2009-2010 University of Pennsylvania Application Thread

[doctor2014]

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penn financial aid is awesome. Literally make dreams come true.

+7

 

[deaninja]

i'm not sure about everyone else's letter, but mine says "All scholarships are 4 year commitments based on satisfactory academic progress and continued financial need"

Just saw the full letter on the status screen. You have just made my day!

 

[CSW]

i'm not sure about everyone else's letter, but mine says "All scholarships are 4 year commitments based on satisfactory academic progress and continued financial need"[/QUOTE]

Where is the letter? My "YOUR financial aid page" links to a page that mid-way down says School Scholarship Total and an amount. But there's no link to any letter... that I can find anyways?

 

[deaninja]

i'm not sure about everyone else's letter, but mine says "All scholarships are 4 year commitments based on satisfactory academic progress and continued financial need"

Where is the letter? My "YOUR financial aid page" links to a page that mid-way down says School Scholarship Total and an amount. But there's no link to any letter... that I can find anyways?[/QUOTE]

It's on the first status screen right below the acceptance letter.

 

[doctor2014]

i'm not sure about everyone else's letter, but mine says "All scholarships are 4 year commitments based on satisfactory academic progress and continued financial need"

Where is the letter? My "YOUR financial aid page" links to a page that mid-way down says School Scholarship Total and an amount. But there's no link to any letter... that I can find anyways?[/QUOTE]

directly underneath "print/view your acceptance letter" there is a link that says "print/view your financial aid award"

 

[CSW]

Hmm -- definitely not there... The numbers are on the financial aid page though (??) ... who knows, maybe it will pop up later in the day.

Anyways, congrats everyone!

 

[CSW]

now its there... hmmm

 

[Reach4theclouds]

Congrats to all of you with great aid packages!!

Looks like there's one acceptance spot here. I cannot stomach all of my debt. If there are any WLers here, hope this one comes your way . Penn is awesome!🙂

 

[Sentinel]

Wow that stings - 0 financial aid.

"Our review indicates that your financial need can be met through a combination of your personal resources and federal/private loans".

Yea if living out on the street were an option at the end of all this. Why do they assume my parents will actually support me when I've been helping with their finances (not by much, but a little bit) for the last 5 years!? My parents really don't have 300K to burn over 4 years...

Ugh sorry I just needed to vent. This was the one thing that would seriously make me consider going to a different school... really wasn't expecting 0 aid...

Knowing me, I'll be an idiot; grit my teeth and go to penn anyway

 

[Amadelphous]

Penn financial aid = AMAZING

almost cried from relief

 

[doctor2014]

Wow that stings - 0 financial aid.

"Our review indicates that your financial need can be met through a combination of your personal resources and federal/private loans".

Yea if living out on the street were an option at the end of all this. Why do they assume my parents will actually support me when I've been helping with their finances (not by much, but a little bit) for the last 5 years!? My parents really don't have 300K to burn over 4 years...

Ugh sorry I just needed to vent. This was the one thing that would seriously make me consider going to a different school... really wasn't expecting 0 aid...

Knowing me, I'll be an idiot; grit my teeth and go to penn anyway

Sorry to hear Sentinel... 🙁 It's not an end all be all though. You could still apply to outside scholarships. And you definitely should talk to them during penn preview (maybe they'll re-evaluate it). Another thing.. you might qualify for more after the first year is up. I hope you still decide to come to Penn!! You've become my SDN buddy! PENN IS STILL AMAZING!!! (financial aid doesnt represent all of penns greatness)

 

[doctor2014]

now its there... hmmm

good news??

 

[SwineSue]

Wow that stings - 0 financial aid.

"Our review indicates that your financial need can be met through a combination of your personal resources and federal/private loans".

Yea if living out on the street were an option at the end of all this. Why do they assume my parents will actually support me when I've been helping with their finances (not by much, but a little bit) for the last 5 years!? My parents really don't have 300K to burn over 4 years...

Ugh sorry I just needed to vent. This was the one thing that would seriously make me consider going to a different school... really wasn't expecting 0 aid...

Knowing me, I'll be an idiot; grit my teeth and go to penn anyway

Aren't your parents planning to buy you a condo?

 

[Neuronix]

Penn seems more generous with financial aide than the other Philly schools. Does that seem to be the case or am I way off here?

They give out a good number of half and full tuition scholarships. But if you don't happen to get one of the scholarships, cost is pretty much the same as any other private medical school.

 

[Sentinel]

Sorry to hear Sentinel... 🙁 It's not an end all be all though. You could still apply to outside scholarships. And you definitely should talk to them during penn preview (maybe they'll re-evaluate it). Another thing.. you might qualify for more after the first year is up. I hope you still decide to come to Penn!! You've become my SDN buddy! PENN IS STILL AMAZING!!! (financial aid doesnt represent all of penns greatness)

Penn's still amazing - that's why I'm still considering going 🙂 I really do hope I qualify for more after the first year - I don't think carrying a quarter of a million dollars in loans is a good idea with the way volatility of the health care industry...

And yea I'm writing them an email right now; let's see if that gets me anything. If not, I'll have to bring a lot of negotiation skills to penn preview. Man, I was hoping that would be a time for me to relax; guess not

Aren't your parents planning to buy you a condo?

