2009-2010 University of Pennsylvania Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Members don't see this ad.
ksmi117 said:
Unlikely. You'll probably get an interview soon. I'm convinced there's something very un-ivy league about me (not sure what it is though). Harvard, Yale, and Penn are all ignoring me.
Click to expand...

Me too, though I didn't apply to Havard and Yale 🙂 I'm only getting love from state schools. High ranking state schools, but state schools none-the-less.
 
Well, if y'all are having trouble getting an invite then I'm most probably in a wee bit of trouble here.

Nothing new in the invite box in ........forever. Anybody know how far along in the invite process Penn (Harvard, Yale) are? Someone posted they had a Harvard invite recently. For a February date. Makes me nervous for Penn, too. Not that I was expecting much.
 
Last edited:
My roommate was complete at Harvard, Yale, and Penn in the early part of September. He received interviews from the first two within two weeks, for last week (Harvard) and Yale (this week). He hasn't heard anything from Penn either though.
 
ksmi117 said:
Who knows with this process? If I don't get invites from them, I'll live. I'm already in somewhere and that's all that really matters.
Click to expand...

ugh, i wish there were a way for me to get you an interview. penn really is such an awesome place and I wish you could come to see for yourself. I really don't understand why you haven't gotten an interview yet. It would be sooo cool if you came to Penn. I mean, there's still a lot of time, but I wish they'd hurry up.
 
sleepy425 said:
ugh, i wish there were a way for me to get you an interview. penn really is such an awesome place and I wish you could come to see for yourself. I really don't understand why you haven't gotten an interview yet. It would be sooo cool if you came to Penn. I mean, there's still a lot of time, but I wish they'd hurry up.
Click to expand...

It is still October. Long time left. I'm not giving up yet.
 
sleepy425 said:
ugh, i wish there were a way for me to get you an interview. penn really is such an awesome place and I wish you could come to see for yourself. I really don't understand why you haven't gotten an interview yet. It would be sooo cool if you came to Penn. I mean, there's still a lot of time, but I wish they'd hurry up.
Click to expand...

how about....if we got an interview already can you get us to the accepted bin? 🙂
 
mdeast said:
how about....if we got an interview already can you get us to the accepted bin? 🙂
Click to expand...

haha, well, it depends on who interviewed you (actually, I wonder if I know your student interviewer, since a friend of mine was interviewing students yesterday).

and also, at Penn, we don't use a bin, we use a golden filing cabinet for acceptances. The bin is reserved for rejections. Geez, you really should learn more about schools you're interested in if you want to have a serious chance of getting in!! 😛
 
sleepy425 said:
haha, well, it depends on who interviewed you (actually, I wonder if I know your student interviewer, since a friend of mine was interviewing students yesterday).

and also, at Penn, we don't use a bin, we use a golden filing cabinet for acceptances. The bin is reserved for rejections. Geez, you really should learn more about schools you're interested in if you want to have a serious chance of getting in!! 😛
Click to expand...

I interviewed Wednesday actually. But yes, please put my application in the gold bin if you see it lying around. 🙂
 
Anyone else interviewing on 11/13? I'm staying in Philly for the weekend. I was supposed to meet up with my brother, but he's actually going to be out of town. Any recommendations for things to do/places to go? I've been to Philly before a couple times but it was a while ago...
 
Last edited:
Just got my UPenn Post Interview Survey, and just wanted to comment that it looks as though Penn is ending interviews on January 22nd this year (that's the last date as an option for an interview day review). There are only 6-7 interview days per month between both November and January though (they reduce it to 2 interview days/week by eliminating either Wednesday or Thursday), while there were about 13 days in October with interviews. Overall, 18 more interview days total between tomorrow and January 22nd. At about 25 people/interview that's about 450 more slots.

Thought this might be of interest to people who haven't interviewed yet and/or are waiting on decision. Anyway good luck to everyone waiting!
 
when I saw that you were the last poster, I was like, yessss! finally! but then I realized that you would have called me immediately if you had gotten an interview, so I was sad.
 
sleepy425 said:
when I saw that you were the last poster, I was like, yessss! finally! but then I realized that you would have called me immediately if you had gotten an interview, so I was sad.
Click to expand...

