2008-2009 U Penn (University of Pennsylvania) Secondary Application Thread

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kire1820 said:
I got something from the mail today. A BIG envelop...it turned out to be Upenn's curriculum....

haha...got excited for no reason. -_-
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I was at a hotel about to go to bed for my interview the next day when my parents call me with:

"THERE'S A BIG ENVELOPE FROM UPENN FROM THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE! Is it an acceptance? Did you get in?" I was confused. Though I was thinking maybe it was an interview invite. Told them to open it, excitedly.

Nope. Just a brochure. The hell?
 
linguini said:
Looks like that will be a depressing weekend for a lot of us then!
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i agree! i know it was a long shot but prayed and hoped maybe they would stick me in the wrong pile by mistake, it was not to be lol
 
bluesmd said:
i agree! i know it was a long shot but prayed and hoped maybe they would stick me in the wrong pile by mistake, it was not to be lol
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Wait, Blues, were you already notified of a status change?
 
scrubslover said:
Wait, Blues, were you already notified of a status change?
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no i meant i hoped they would stick my into the interview pile and send me an interview invite because by then it would be too late to take back the invite ... right ... i mean how cruel would that be: "i'm sorry you received your invitation due to a clerical error, please ignore that email"
 
bluesmd said:
no i meant i hoped they would stick my into the interview pile and send me an interview invite because by then it would be too late to take back the invite ... right ... i mean how cruel would that be: "i'm sorry you received your invitation due to a clerical error, please ignore that email"
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Haha, got it. Yeah, after all of my interview invites I've been like, oh man, I hope I don't get a call being like, hey, sorry about that, you're really not qualified for our school.
 
Maybe the "smaller pool" message will come today or tomorrow.
Last year, Nov 15th was a Thursday.
 
Just pondering... Oh UPenn how I wish you would let me know if I am accepted much much earlier. This waiting game your are leading me on is very painful.

But for those of you who have yet to go there, it's awesome. Visiting made me really really happy!!!
 
The Committee on Admissions reviewed your application but has deferred an interview decision. Additional reviews will occur between now and March 2009 to see if your status changes within our applicant pool.



This means that there's essentially no chance of an interview invite between now and December 5th, right?
 
I got the same update and I'd reckon it means there's no chance between now and May 15th.
 
ami1983 said:
boo i dont have an update 🙁
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Neither do I:

My status page just says:

APPLICATION STATUS: Complete

Your application is now in the screening process. Complete applications will go through a series of competitive screenings. Interviews will begin in October and continue into February, 2009. Applicants invited for interviews will be notified via email. The Committee on Admissions will make all final decisions in March, 2009.

ALL ADMISSIONS DECISIONS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AFTER MARCH 15.
 
shemarty said:
The Committee on Admissions reviewed your application but has deferred an interview decision. Additional reviews will occur between now and March 2009 to see if your status changes within our applicant pool.



This means that there's essentially no chance of an interview invite between now and December 5th, right?
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Same message here. I have no idea. Probably not before Dec. 5th, though...

What does yours say LET?
 
Yah but if pianola, shemarty, and LET get the update, and I do not, that does is not a good sign is it?
 
same here🙁 what we do now.just leave it there? update transcript in Dec.? write some sort of letter of intent at some point?
shemarty said:
The Committee on Admissions reviewed your application but has deferred an interview decision. Additional reviews will occur between now and March 2009 to see if your status changes within our applicant pool.



This means that there's essentially no chance of an interview invite between now and December 5th, right?
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Who knows?

Maybe they've already rejected you.

Maybe they've already made the decision to interview you in the next few batches.

The deferred status update, to me at least, seems like a waitlist --> rejection. I'm not holding my breath on UPenn inviting me after receiving it.
 
onewish said:
same here🙁 what we do now.just leave it there? update transcript in Dec.? write some sort of letter of intent at some point?
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I'm going to buy my plane tickets for my Dec 5th east coast trip and forget about U Penn for now. 🙁
 
Yeah, there's no way to know what the cryptic status message means. For all we know, there are going to be several people who announce that they've gotten interviews today...
 
pianola said:
Yeah, there's no way to know what the cryptic status message means. For all we know, there are going to be several people who announce that they've gotten interviews today...
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I wish I could be one of those people... I would willingly skip my midterm to come to Penn:laugh:
 
I am so confused. I have the same "deferred decision" status as Shemarty. Has anyone got the "small pool" message? What does that say?

And why is Dec 5th such a magical date?
 
shemarty said:
The Committee on Admissions reviewed your application but has deferred an interview decision. Additional reviews will occur between now and March 2009 to see if your status changes within our applicant pool.
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Same here. Doesn't sound very promising. 🙁
 
The deferred admissions club seems to be composed of 35+ MCAT scorers.
 
Retsage, you realize pretty much everyone who's posted their status today has a 35 and up. Funky has a 35, too. I don't think we can group by MCAT scores.