You should go back and re read what I said before swine - most of that money would be from my savings; the mortgage would be in my name. My parents would contribute (at most) 10K for the condo. It's what they were planning on contributing for my first year at penn (that's all they can afford). They said they could probably get it out up front if I needed it for the condo downpayment.

I bailed on the condo idea anyway - especially when I realized I couldn't just put 10% down (they wanted 20-30%).

 

[Geekchick921]

They give out a good number of half and full tuition scholarships. But if you don't happen to get one of the scholarships, cost is pretty much the same as any other private medical school.

That much I did know. My husband just got a great new job so I'm only applying to Jeff, Temple, Drexel, Penn and PCOM, and they're all roughly the same tuition.

 

[mdeast]

Penn's still amazing - that's why I'm still considering going 🙂 I really do hope I qualify for more after the first year - I don't think carrying a quarter of a million dollars in loans is a good idea with the way volatility of the health care industry...

And yea I'm writing them an email right now; let's see if that gets me anything. If not, I'll have to bring a lot of negotiation skills to penn preview. Man, I was hoping that would be a time for me to relax; guess not




You should go back and re read what I said before swine - most of that money would be from my savings; the mortgage would be in my name. My parents would contribute (at most) 10K for the condo. It's what they were planning on contributing for my first year at penn (that's all they can afford). They said they could probably get it out up front if I needed it for the condo downpayment.

I bailed on the condo idea anyway - especially when I realized I couldn't just put 10% down (they wanted 20-30%).

Have you gotten grants from other schools? I'd imagine if Penn isn't able to offer you anything, it's more than likely that your parents income justifies them being able to contribute more. Yes, many of our parents WON'T contribute that much, but it doesn't mean they are incapable of it. I've heard multiple times at schools I've visited that the students that finished $250,000 in debt are those that don't qualify for aid, but have parents that aren't willing to support their children financially through medical school. Sucks to be in that position....I'm gonna probably end up like that too, regardless of where I end up.

 

[mdeast]

That much I did know. My husband just got a great new job so I'm only applying to Jeff, Temple, Drexel, Penn and PCOM, and they're all roughly the same tuition.

Hey Geekchick. Don't know if this is the appropriate forum, but saw your MDApps. I'd broaden that list of schools to apply to. You have a couple of places on there (NYU, Pitt, Columbia, Penn) that will likely pass on you because of your MCAT score and lack of URM status and Robert Wood, which takes virtually no out-of-state students. Just my suggestion...although that's probably for another thread.

 

[Neuronix]

That much I did know. My husband just got a great new job so I'm only applying to Jeff, Temple, Drexel, Penn and PCOM, and they're all roughly the same tuition.

Good luck. I probably shouldn't tell you what happened with me and my now ex-girlfriend, who was also a pre-med trying to stay with me in Philadelphia.

 

[Sentinel]

Have you gotten grants from other schools? I'd imagine if Penn isn't able to offer you anything, it's more than likely that your parents income justifies them being able to contribute more. Yes, many of our parents WON'T contribute that much, but it doesn't mean they are incapable of it. I've heard multiple times at schools I've visited that the students that finished $250,000 in debt are those that don't qualify for aid, but have parents that aren't willing to support their children financially through medical school. Sucks to be in that position....I'm gonna probably end up like that too, regardless of where I end up.

That's basically me.

Even if my parents wanted to support me - they can't. Their numbers show they can sure - but with what they are paying for their house, expenses, and medical expenses (my dad had a kidney transplant => his medication is $$$, and my mom has fractures in her spine and problems with her knee = lots of $$ for surgeries and meds)... they really can't afford much.

Ugh. I guess I'm part of their 10% of students who don't get any aid. Yay.

Problem is - my 2 other schools - UMDNJs - don't do fin aid packages till after may 15th (which is useless). My only shot is OSU... where my fin aid package is tied up in paperwork (apparently I have to prove I'm a citizen.. and they tell me this now)

 

[Geekchick921]

Hey Geekchick. Don't know if this is the appropriate forum, but saw your MDApps. I'd broaden that list of schools to apply to. You have a couple of places on there (NYU, Pitt, Columbia, Penn) that will likely pass on you because of your MCAT score and lack of URM status and Robert Wood, which takes virtually no out-of-state students. Just my suggestion...although that's probably for another thread.

Yeah, that MCAT score is my first practice MCAT before I started reviewing back in early January. I'm taking the real deal May 1st. My scores since then have gone up. I got a 37 on AAMC #6 this weekend. 🙂

I appreciate your concern, but the fact of the matter is we don't want to move. My husband is and will continue to be the primary breadwinner for our family (we have a daughter and we will definitely have more before I would graduate) until I am done school, and like I said, he is about to start a great job, that likely has a lot of room for advancement. You can PM me if you want to talk about it more. 🙂

P.S. I have heard the UMDNJ schools appear to have a much weaker in-state preference than the MSAR suggests. They send their data in after most of the class has moved to NJ and established residency for their tuition. I have seen this pointed out a few times on SDN in the past.