I promise that you will be the first person I call if Penn gives me an interview. So no freaking out about SDN posts. 😛
 
So this has been bothering me for a couple of weeks and I wonder if any student/people knowledgeable could answer. I interviewed here a few weeks ago. Loved my tour, the facilities, most of the students I met (I actually work in U.City at an affiliate research center, i.e. Wistar now, so I know a great deal about Penn Med and way too many meds/mudphuds). Anyway, I loved my faculty interview and I think it went really well. She wrote something like 4-5 pages of notes about what we talked about, and was really impressed by my experiences with medicine both in the US and abroad.

I'm sort of hesitant about my student interview though. Felt like a had a great talks with some M1s and M2s at lunch and at happy hour, but didn't really relate to my student interviewer at all really (he had really different interests than me, and didn't seem very excited about things I found interesting). I would definitely say I'm an extremely relaxed person usually, but he actually made me slightly uncomfortable. Anyway, not much I can do about it now, but I was wondering if a kind of 'meh' student interview is a rejection death sentence? This is particularly frustrating, cause Penn is probably my first choice as I REALLY would like to stay in Philly for personal reasons/really love the culture of the school.
 
mdquestion said:
So this has been bothering me for a couple of weeks and I wonder if any student/people knowledgeable could answer. I interviewed here a few weeks ago. Loved my tour, the facilities, most of the students I met (I actually work in U.City at an affiliate research center, i.e. Wistar now, so I know a great deal about Penn Med and way too many meds/mudphuds). Anyway, I loved my faculty interview and I think it went really well. She wrote something like 4-5 pages of notes about what we talked about, and was really impressed by my experiences with medicine both in the US and abroad.

I'm sort of hesitant about my student interview though. Felt like a had a great talks with some M1s and M2s at lunch and at happy hour, but didn't really relate to my student interviewer at all really (he had really different interests than me, and didn't seem very excited about things I found interesting). I would definitely say I'm an extremely relaxed person usually, but he actually made me slightly uncomfortable. Anyway, not much I can do about it now, but I was wondering if a kind of 'meh' student interview is a rejection death sentence? This is particularly frustrating, cause Penn is probably my first choice as I REALLY would like to stay in Philly for personal reasons/really love the culture of the school.
Click to expand...
Having had the opposite experience (great student interview, meh fault interview) I would at least think that your predicament is slightly better. Technically I believe the two have the same vote, but faculty opinion would probably have more weight. If she wrote five pages of notes I am sure she will be a big advocate for you, so a student's opinion would be unlikely to derail you. Good luck!
 
hanjg said:
Well, if y'all are having trouble getting an invite then I'm most probably in a wee bit of trouble here.

Nothing new in the invite box in ........forever. Anybody know how far along in the invite process Penn (Harvard, Yale) are? Someone posted they had a Harvard invite recently. For a February date. Makes me nervous for Penn, too. Not that I was expecting much.
Click to expand...

I think some of it is pretty random. I got Yale and Harvard invites early, but I haven't heard from Penn. Maybe they all talk to each other, who knows. Good luck though!
 
sewcurious said:
Having had the opposite experience (great student interview, meh fault interview) I would at least think that your predicament is slightly better. Technically I believe the two have the same vote, but faculty opinion would probably have more weight. If she wrote five pages of notes I am sure she will be a big advocate for you, so a student's opinion would be unlikely to derail you. Good luck!
Click to expand...

So from what we've been told, the evaluations from the student interviewer and the faculty interviewer tend to be pretty consistent with each other. If they are a little different, but not too far apart, the more thorough evaluation will have more weight. They told us that, in many cases, the student evaluation is more thorough than the faculty evals, so, if anything, the student interview has the most weight. But they're both pretty important, and, like I said, it depends on the quality of the evaluation.
 
ksmi117 said:
I promise that you will be the first person I call if Penn gives me an interview. So no freaking out about SDN posts. 😛
Click to expand...

