2010-2011 University of Pennsylvania Application Thread

Applying to Med School? Get In Or Your Money Back
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MzzQT said:
Waitlist tier 1, no invite for second look. Sounds like there are a ton of qualified people who are also on tier 1 and not much hope of an acceptance for lil ol' me. I could cry. :cry:
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Yeah, seriously, if anyone was put on Waitlist tier 2 will they please post? It seems like the chances off of tier 1 might be extremely small this year.
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Current students: can you address your sentiments about the grading system at Penn? Maybe how it stems competition or if people don't care much and will match well regardless? Just interested in schools that have great match lists but take a different approach to grades and class ranking. Also, the very best things about Penn that you think are unique to the school (things that ONLY Penn offers or excels incredibly in over other programs)? Thanks for the insights!
 
Is there a facebook group being set up?
 
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i know penn really likes email

if i want to send a letter of intent, can i do it through that? what format should it be? normally i would just put it in the body of the paragraph
 
Dr Gerrard said:
i know penn really likes email

if i want to send a letter of intent, can i do it through that? what format should it be? normally i would just put it in the body of the paragraph
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Tried it, but they really like the correspondence system on the website. I'd suggest uploading it on the applicantion portal, and then emailing the office to notify that you did so.

I wrote, in a word document:

Dear Admissions Commitee,

(Insert your intent and what you liked about the school)

Sincerely,

XXX
 
drugsarefun said:
Current students: can you address your sentiments about the grading system at Penn? Maybe how it stems competition or if people don't care much and will match well regardless? Just interested in schools that have great match lists but take a different approach to grades and class ranking. Also, the very best things about Penn that you think are unique to the school (things that ONLY Penn offers or excels incredibly in over other programs)? Thanks for the insights!
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It's funny how the grading system is such a big deal to applicants and becomes such not a big deal once you're here. Honors is given during Mod2 if you score a certain grade on each exam. There is no curve; if the entire class gets over a 90%, then the entire class gets honors. Therefore, what you do has no impact on me. It does not drive competitiveness. If you care about it, which is a personal decision, maybe that influences how you study. Maybe it doesn't. Honestly, if there had been no honors, I wouldn't have done much differently in my approach to mod 2 except maybe go to bed a few hours earlier the night before exams.
More to the point, competitiveness is really not the atmosphere at Penn. There is a huge emphasis on group work. Almost every mod2 exam had a team component to it. People still sent out review sheets that they spent many hours working on to the whole class. The feel that we hope you got from the interview day does not suddenly change in Mod2. The pace of information picks up, but the environment of cooperation is still there. Bottom line is that the preclinical grading system is really not a big deal.

I don't know about this unique question - I only know about Penn. I can say things that I love about Penn. Not sure if it matters whether other schools do or don't do those things as much as the fact that Penn does.
- Curriculum: It's pretty awesome that as a second year, I'm already 3 months into my clinical rotations. Frankly, I don't know how other schools draw out the preclinical stuff for two years. 1.5 years is totally enough time to develop a foundation of knowledge. I'm not only enjoying my time now, but looking forward to what I'll get to do with the extra elective time down the road.

- Learning teams - The emphasis on group work is centered around your learning team, which is a group of 6-7 people that you do all small groups with in preclinical and comprises your doctoring group that you'll share with during the clinical years (everyone has their own clinical schedule). It's great to have a group of people you can always go to. My learning team was a huge part of my Mod1 and 2 experience (in a very positive way) and even though I don't get to see them as much now, it's still great when we get together.

- Freedom - The curriculum is designed so that you can pursue whatever you want. Lectures are not mandatory, so if you learn better watching them online on your own time and not going to class, go for it. At a minimum (not going to any lecture) you'll only be required to be on campus a few hours a day during Mod 1 and 2. How you structure your studying and leaning is really up to you - all lecture, some lecture, no lecture attendance and anything in between. There is enough free time (during the day in preclinical and in sheer number of elective months during 4th year) that you can honestly make med school what you want it to be. There are also tons and tons of ways to be involved in the community, whether locally or abroad. And there are research opportunities out the wazhoo. The administration will support you wherever you'd like to go. The administration is incredibly helpful overall. I don't think that I appreciated how nice that would be until I started med school.

Those are my fairly unedited thoughts at this point. Hope it helps.
 
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Has anyone on the waitlist here sent LOI to the admissions office? If you didn't do it through the correspondence tab on the status page, who did you address it to? I can't find the information for the dean of admissions any where. who is it?
 
thebillsfan said:
Has anyone on the waitlist here sent LOI to the admissions office? If you didn't do it through the correspondence tab on the status page, who did you address it to? I can't find the information for the dean of admissions any where. who is it?
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It's Dr. Steve Galetta, but I would just recommend submitting it via the electronic correspondence - it seems like they put it there for a reason!

Alternatively you could send a letter to

Attn: Dr. Steve Galetta
"Insert Penn Office of Admissions Address"

and I'm sure it would would make it to his desk. :luck:
 
Jurassic Shark said:
It's Dr. Steve Galetta, but I would just recommend submitting it via the electronic correspondence - it seems like they put it there for a reason!

Alternatively you could send a letter to

Attn: Dr. Steve Galetta
"Insert Penn Office of Admissions Address"

and I'm sure it would would make it to his desk. :luck:
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I'd address Gaye Sheffler.
 