 

[Neuronix]

I appreciate your concern, but the fact of the matter is we don't want to move. My husband is and will continue to be the primary breadwinner for our family (we have a daughter and we will definitely have more before I would graduate) until I am done school, and like I said, he is about to start a great job, that likely has a lot of room for advancement. You can PM me if you want to talk about it more. 🙂

All I can say is good luck. Everyone told me and my well-qualified long-time live-in pre-med girlfriend that we should have no problems. I've been advising pre-meds on this site for many years, and I even I thought we should have no problems. After applying to every medical school in the area, she wasn't getting interviews, so she paranoidly and late in the game applied to a few schools further away without telling me. This would be wise: she only got in far away, with two full scholarship offers. In the end there was not even a single interview within five hours of Philadelphia.

The "fact of the matter" of course was that I *couldn't* move since I was in the middle of my MD/PhD program. This locked us into five years of long-distance relationship, which we decided to end instead. The loss was devastating for me. I haven't been the same since.

So be sure you can come up with a contigency plan. You may have to decide whether it's best to be separated, move, or apply again the next year. Hopefully you don't have to make that choice. Hopefully you won't have to make it again when you apply to residency.

 

[Sentinel]

All I can say is good luck. Everyone told me and my well-qualified long-time live-in pre-med girlfriend that we should have no problems. I've been advising pre-meds on this site for many years, and I even I thought we should have no problems. After applying to every medical school in the area, she wasn't getting interviews, so she paranoidly and late in the game applied to a few schools further away without telling me. This would be wise: she only got in far away, with two full scholarship offers. In the end there was not even a single interview within five hours of Philadelphia.

The "fact of the matter" of course was that I *couldn't* move since I was in the middle of my MD/PhD program. This locked us into five years of long-distance relationship, which we decided to end instead. The loss was devastating for me. I haven't been the same since.

Neuro - similar thing happened to me when my gf from college had to move off to.. new orleans. We broke up about a year after that; couldn't handle that much LD. Devastating for sure (we dated for 4+ years before that).

I feel thy pain. LD = teh suck

 

[smq123]

I appreciate your concern, but the fact of the matter is we don't want to move. My husband is and will continue to be the primary breadwinner for our family (we have a daughter and we will definitely have more before I would graduate) until I am done school, and like I said, he is about to start a great job, that likely has a lot of room for advancement. You can PM me if you want to talk about it more. 🙂

You could expand that list to the UMDNJs, the Commonwealth, and Penn State. They're close-ish to Philly and (depending on their attendance policy and if they record lectures) you may not need to be at school every day. For the second half of MS2, I think I went to school once a week? Something like that. I mostly stayed home and listened to the recorded lectures. And this is blasphemy to many, but I actually learned anatomy BETTER when I stopped going to gross dissection lab. 😳

Schools in the NYC area and Baltimore may also an option for that reason.

Good luck on your MCAT!

 

[mdeast]

Yeah, that MCAT score is my first practice MCAT before I started reviewing back in early January. I'm taking the real deal May 1st. My scores since then have gone up. I got a 37 on AAMC #6 this weekend. 🙂

I appreciate your concern, but the fact of the matter is we don't want to move. My husband is and will continue to be the primary breadwinner for our family (we have a daughter and we will definitely have more before I would graduate) until I am done school, and like I said, he is about to start a great job, that likely has a lot of room for advancement. You can PM me if you want to talk about it more. 🙂

P.S. I have heard the UMDNJ schools appear to have a much weaker in-state preference than the MSAR suggests. They send their data in after most of the class has moved to NJ and established residency for their tuition. I have seen this pointed out a few times on SDN in the past.

Thats just not true on UMDNJ. MSAR get its statistics from AAMC...they handle all medical school applications and are notified when applicants are accepted and enrolled. Their residency is based upon how they applied, not what their residency status is when matriculating.

OOS: 2167 applied, 81 interviewed, 40 were accepted, 8 enrolled. That's a 1.8% acceptance rate for OOS vs. a 20% rate for IS.

Anyway, didn't mean to hijack the thread. With a 37 you'll have more options.

 

[mdeast]

All I can say is good luck. Everyone told me and my well-qualified long-time live-in pre-med girlfriend that we should have no problems. I've been advising pre-meds on this site for many years, and I even I thought we should have no problems. After applying to every medical school in the area, she wasn't getting interviews, so she paranoidly and late in the game applied to a few schools further away without telling me. This would be wise: she only got in far away, with two full scholarship offers. In the end there was not even a single interview within five hours of Philadelphia.

The "fact of the matter" of course was that I *couldn't* move since I was in the middle of my MD/PhD program. This locked us into five years of long-distance relationship, which we decided to end instead. The loss was devastating for me. I haven't been the same since.

So be sure you can come up with a contigency plan. You may have to decide whether it's best to be separated, move, or apply again the next year. Hopefully you don't have to make that choice. Hopefully you won't have to make it again when you apply to residency.

Sorry to hear that Neuronix. Moving has broken up two of my past relationships, so I know the burn and frustration.

 

[Geekchick921]

I'm just telling you what I've read more than once, and from different people, on SDN in the past. Either way, I'm probably not applying there.