FWIW, I would be very surprised if you weren't offered an interview at Penn. You are pretty much the perfect applicant (I don't know you, but from reading your posts and looking at your stats, I think it's an accurate deduction.)

If for some reason they don't, it is their loss, and only bad for the rest of us waiting to hear. Best of luck.
 
MBHockey said:
FWIW, I would be very surprised if you weren't offered an interview at Penn. You are pretty much the perfect applicant (I don't know you, but from reading your posts and looking at your stats, I think it's an accurate deduction.)

If for some reason they don't, it is their loss, and only bad for the rest of us waiting to hear. Best of luck.
Click to expand...

Aww, thanks!! :luck: to you too!
 
ksmi117 said:
I know the feeling. I'm not giving up here just yet. Not until there are no more interviews left.

Please pay attention to me Penn.
Click to expand...

i couldnt agree more.

Penn! Penn! Penn!
 
Jolt21 said:
i couldnt agree more.

Penn! Penn! Penn!
Click to expand...

Good luck guys! If you look from last year's thread, Penn usually updates early applicants on November 15th (or around that...so sometime next week), which for a portion of people means a 'deferred' status.... that's essentially a pre-interview hold, or an indication that your file has been reviewed but not yet granted an interview. There were definitely people complete in July last year who got interview invites in December, so it's completely normal. While less likely, there were also people were taken off the hold status, re-reviewed, and granted interviews. So it's definitely not a death sentence. The official interview season ends January 22nd at Penn so if you don't hear anything by Christmas or the latest early January then it might be a bad sign.
 
mdeast said:
Good luck guys! If you look from last year's thread, Penn usually updates a early applicants on November 15th (or around that...so sometime next week), which for a portion of people means a 'deferred' status.... that's essentially a pre-interview hold, or an indication that your file has been reviewed but not yet granted an interview. There were definitely people complete in July last year who got interview invites in December, so it's completely normal. The official interview season ends January 22nd at Penn so if you don't hear anything before Christmas then it might be a bad sign.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. 🙂
 
mdeast said:
Good luck guys! If you look from last year's thread, Penn usually updates early applicants on November 15th (or around that...so sometime next week), which for a portion of people means a 'deferred' status.... that's essentially a pre-interview hold, or an indication that your file has been reviewed but not yet granted an interview. There were definitely people complete in July last year who got interview invites in December, so it's completely normal. While less likely, there were also people were taken off the hold status, re-reviewed, and granted interviews. So it's definitely not a death sentence. The official interview season ends January 22nd at Penn so if you don't hear anything by Christmas or the latest early January then it might be a bad sign.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that these people (in bold) got the hold status, or they did not get one, and then got an interview invite? Because your next sentence seems to indicate otherwise?

I am grasping for straws here, just like everyone else.

Grasping straws, but not holding my breath...
 
flip26 said:
Are you saying that these people (in bold) got the hold status, or they did not get one, and then got an interview invite? Because your next sentence seems to indicate otherwise?

I am grasping for straws here, just like everyone else.

Grasping straws, but not holding my breath...
Click to expand...


Most who got interviews in December were not put on hold, but just had to wait longer without hearing anything. I assume they pick November 15th because that's the secondary deadline and by then all complete applications would have been received. A smaller percentage were put on hold, had the status change to under-review again, and then were offered interviews (this, however, seemed less likely).

Check out the thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=534819
 
mdeast said:
Most who got interviews in December were not put on hold, but just had to wait longer without hearing anything. I assume they pick November 15th because that's the secondary deadline and by then all complete applications would have been received. A smaller percentage were put on hold, had the status change to under-review again, and then were offered interviews (this, however, seemed less likely).

Check out the thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=534819
Click to expand...

Gotcha! Thanks.

Eagerly awaiting my hold notification - whee!!!
 
premad said:
+1! Monday love songs for Penn.
Click to expand...