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The application page says the merit scholarships will be handed out in April, and last year they were emailed out on the 1st.
 
pittsburgher said:
The application page says the merit scholarships will be handed out in April, and last year they were emailed out on the 1st.
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Cool. Thanks for the info! I won't be holding my breath. Best of luck, everyone!
 
pittsburgher said:
The application page says the merit scholarships will be handed out in April, and last year they were emailed out on the 1st.
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I just got an email from Northwestern with a full tuition merit scholarship! It would be way too much if I get some merit from UPenn now, but... hoping anyway!! Good luck all!
 
For anyone curious there is a new twitter account just for people interested in Penn. One of the med students writes it...might be interesting

fittingly called: @TheRealPennMed
 
The waitlist FAQ states that the waitlist is reduced some in May "by self-selection or Committee action". Does this mean that the committee re-evaluates the waitlist at some point and kicks applicants who still want to be on the list, off of it?
 
MrAppleseed said:
The waitlist FAQ states that the waitlist is reduced some in May "by self-selection or Committee action". Does this mean that the committee re-evaluates the waitlist at some point and kicks applicants who still want to be on the list, off of it?
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Self selection: students take themselves off

Committee action: waitlist-->accepted
 
Committees also reject people off of the waitlist once they become sure they don't need the waitlist to be that big. I was talking to the dean of admissions at another school's 2nd look, and he said he was going to cut his waitlist in half.
 
Amadelphous said:
Self selection: students take themselves off

Committee action: waitlist-->accepted
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You might be right, but I interpreted it as they reduce the waitlist before they even start really looking at it. I'm probably totally wrong, since I don't recall anyone in last year's thread posting that they had been kicked off of the waitlist.
 
whimsical said:
E-mail and status page.
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Congrats! That's awesome! :thumbup:

Did the messages you received seem to indicate that all of the merit-based scholarships had been awarded?

Has anyone else received an email/status update regarding merit $?
 
robinhalldunn said:
Congrats! That's awesome! :thumbup:

Did the messages you received seem to indicate that all of the merit-based scholarships had been awarded?

Has anyone else received an email/status update regarding merit $?
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There wasn't really anything indicating either way. Sorry the messages aren't more helpful!
 
Hey guys, good luck to everyone trying to get into Penn. I'm a fourth year year at Jefferson (for a few more weeks anyways) and am heading to Drexel for residency next year. Feel free to shoot my any questions or anything you may have if you end up getting accepted there, even if its about life in Philly.

And...if you do get accepted (to Penn or one of the other Philly schools)...I'm also looking to recruit male med students for a scientific project I'm involved in. The project pays extremely well (in the ball park of being able to pay your rent with beer money left over) and takes up only a half hour a week.

Best of luck with your apps!
 
ahhh Penn's scholarship just made me the happiest person ever!!! I will officially be at Penn in August :D
 
pa18,

it wasn't specifically named as such, but it was a full tuition scholarship which was supposedly awarded due to many of the same criterion explained on that page.

hope that helps
 
Has anyone been accepted off of the waitlist yet??
 
Wow, this thread is dead.

Anyone go to Preview and want to tell us about it? :)

Also, what are people thinking of doing for housing?
 
MzzQT said:
Has anyone been accepted off of the waitlist yet??
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I was accepted off the waitlist today. I was Tier 1 and invited to Preview (and I ended up going), if that helps anyone. Best of luck to everyone else who is remaining on the waitlist! My advice would be just to make it clear that you will attend, no matter what, if offered admission, and that you'll drop all other acceptances.
 
Congrats! That's awesome! Hopefully there'll be some more T1 movement in the weeks to come.
 
Dr Love said:
Man, a $250 million dollar gift. Just think, if Penn didn't reject me, I could enjoy some of that money. I hate U Penn.
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Relax dude, no need to hate. ;)
It clearly says in the article that the money will be used for the entering class of 2012 (aka next cycle). Everyone for this cycle has already received a financial aid package...

The only thing I'm worried about is the ridiculously long name the med school has now, but we'll get used to it :D
 
egyptiangod said:
Relax dude, no need to hate. ;)
It clearly says in the article that the money will be used for the entering class of 2012 (aka next cycle). Everyone for this cycle has already received a financial aid package...

The only thing I'm worried about is the ridiculously long name the med school has now, but we'll get used to it :D
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I feel like Im just going to end up calling it the Perelman School of Medicine.
 
egyptiangod said:
Everyone for this cycle has already received a financial aid package...

The only thing I'm worried about is the ridiculously long name the med school has now, but we'll get used to it :D
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Not quiet. There will be some announcements made this week and I was told that I will be hearing something.

Agree with the ridiculously long name :laugh: . But I am sure it will be years before anyone starts referring to the school that way. I have a feeling that name won't stick. Like, who talks about Weill anyway? (unlike Pritzker or Feinberg)

But anyway..show us the money!!
 
BrainBuff said:
Not quiet. There will be some announcements made this week and I was told that I will be hearing something.

Agree with the ridiculously long name :laugh: . But I am sure it will be years before anyone starts referring to the school that way. I have a feeling that name won't stick. Like, who talks about Weill anyway? (unlike Pritzker or Feinberg)

But anyway..show us the money!!
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Yea, funny they make this announcement right before the May 15th deadline. I'm sure the money is going to change a few minds.
 
BrainBuff said:
Not quiet. There will be some announcements made this week and I was told that I will be hearing something.

Agree with the ridiculously long name :laugh: . But I am sure it will be years before anyone starts referring to the school that way. I have a feeling that name won't stick. Like, who talks about Weill anyway? (unlike Pritzker or Feinberg)
But anyway..show us the money!!
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True point!
 
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