 

[IAmMyOwnTwin]

Sentinel, I feel your pain. I received zero in grants from Penn, as well. I am receiving zero everywhere. My dad makes pretty good money (as a doctor), but I am almost thirty years old and my parents have no intention of paying anything toward my med school education. I already have over $50K in student debt from my post-bacc. It's ridiculous. I don't begrudge anyone who is getting good aid, but I wish there were some for me. We will all be graduating with the same earning potential, but those of us whose parents are doing relatively well but don't intend to help us out will start our careers a quarter mil (or maybe more) in the hole. It's a pretty bitter pill to swallow.

Maybe my unborn children will receive good financial aid when the aid officers see that their mother is still chipping away at her medical school debt!

 

[doctor2014]

Sentinel, I feel your pain. I received zero in grants from Penn, as well. I am receiving zero everywhere. My dad makes pretty good money (as a doctor), but I am almost thirty years old and my parents have no intention of paying anything toward my med school education. I already have over $50K in student debt from my post-bacc. It's ridiculous. I don't begrudge anyone who is getting good aid, but I wish there were some for me. We will all be graduating with the same earning potential, but those of us whose parents are doing relatively well but don't intend to help us out will start our careers a quarter mil (or maybe more) in the hole. It's a pretty bitter pill to swallow.

Maybe my unborn children will receive good financial aid when the aid officers see that their mother is still chipping away at her medical school debt!

I 100% know what you mean. I actually remember feeling borderline pissed when I found out that we had to give information about our parent's finances. At the very least, some people will be 22 going into medical school and I dont know many parents who are willing to give a quarter million to their adult child (no matter how good the cause). I guess it will just be VERY important for me to start educational funds for all of my children starting with residency paychecks because I don't want them to have to worry about this in another 25 years. Ess Em Ach (SMH)

 

[IAmMyOwnTwin]

Thanks, doctor2014. You've made me feel a little better after getting financial aid smackdowns from my two favorite schools in the last 24 hours.

I guess the ever-so-faint silver lining is that if I don't get any financial aid anywhere (aside from loans), I can just go to my favorite school without any pressure to "follow the money" (since there isn't any).

 

[NNukibw77]

aid package today. 27 grand a year scholarship. 2/3 of tuition. pretty stoked!

 

[Hirudo]

Kind of off topic, but I wonder when Penn will cash the deposit check? I sent it a good month ago.

 

[Sentinel]

Sentinel, I feel your pain. I received zero in grants from Penn, as well. I am receiving zero everywhere. My dad makes pretty good money (as a doctor), but I am almost thirty years old and my parents have no intention of paying anything toward my med school education. I already have over $50K in student debt from my post-bacc. It's ridiculous. I don't begrudge anyone who is getting good aid, but I wish there were some for me. We will all be graduating with the same earning potential, but those of us whose parents are doing relatively well but don't intend to help us out will start our careers a quarter mil (or maybe more) in the hole. It's a pretty bitter pill to swallow.

Maybe my unborn children will receive good financial aid when the aid officers see that their mother is still chipping away at her medical school debt!

Might be a weird thing to say - but in a way, it's good to know I'm not the only one who's getting shafted and therefore pissed (shows me that my reaction isn't completely crazy ) And you make a good point about saving up now. That's the problem I've had actually - I've been very good with my money - paid off all my undergrad debt, car loan and even saved up enough money to pay off my postbacc stuff by myself... so I have 0 debts. But I get penalized for being good with money too 😡 So screw this, I'm just going to save enough money for my kids starting at... 34 or whenever I actually start earning money again

I 100% know what you mean. I actually remember feeling borderline pissed when I found out that we had to give information about our parent's finances. At the very least, some people will be 22 going into medical school and I dont know many parents who are willing to give a quarter million to their adult child (no matter how good the cause). I guess it will just be VERY important for me to start educational funds for all of my children starting with residency paychecks because I don't want them to have to worry about this in another 25 years. Ess Em Ach (SMH)

If you are going straight through to med school I can kinda understand the financial aid office. But when you've had like a completely different corporate world life experience thing, and are coming back to school - my parents sure as hell don't see me as a through and through college kid anymore. They expect me to be mature and shoulder responsibilities

Translation: no money for you

Well they aren't outright mean like that, but you get my point. Oh well. I shall be negotiating (translation: groveling) with the financial aid office this Preview weekend. Makes me sad, because I was looking forward to a 100% fun experience... which it now won't be.

But on a happier note:

Who's coming to penn preview?!

We should have a secret hand signal to separate us from the other un-cool non-SDNers 😎. Maybe something along the lines of this: yea that won't prove that I'm completely weird at all!

 

[doctor2014]

aid package today. 27 grand a year scholarship. 2/3 of tuition. pretty stoked!

27 grand is definitely more than half of the tuition!! Congratulations!!!!!😀

 

[Hirudo]

I 100% know what you mean. I actually remember feeling borderline pissed when I found out that we had to give information about our parent's finances. At the very least, some people will be 22 going into medical school and I dont know many parents who are willing to give a quarter million to their adult child (no matter how good the cause). I guess it will just be VERY important for me to start educational funds for all of my children starting with residency paychecks because I don't want them to have to worry about this in another 25 years. Ess Em Ach (SMH)

The system is flawed, no doubt. I know a few people whose parents are LOADED but refuse to give them any money for school, yet my EFC was next to zero and my mom would neglect her own basic needs to give me money if I asked for it. Technically my financial need would be lower, right? There's no way they could ever know whether or not your parents are willing to help you financially. I'm very lucky about the aid, though, since I know my mom won't feel guilty about not being able to give me any money.