Also, how do you know I have 35? 😉
 
Heh, what a helpful status message update this is turning out to be 🙄.
 
pianola said:
Retsage, you realize pretty much everyone who's posted their status today has a 35 and up. Funky has a 35, too. I don't think we can group by MCAT scores.

Also, how do you know I have 35? 😉
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How many people do you know with less than a 34/35 that applied to Penn? Getting what's on their status pages may give us more of a hint. Also Penn likes "non-traditional" applicants in some way or another, so scores/GPA aren't quite as important to them as say... Wash U.
 
Retsage said:
The deferred admissions club seems to be composed of 35+ MCAT scorers.
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pianola said:
Retsage, you realize pretty much everyone who's posted their status today has a 35 and up. Funky has a 35, too. I don't think we can group by MCAT scores.

Also, how do you know I have 35? 😉
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Timus said:
I have 34 and I have the deferred message.
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rowerlauren said:
How many people do you know with less than a 34/35 that applied to Penn? Getting what's on their status pages may give us more of a hint. Also Penn likes "non-traditional" applicants in some way or another, so scores/GPA aren't quite as important to them as say... Wash U.
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Great... This is like gradeschool all over again and getting picked last during gym class...🙁
 
I have a 32/3.9 and I got the deferred message.
 
funkydrmonkey said:
Great... This is like gradeschool all over again and getting picked last during gym class...🙁
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Hey, maybe it means that Penn HAS made a decision on your application and the decision is going to be 👍. You never know.
 
pianola said:
Hey, maybe it means that Penn HAS made a decision on your application and the decision is going to be 👍. You never know.
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If it has, I will get kicked out of the library for yelling and screaming out of joy:laugh:
 
Look, someone, somewhere made it policy that Penn Med can't offer admissions decisions until some day in March. There's all kinds of annoying implications of this, some of which will come up later in the season. One of these issues is that those who won't be offered an interview, roughly 7 out of 8 applicants, go into a "deferred" pool. It's not decline to interview, because that would be final. No, you're just deferred, like you have some glimmer of hope.

I feel bad writing this, but nobody else wants to say it so it might as well be me. I'm sticking my neck out, but that hasn't stopped me much in the past. I've never seen someone come out of the deferred pool. I've heard rare word of mouth stories about URMs who came out because of a shortage of URMs that particular year or some such. Regardless, 7 out of 8 of you will go into deferred and almost none will come out. Treat it as a rejection and move on. The chances are almost non-existant. I challenge someone to find someone on SDN who has come to interview after being deferred in the first round.

Applications typically are only reviewed once. They're sent out to application reviewers who sometimes sit on them awhile, which is why those who had complete apps at the same time hear +/- 1 month from each other. But the reality is if you apply early, you should hear early. If you apply late, you'll hear late. It's extremely rare an adcom is going to come back and seriously consider an application that's been set aside, even with updates. Everyone knows we're splitting hairs when it comes to who to interview and who not to interview. The same comes later when it comes to who to accept and who not to accept. It's a difficult part of choosing from so many qualified people.

The "short pool" is new to me, so that must cover the few people who do have some ray of hope.

I think Penn does this in part to cover their own ass in the case of something odd happening like the class possibly not filling or the late applications all sucking. Don't worry, we'll be coming back to this after interviewing. Many of those who interview will be put on Tier 2 waitlist, which again is kiss of death, but for some reason Penn likes to be particularly non-committal.

I feel for all of you. When I applied, I had my apps in as early as possible. My acceptance to Penn (my first choice), off the waitlist, came almost exactly a year after I submitted my AMCAS in June. Still, I feel as a part of my own personal heartache to tell those of you who are deferred, move on. I was "deferred" at a most of the top-10 places myself. You can't get in everywhere. Good luck. It's Saturday... I'm going skiing.
 
Unless they're actually rejecting people I don't think the deferred message really means anything. All it tells me is that they've actually reviewed my application and decided not to interview me yet. This could mean anything from virtual rejection to pre-interview hold.

Who knows? But anytime I get to be in the same company as shemarty, LET, pianola, etc. I feel lucky (considering my numbers).
 
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Neuronix, do you interview applicants for admission to Penn? (Or have you interviewed applicants for admission to Penn?)

Heh, I'm flattered, nontradfogie 😀. Personally, I'm still hanging onto "Shemarty got deferred so it can't be that bad". 😉 But yeah, maybe we're all rejected like Neuronix suggests. Guess we'll find out.
 
4.0/35 and got the deferred update... not looking good 🙁
 
Ugghhh... deferred=rejected. So crappy 🙁
 
StIGMA said:
Anyone who was complete late August/early September have an update? I have no status change, although I am not sure if MD/PhD has a different process.
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How do you figure out when you were complete at Penn? I was probably complete in August something since my letters were sent on 7/28, and my fee was put on my CC on 8/25, even though I submit on 7/11... Am I giving myself false hope, since I do not have the deferred message?
 
Penn: please don't defer me...(or reject me...) I really wanna come visit🙁
 
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