+ me too.

mdeast said:
Good luck guys! If you look from last year's thread, Penn usually updates early applicants on November 15th (or around that...so sometime next week), which for a portion of people means a 'deferred' status.... that's essentially a pre-interview hold, or an indication that your file has been reviewed but not yet granted an interview. There were definitely people complete in July last year who got interview invites in December, so it's completely normal. While less likely, there were also people were taken off the hold status, re-reviewed, and granted interviews. So it's definitely not a death sentence. The official interview season ends January 22nd at Penn so if you don't hear anything by Christmas or the latest early January then it might be a bad sign.
Click to expand...

thanks!!
 
That deferred thing looks real bad. 🙁 I mean, but at least Penn is letting us know not to expect anything, so we don't wait til March when we really have no shot.
 
ksmi117 said:
That deferred thing looks real bad. 🙁 I mean, but at least Penn is letting us know not to expect anything, so we don't wait til March when we really have no shot.
Click to expand...

for realsies. i hate knowing that (for example) i've probably already been chucked post-interview at harvard and/or pre-interview at columbia but will just have to wonder if this is actually the case until march. IMO, it's kind of disrespectful of schools to string us along.
 
mdeast said:
Good luck guys! If you look from last year's thread, Penn usually updates early applicants on November 15th (or around that...so sometime next week), which for a portion of people means a 'deferred' status.... that's essentially a pre-interview hold, or an indication that your file has been reviewed but not yet granted an interview. There were definitely people complete in July last year who got interview invites in December, so it's completely normal. While less likely, there were also people were taken off the hold status, re-reviewed, and granted interviews. So it's definitely not a death sentence. The official interview season ends January 22nd at Penn so if you don't hear anything by Christmas or the latest early January then it might be a bad sign.
Click to expand...

What constitutes an "early" application. Basically what do you think is the latest date my application had to be submitted by in order to get the 11/15 update?
 
mdeast said:
Good luck guys! If you look from last year's thread, Penn usually updates early applicants on November 15th (or around that...so sometime next week), which for a portion of people means a 'deferred' status.... that's essentially a pre-interview hold, or an indication that your file has been reviewed but not yet granted an interview. There were definitely people complete in July last year who got interview invites in December, so it's completely normal. While less likely, there were also people were taken off the hold status, re-reviewed, and granted interviews. So it's definitely not a death sentence. The official interview season ends January 22nd at Penn so if you don't hear anything by Christmas or the latest early January then it might be a bad sign.
Click to expand...


am I missing something? did you say that some people have already gotten a hold status? how would we know if we got one? my status page has stayed the same since I submitted in mid-aug...
 
dw2158 said:
for realsies. i hate knowing that (for example) i've probably already been chucked post-interview at harvard and/or pre-interview at columbia but will just have to wonder if this is actually the case until march. IMO, it's kind of disrespectful of schools to string us along.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with this one - it is kinda disrespectful to keep us in the dark and perpetuate false hope for so long 😡. I know they get lots of applicants etc. etc. - but c'mon!

So it's nice that they don't keep you in the dark for that long 🙂 More reasons to love Upenn! 😀
 
LAman10 said:
am I missing something? did you say that some people have already gotten a hold status? how would we know if we got one? my status page has stayed the same since I submitted in mid-aug...
Click to expand...

I think the poster was referring to last year's thread. So that last year, November 15th (which is next week), some applicants got a hold status.
 
So the sheet you get after the interview says 852 interviewed and 218 accepted for 2009 stats. I am guessing they are talking about last year?

Also, does anyone know how much they consider the student interview. My student interview was extremely favorable. Not that my faculty interview did not go well, but I was in the 'zone' for my student interview for some reason.
 
Also, do they really not consider grades from interview on. They said a 4.0 45 is on the same playing field as lesser stat applicant. How much truth is there to that statement?
 
anfleisch said:
Also, does anyone know how much they consider the student interview. My student interview was extremely favorable. Not that my faculty interview did not go well, but I was in the 'zone' for my student interview for some reason.
Click to expand...

This was answered a few posts ago:

sleepy425 said:
So from what we've been told, the evaluations from the student interviewer and the faculty interviewer tend to be pretty consistent with each other. If they are a little different, but not too far apart, the more thorough evaluation will have more weight. They told us that, in many cases, the student evaluation is more thorough than the faculty evals, so, if anything, the student interview has the most weight. But they're both pretty important, and, like I said, it depends on the quality of the evaluation.
Click to expand...
 
anfleisch said:
Also, do they really not consider grades from interview on. They said a 4.0 45 is on the same playing field as lesser stat applicant. How much truth is there to that statement?
Click to expand...