 

[mdeast]

The system is flawed, no doubt. I know a few people whose parents are LOADED but refuse to give them any money for school, yet my EFC was next to zero and my mom would neglect her own basic needs to give me money if I asked for it. Technically my financial need would be lower, right? There's no way they could ever know whether or not your parents are willing to help you financially. I'm very lucky about the aid, though, since I know my mom won't feel guilty about not being able to give me any money.

I think the main gripe is even basing need off of parents financial information. I understand this system for your undergraduate years, some people just wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise...and undergraduate school is really your gateway to successful careers in this day and age.

I think at the graduate school level, we're all at the point where we are adults and largely independent of our families. Heck, I haven't received a cent of tuition/living expenses/nada from my parents in three years...and I've been doing research for the last two and it's not as if I get paid handsomely for it. Pretty much everyone leaves college dirt poor (even if your parents are wealthy) as we enter the real world.

So at the end of the day, everyone is poor. Those with parents with lower incomes get grants. Those with parents with higher incomes get loans. My parents are providing 10k/year...of which I'm signing a formal legal contract to pay back as a loan with 0% interest. The rest is gonna be federal and bank loans.

After med school and residency....those with grants are making $200k/year or more as a physician with no debt. Those with loans are also making 200k/year, but either paying back their parents or trying to keep up with interest payments. For me personally, I think we're old enough that our parents life/career choices/success shouldn't influence our financial future. But again, I'm coming from the biased viewpoint of having parents who are at considered upper middle class without qualifying for aid. I do understand the viewpoint at the other end of the spectrum, and I'd probably be arguing the contrary if I was in a different position. Maybe it's my slight fiscal conservative side speaking.

 

[Sentinel]

am I the only one going to / excited about penn preview?

Ah well, maybe you are all going to into there so I hope to see some of you there anyway 🙂 If not - I'll report back on the craziness of philly!

 

[OncDoc19]

am I the only one going to / excited about penn preview?

Ah well, maybe you are all going to into there so I hope to see some of you there anyway 🙂 If not - I'll report back on the craziness of philly!

I'm going and am excited! (but I also feel like the only one) I deferred my admission and two years ago there was so much excitement on SDN for preview and a big group of us even got together the night before, which is tonight of course. It makes me a little sad that there hasn't been such hype on here this year. I hope it's just a random coincidence and that everyone at preview is excited to be there!

 

[Hirudo]

I'm going and am excited! (but I also feel like the only one) I deferred my admission and two years ago there was so much excitement on SDN for preview and a big group of us even got together the night before, which is tonight of course. It makes me a little sad that there hasn't been such hype on here this year. I hope it's just a random coincidence and that everyone at preview is excited to be there!

I'm going!

 

[Sentinel]

whoo! I'll be the indian guy in the red full-sleeve polo & jeans (even when I'm trying to act normal; I always stick out, for better of for worse) - so come over and say hi! 🙂

 

[Sentinel]

although... hmm if you are going to do the community service thing; I might not see you till later. Got a conference call w/ belgium in the morning so I won't get into philly till like 12:15.

 

[mdeast]

I'm expecting a full report from you accepts after this weekend to give us waitlisters an idea of how many people showed up and how many seemed to be sure on attending.

But do enjoy 🙂

 

[IAmMyOwnTwin]

I'll be at Penn Preview! But I'm not getting there until tomorrow (Friday) because I have to work today. I'll be the person who's kinda tall, has hair, and wears t-shirts... sometimes.

As for financial aid, it's an interesting discussion. One thought I had, is that the system is somewhat fair in the sense that students whose parents are well-off have a safety net that others don't have. Even though my parents aren't planning to pay for medical school, I also know they wouldn't let me, say, lose my apartment or default on my loans if I fell on hard times for some reason. Also, they have saved for their own retirement and late-in-life medical care, so that is an expense I will not have to worry about, while children of less well-off parents may have to help them out someday.

I have decided to not dwell too much on the financial aid thing right now. It's no fun going super-deep into debt, but it's not going to have any effect on my day-to-day life until I am out of school, which will be years from now.

 

[esP13]

Tired...but overall great preview weekend. What does everyone else think?

 

[Sentinel]

So, in a nut shell, Penn Preview was awesome. It was great to meet you oncdoc ! I'm sad I couldn't find doc2014 or OwnTwin; I'm really bad at connecting online personas to the real person 🙁

But as for the preview itself - for those who missed it, couldn't wake up in the morning for it, etc etc (mainly this is for mdeast because he's awesome):

1. The backpacks are awesome. The MS1s told me apparently ours are upgraded versions - since ours has an additional zipper in the front! Although going to a club with the backpack on may seem cool, it is definitely not designed for dancing. After the barmaid at Vango ran off with my jacket to lost and found... I wasn't about to let her get her hands on my backpack!

