as content as long as you are within a reasonable range of the limit so don’t stress too much</p>
<p>What is all this “Why Penn” essay length and worry about fitting it on one page? Is this something you have to send in to admissions on top of common apps???</p>
<p>Am I missing something here?</p>
<p>This decision shouldn’t be based on the pure number of words but on the content in them; you could have a brilliant essay that is 1000 words and one that is 200, I’d say it depends case to case!</p>
<p>The supplemental questions this year do not include the Why Penn essay and there is no pg 217 either…They’ve redone the supplemental application with the Ben Franklin question and the “how will you engage academically” question. Regarding THOSE, I would at least stick roughly to word limits.</p>
<p>As a Penn alumni, I like to think admissions won’t take into account creative formatting without creative content.</p>
<p>A series of haikus might be interesting though LOL.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I’m a reporter for The DP and we’re doing a follow-up article to the one on this year’s regular decision numbers ([The</a> Daily Pennsylvanian :: Penn application numbers increase by one](<a href=“http://www.thedp.com/article/2013/01/penn-application-numbers-increase-by-one]The”>Penn application numbers increase by one | The Daily Pennsylvanian)). </p>
<p>What did you guys think of the new Ben Franklin essay question? Did it make you feel less compelled to apply to Penn? If you wouldn’t mind being quoted in The DP, email me- <a href=“mailto:mamic@sas.upenn.edu”>mamic@sas.upenn.edu</a></p>
<p>The essay question was tough. I’m not saying that it was necessarily a bad thing, but it makes you think about yourself as a person, not just as an applicant. After I figured out how to make any one of the three choices fit me, it became my favorite prompt of all the (many) prompts I wrote essays for! It didn’t deter me from applying, although I did grow frustrated at times. I think admissions should keep it, or any other similarly open-ended, thought-provoking question, because it really helps to discern who is the right “fit” and who isn’t. Because of that prompt, I became even more excited about going to Penn… And who knew I’d be heading there in a few months!</p>
<p>Nice DP post</p>