I haven't interviewed at Penn, but every school I've been to makes an effort to stress that you've been selected to interview because they already believe that you can handle the academic rigors of medical school. Now I don't know if they say this just to make you feel more comfortable, but it seems to be something every school tries to tell their applicants. Is it true? Who knows...
 
anfleisch said:
Also, do they really not consider grades from interview on. They said a 4.0 45 is on the same playing field as lesser stat applicant. How much truth is there to that statement?
Click to expand...

who told you this?
 
The committee professor giving the opening orientation. She was explaining the purpose of the interview and what they are looking for in their class.
 
I really wanted an interview.

I guess if I don't get an invite from UPenn by the 15th, I am probably rejected, right?
 
anfleisch said:
The committee professor giving the opening orientation. She was explaining the purpose of the interview and what they are looking for in their class.
Click to expand...

oh, ok, well in that case I'd believe her
 
Had my interview today, and I have to say, Penn is definitely my new #1 choice. I'm still trying to figure out whether I can think of a negative (maybe location, since I don't have any ties to the area). The school, the curriculum, the people, all amazing. I'm kind of embarrassed actually, cause all the students interviewing there, plus all the medical students I talked to, seemed to have such amazing stories and experiences, and I was definitely out of place with my ordinariness. And considering they only accept about 1/4 of interviewed students, I'm not going to give myself too much false hope. It'd be too much with waiting till March.

Does anyone know what other schools have their curriculum set up like Penn, where you finish pre-clinical in 1.5 years and your clerkships 2.5 years in, with 16 months of electives/free time? I feel like this should be adopted everywhere.
 
I believe Columbia and Hopkins also have shortened pre-clinical curricula. At Columbia, you start rotations in January. At Hopkins, you start in April. At most other schools, you start July 1.

I think at Tufts you start rotating a tiny bit earlier as well.
 
Bbon said:
Had my interview today, and I have to say, Penn is definitely my new #1 choice. I'm still trying to figure out whether I can think of a negative (maybe location, since I don't have any ties to the area). The school, the curriculum, the people, all amazing. I'm kind of embarrassed actually, cause all the students interviewing there, plus all the medical students I talked to, seemed to have such amazing stories and experiences, and I was definitely out of place with my ordinariness. And considering they only accept about 1/4 of interviewed students, I'm not going to give myself too much false hope. It'd be too much with waiting till March.

Does anyone know what other schools have their curriculum set up like Penn, where you finish pre-clinical in 1.5 years and your clerkships 2.5 years in, with 16 months of electives/free time? I feel like this should be adopted everywhere.
Click to expand...

glad you liked it! there are a few other schools that have the 1.5 year preclinical. The ones i know of are Baylor (which has had it for a few years I think), and Hopkins (which is starting that this year, along with their new P/F curriculum). It was such a big selling point for me, because, first of all, 2 years is too long for preclinical education (Duke is pushing it a bit with 1 year, I like the 1.5 year thing), and second, as an MD/PhD student, it would really suck to not see patients at all until somewhere around my 6th year. This way, I get to see patients for 6 months, then take a vacation, then start my PhD! Yay Penn!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

wysdoc
2024-2025 Pennsylvania (Perelman)
4 5 6 7 8
Replies
389
Views
153K
BrainStorm12
B
wysdoc
2024-2025 University of Washington
10 11 12 13 14
Replies
680
Views
144K
stew_md
S
wysdoc
2024-2025 University of Chicago (Pritzker)
12 13 14 15 16
Replies
778
Views
202K
X0001234
X0001234
wysdoc
2024-2025 Medical University of South Carolina
3 4 5 6 7
Replies
302
Views
57K
hbic2025
H
wysdoc
2024-2025 University of Central Florida (UCF)
3 4 5 6 7
Replies
318
Views
72K
LaurelePoole
L
Top