2. The students there seemed to genuinely like being there, and seemed to actually enjoy their time there! They definitely seem to follow the "work hard, play hard" scheme. First years seem to have a good chunk of free time - compared to second years anyway; especially when second years start clinics. We saw quite a few of the students - they seemed pretty down to earth.

- A slight addendum: you expect that kids @ penn med are going to be amazing students... and they are; but boy do they have some crazy experiences and backgrounds. Some of the stories of what students have done are really quite humbling (which is a good thing). [this is what I gathered from stories of current students - I'm sure the prospectives/M0s have similarly awesome backgrounds]

3. Supposedly 180 kids/prospectives/MS0s were signed up for PP (about 40 were for MD/PhD). I know for sure that not all of them showed up. Some of them were a bit odd and anti-social; and I'm pretty sure some of them are turdy too (which school doesn't have those) - but overall, I can honestly say I could really see myself hanging out with most of them for the next four years and having a blast. I was kinda crossing my fingers that that's how it would turn out, and I'm glad to see it came true!

4. Proportions of students coming here (this is really for you mdE) - it seemed like quite a few students were set on coming here / decided to come here by the end of it. I'd say 2/3 were set on the idea, with the other 1/3 deciding between this and another top-tier school, or a school that gave them a lot of money. I didn't really seem like PP convinced them to change their minds though... or maybe they just hadn't sat down and processed everything they'd seen yet? (either way, the 1/3 number is the general sense I got... I clearly didn't go around polling everyone. Yea... not everyone )

5. The faculty / administration seems to really like working with the students. They were doing something obvious that irked me; but I guess it happens in every school... but I'm keeping that point to myself. One thing I will say is that the financial aid officers weren't really receptive to your comments unless you had a competing offer from elsewhere. They kinda bordered on being hostile actually. I can understand where they are coming from (this was the tail end of friday - so they'd already been bombarded by students asking for money for a day and a half)... but still. I'm not saying that I was upset because they kept saying "no"... my point is there's the Dr. House way to do it, and the Dr. Wilson way to do it.

Anyway; everything's never perfect right?

And for kids who want to do the MD/MBA program - apparently it's one of the more expensive double degree programs... yay for me . And for those who missed it - the MD/MBE (bio ethics) prog seems to have some pretty good grant money floating around... making it one of the cheapest ones.

Er, let's see what else am I forgetting about PP? Dr. White (the anatomy professor) seems pretty awesome. The simulation center is sick... although the tour guide was a bit, er, interesting. CHOP is awesome.

Ok that's all I had. In general, I loved PP. It was a blast. I'm off to bed to catch up on lost sleep (totally worth it though). If I left something out correct me.

On another side note - I've been so tunnel visioned on living by myself that I didn't realize/remember what a big difference living with someone else can make (monetarily). If living in a particular 1br in a particular building would be $1500/mo, living in a 2 br w/ a roommate can cut that down to like $900 😱. Not 50% off or anything, but definitely nothing to sneeze at. So I guess I'm revisiting having a roommate

 

[Sentinel]

btw, after Vango - for some reason, I can't get the "sexy chick" song out of my head. Good thing I've got a napster subscription 👍

 

[mdeast]

btw, after Vango - for some reason, I can't get the "sexy chick" song out of my head. Good thing I've got a napster subscription 👍

OMG, they took you to Vango? That has to be one of the worst places ever, at least from my perspective. Mainly because of the people that go there rather then the venue itself. I can think of about 8 places I'd go to before that.

Well...if a 1/3 really don't end up attending then there'll be some chance of waitlist movement. That means maybe 120 decided of the 180, so 40-45 spots still out as questionably filled. Although, I think there is a tendency at preview weekend for students to be not entirely forthcoming with other schools that they're also still considering.

180 is a lot though! Especially considering the class size is 165. I'm not getting my hopes up at this point but thanks for the information relay.

You guys were blessed to have ridiculously good weather for Preview as well. I was surprised there were that many people, cause I don't think I ended up seeing any of you on campus. I remember last year there being swarms of preview kids with their backpacks...all the time, I wanted to have one for next year. Le sigh. Congrats though, and I hope all that enjoyed it do attend. You'll love Penn and you'll love Philly.

 

[KMFDM]

So, in a nut shell, Penn Preview was awesome. It was great to meet you oncdoc ! I'm sad I couldn't find doc2014 or OwnTwin; I'm really bad at connecting online personas to the real person 🙁

But as for the preview itself - for those who missed it, couldn't wake up in the morning for it, etc etc (mainly this is for mdeast because he's awesome):

1. The backpacks are awesome. The MS1s told me apparently ours are upgraded versions - since ours has an additional zipper in the front! Although going to a club with the backpack on may seem cool, it is definitely not designed for dancing. After the barmaid at Vango ran off with my jacket to lost and found... I wasn't about to let her get her hands on my backpack!

2. The students there seemed to genuinely like being there, and seemed to actually enjoy their time there! They definitely seem to follow the "work hard, play hard" scheme. First years seem to have a good chunk of free time - compared to second years anyway; especially when second years start clinics. We saw quite a few of the students - they seemed pretty down to earth.

- A slight addendum: you expect that kids @ penn med are going to be amazing students... and they are; but boy do they have some crazy experiences and backgrounds. Some of the stories of what students have done are really quite humbling (which is a good thing). [this is what I gathered from stories of current students - I'm sure the prospectives/M0s have similarly awesome backgrounds]

3. Supposedly 180 kids/prospectives/MS0s were signed up for PP (about 40 were for MD/PhD). I know for sure that not all of them showed up. Some of them were a bit odd and anti-social; and I'm pretty sure some of them are turdy too (which school doesn't have those) - but overall, I can honestly say I could really see myself hanging out with most of them for the next four years and having a blast. I was kinda crossing my fingers that that's how it would turn out, and I'm glad to see it came true!

4. Proportions of students coming here (this is really for you mdE) - it seemed like quite a few students were set on coming here / decided to come here by the end of it. I'd say 2/3 were set on the idea, with the other 1/3 deciding between this and another top-tier school, or a school that gave them a lot of money. I didn't really seem like PP convinced them to change their minds though... or maybe they just hadn't sat down and processed everything they'd seen yet? (either way, the 1/3 number is the general sense I got... I clearly didn't go around polling everyone. Yea... not everyone )

5. The faculty / administration seems to really like working with the students. They were doing something obvious that irked me; but I guess it happens in every school... but I'm keeping that point to myself. One thing I will say is that the financial aid officers weren't really receptive to your comments unless you had a competing offer from elsewhere. They kinda bordered on being hostile actually. I can understand where they are coming from (this was the tail end of friday - so they'd already been bombarded by students asking for money for a day and a half)... but still. I'm not saying that I was upset because they kept saying "no"... my point is there's the Dr. House way to do it, and the Dr. Wilson way to do it.

Anyway; everything's never perfect right?

And for kids who want to do the MD/MBA program - apparently it's one of the more expensive double degree programs... yay for me . And for those who missed it - the MD/MBE (bio ethics) prog seems to have some pretty good grant money floating around... making it one of the cheapest ones.

Er, let's see what else am I forgetting about PP? Dr. White (the anatomy professor) seems pretty awesome. The simulation center is sick... although the tour guide was a bit, er, interesting. CHOP is awesome.

Ok that's all I had. In general, I loved PP. It was a blast. I'm off to bed to catch up on lost sleep (totally worth it though). If I left something out correct me.

On another side note - I've been so tunnel visioned on living by myself that I didn't realize/remember what a big difference living with someone else can make (monetarily). If living in a particular 1br in a particular building would be $1500/mo, living in a 2 br w/ a roommate can cut that down to like $900 😱. Not 50% off or anything, but definitely nothing to sneeze at. So I guess I'm revisiting having a roommate

Hahah that's awesome. Only downside to the revisit.

 

[Amadelphous]

So, in a nut shell, Penn Preview was awesome. It was great to meet you oncdoc ! I'm sad I couldn't find doc2014 or OwnTwin; I'm really bad at connecting online personas to the real person 🙁

But as for the preview itself - for those who missed it, couldn't wake up in the morning for it, etc etc (mainly this is for mdeast because he's awesome):

1. The backpacks are awesome. The MS1s told me apparently ours are upgraded versions - since ours has an additional zipper in the front! Although going to a club with the backpack on may seem cool, it is definitely not designed for dancing. After the barmaid at Vango ran off with my jacket to lost and found... I wasn't about to let her get her hands on my backpack!

2. The students there seemed to genuinely like being there, and seemed to actually enjoy their time there! They definitely seem to follow the "work hard, play hard" scheme. First years seem to have a good chunk of free time - compared to second years anyway; especially when second years start clinics. We saw quite a few of the students - they seemed pretty down to earth.

- A slight addendum: you expect that kids @ penn med are going to be amazing students... and they are; but boy do they have some crazy experiences and backgrounds. Some of the stories of what students have done are really quite humbling (which is a good thing). [this is what I gathered from stories of current students - I'm sure the prospectives/M0s have similarly awesome backgrounds]

3. Supposedly 180 kids/prospectives/MS0s were signed up for PP (about 40 were for MD/PhD). I know for sure that not all of them showed up. Some of them were a bit odd and anti-social; and I'm pretty sure some of them are turdy too (which school doesn't have those) - but overall, I can honestly say I could really see myself hanging out with most of them for the next four years and having a blast. I was kinda crossing my fingers that that's how it would turn out, and I'm glad to see it came true!

4. Proportions of students coming here (this is really for you mdE) - it seemed like quite a few students were set on coming here / decided to come here by the end of it. I'd say 2/3 were set on the idea, with the other 1/3 deciding between this and another top-tier school, or a school that gave them a lot of money. I didn't really seem like PP convinced them to change their minds though... or maybe they just hadn't sat down and processed everything they'd seen yet? (either way, the 1/3 number is the general sense I got... I clearly didn't go around polling everyone. Yea... not everyone )

5. The faculty / administration seems to really like working with the students. They were doing something obvious that irked me; but I guess it happens in every school... but I'm keeping that point to myself. One thing I will say is that the financial aid officers weren't really receptive to your comments unless you had a competing offer from elsewhere. They kinda bordered on being hostile actually. I can understand where they are coming from (this was the tail end of friday - so they'd already been bombarded by students asking for money for a day and a half)... but still. I'm not saying that I was upset because they kept saying "no"... my point is there's the Dr. House way to do it, and the Dr. Wilson way to do it.

Anyway; everything's never perfect right?

And for kids who want to do the MD/MBA program - apparently it's one of the more expensive double degree programs... yay for me . And for those who missed it - the MD/MBE (bio ethics) prog seems to have some pretty good grant money floating around... making it one of the cheapest ones.

Er, let's see what else am I forgetting about PP? Dr. White (the anatomy professor) seems pretty awesome. The simulation center is sick... although the tour guide was a bit, er, interesting. CHOP is awesome.

Ok that's all I had. In general, I loved PP. It was a blast. I'm off to bed to catch up on lost sleep (totally worth it though). If I left something out correct me.

On another side note - I've been so tunnel visioned on living by myself that I didn't realize/remember what a big difference living with someone else can make (monetarily). If living in a particular 1br in a particular building would be $1500/mo, living in a 2 br w/ a roommate can cut that down to like $900 😱. Not 50% off or anything, but definitely nothing to sneeze at. So I guess I'm revisiting having a roommate

Bahaha maybe we were in the same group....that lady had to be on something lol

 

[RocketScience]

So, in a nut shell, Penn Preview was awesome. It was great to meet you oncdoc ! I'm sad I couldn't find doc2014 or OwnTwin; I'm really bad at connecting online personas to the real person 🙁

But as for the preview itself - for those who missed it, couldn't wake up in the morning for it, etc etc (mainly this is for mdeast because he's awesome):

1. The backpacks are awesome. The MS1s told me apparently ours are upgraded versions - since ours has an additional zipper in the front! Although going to a club with the backpack on may seem cool, it is definitely not designed for dancing. After the barmaid at Vango ran off with my jacket to lost and found... I wasn't about to let her get her hands on my backpack!

2. The students there seemed to genuinely like being there, and seemed to actually enjoy their time there! They definitely seem to follow the "work hard, play hard" scheme. First years seem to have a good chunk of free time - compared to second years anyway; especially when second years start clinics. We saw quite a few of the students - they seemed pretty down to earth.

- A slight addendum: you expect that kids @ penn med are going to be amazing students... and they are; but boy do they have some crazy experiences and backgrounds. Some of the stories of what students have done are really quite humbling (which is a good thing). [this is what I gathered from stories of current students - I'm sure the prospectives/M0s have similarly awesome backgrounds]

3. Supposedly 180 kids/prospectives/MS0s were signed up for PP (about 40 were for MD/PhD). I know for sure that not all of them showed up. Some of them were a bit odd and anti-social; and I'm pretty sure some of them are turdy too (which school doesn't have those) - but overall, I can honestly say I could really see myself hanging out with most of them for the next four years and having a blast. I was kinda crossing my fingers that that's how it would turn out, and I'm glad to see it came true!

4. Proportions of students coming here (this is really for you mdE) - it seemed like quite a few students were set on coming here / decided to come here by the end of it. I'd say 2/3 were set on the idea, with the other 1/3 deciding between this and another top-tier school, or a school that gave them a lot of money. I didn't really seem like PP convinced them to change their minds though... or maybe they just hadn't sat down and processed everything they'd seen yet? (either way, the 1/3 number is the general sense I got... I clearly didn't go around polling everyone. Yea... not everyone )

5. The faculty / administration seems to really like working with the students. They were doing something obvious that irked me; but I guess it happens in every school... but I'm keeping that point to myself. One thing I will say is that the financial aid officers weren't really receptive to your comments unless you had a competing offer from elsewhere. They kinda bordered on being hostile actually. I can understand where they are coming from (this was the tail end of friday - so they'd already been bombarded by students asking for money for a day and a half)... but still. I'm not saying that I was upset because they kept saying "no"... my point is there's the Dr. House way to do it, and the Dr. Wilson way to do it.

Anyway; everything's never perfect right?

And for kids who want to do the MD/MBA program - apparently it's one of the more expensive double degree programs... yay for me . And for those who missed it - the MD/MBE (bio ethics) prog seems to have some pretty good grant money floating around... making it one of the cheapest ones.

Er, let's see what else am I forgetting about PP? Dr. White (the anatomy professor) seems pretty awesome. The simulation center is sick... although the tour guide was a bit, er, interesting. CHOP is awesome.

Ok that's all I had. In general, I loved PP. It was a blast. I'm off to bed to catch up on lost sleep (totally worth it though). If I left something out correct me.

On another side note - I've been so tunnel visioned on living by myself that I didn't realize/remember what a big difference living with someone else can make (monetarily). If living in a particular 1br in a particular building would be $1500/mo, living in a 2 br w/ a roommate can cut that down to like $900 😱. Not 50% off or anything, but definitely nothing to sneeze at. So I guess I'm revisiting having a roommate

i'm gonna go ahead and agree with everything sentinel said. i definitely got the same sense about how many people had made their minds up, as well as how receptive the financial aid people were. all in all, it was a great experience and PP simply solidified my decision to go to penn.

on a side note, i think the learning team concept is neat and i really look forward to orientation when i'll find out who'll be in my team.

on another side note, that performance of "fix you" rocked and i'm bummed out it's not on youtube yet. somebody needs to get on that.