Yes it is 1000 characters, and no, it is not a lot of space at all.
2011-2012 University of Pennsylvania Application Thread
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"Is there any special information or circumstance that the Committee on Admissions should be aware of in reviewing your application to Penn Med? (Siblings/Relative at Penn/Special Circumstances)"
Does this serve as a "do you have anything additional to tell us" prompt? As in, if I have international living experiences that I haven't mentioned in AMCAS, but felt that it was a formative life experience, is this an appropriate place to mention this?
At first glance, based on how the prompt was worded, I thought this was space to explain bad grades or other red-flags, but they seem interested in hearing personal school relations and whatnot too (not that I have any).
Does this serve as a "do you have anything additional to tell us" prompt? As in, if I have international living experiences that I haven't mentioned in AMCAS, but felt that it was a formative life experience, is this an appropriate place to mention this?
At first glance, based on how the prompt was worded, I thought this was space to explain bad grades or other red-flags, but they seem interested in hearing personal school relations and whatnot too (not that I have any).
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Sounds to me like that would be a little out of context for the prompt, being that they elicit information regarding relatives affiliated with the University. However, the "Special Circumstances" part may be there to broaden the prompt to include those sorts of things. I reckon I would call and ask! The people in the admissions office are quite nice and would, I'm sure, be more than willing to help you - you will likely be able to get an answer to this questions without even providing identifying information if you're nervous about calling
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Thanks for the idea. I may call or email - not particularly nervous about ID'ing myself Or I might just write the response. 1000 characters isn't a lot of space to fill to begin with, and if they find it completely irrelevant for their purposes, I'm sure they won't read it!
Penn Med really seems to love gathering info on any sort of personal connection to the school! Everything from parents, sibling, personal employment or education history with regards to Penn Med... do they really give them preferences?!
Or I might just write the response. 1000 characters isn't a lot of space to fill to begin with, and if they find it completely irrelevant for their purposes, I'm sure they won't read it!Penn Med really seems to love gathering info on any sort of personal connection to the school! Everything from parents, sibling, personal employment or education history with regards to Penn Med... do they really give them preferences?!
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Thanks for the idea. I may call or email - not particularly nervous about ID'ing myself
Penn Med really seems to love gathering info on any sort of personal connection to the school! Everything from parents, sibling, personal employment or education history with regards to Penn Med... do they really give them preferences?!
Probably not a bad thing to just go for it. As long as you aren't rambling about your luxurious travels to exotic lands. Now that you mention it, I was actually at an admissions Q&A panel for pre-meds a while back and heard a pre-med ask if it was reasonable for him to list all of the countries he had visited for touristy things. The extensive list of countries and overall douche-baggery definitely made for a facepalm moment.
As for whether or not there's a preference for people who are affiliated in some way with the school, I have no idea. I ain't and things worked out for me just dandy. Reckon it can't hurt though.
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Haha nah. I never lived a luxurious life. My family moved overseas a couple of times and I learned a lot from the places I've lived in. Not sure how well I can convey that in a 1000 characters, but I can try.
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Definitely sounds worth discussing in your application. Good luck!
Thanks for the idea. I may call or email - not particularly nervous about ID'ing myself
Penn Med really seems to love gathering info on any sort of personal connection to the school! Everything from parents, sibling, personal employment or education history with regards to Penn Med... do they really give them preferences?!
I am a penn undergrad and our premed advisors told us that 10% of the entering class come from Penn. But, these kids have awesome stats anyways.
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When do you students take the USMLE step 2 exam? According to the website and the packet they sent us, students take step 1 sometime during module 5, which is at the end of the curriculum, but there is no mention anywhere of step 2. How do you apply to residencies when you're taking the tests so late compared to other schools?
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Any time after July of your 3rd year, after your electives are done. Residencies don't care about your Step 2 scores until later - few schools even require reporting them before Match day (UCSF is one of the few exceptions). You'll find at Penn we're actually way better positioned to apply to residencies. January - August of your third year (taking Step 1 at some point), you are already in your electives and sub-internship, so you'll rotate through fields you're thinking of applying in to try them out. You'll also have your letters squared away well in advance of the October application date.
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Pretty sure they're okay with AP credits. If you've got a specific question or concern that you can't get resolved with information on the Penn website, go ahead and call the admissions office and ask.
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I'm a little thrown off by the single-line text box provided to answer the question about time off between college and matriculation. Anyone else have trouble with this (if its relevant to you)? It seems odd to put anything more than a sentence or two in here given the lack of space, but that is a pretty tough limit.
EDIT: looks like it only allows about 250 characters. I guess they want more of a list without any commentary.
EDIT: looks like it only allows about 250 characters. I guess they want more of a list without any commentary.
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I had to condense ten years of my life, plus what I'm doing in the next year, into 250 characters. At best, it's superficial. At worst, it's confusing.
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S**t, how did I miss that. Sooooo, lets say hypothetically my friend
graduated college this spring and totally missed this question on Penn secondary. How screwed is he/she?I mean, I--ahem, my friend--didn't really have any plans for the next year when I submitted my secondary so I don't know what I would have said otherwise. If I send in an update letter after I start my job this fall do you think that would cover my a**?
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Submitted secondary today and am now complete. Let's see how this goes. 
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No idea. I never sent any of these and think that they are awkward, but I know other, very successful SDNers have written these in the past. You could probably do a forum search to see the pros and cons of sending one and might consider calling the admissions office (which you can always do anonymously) to see if they can give you any info.
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Anyone else having trouble with spacing when submitting the UPenn secondary essay? I have three short paragraphs that I've separated, but when I get the preview before submitting it just mushes it all together...
If it's not possible, what do you all think of me just pasting pilcrows where I wanted the new lines to be? Something (¶) like (¶) this.
If it's not possible, what do you all think of me just pasting pilcrows where I wanted the new lines to be? Something (¶) like (¶) this.
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Went to undergrad here. Do you guys think they look at that even if I don't have super-amazing stats?
I can't tell you for sure what they prefer. We have a number of classmates from UPenn, but I don't think it's overwhelmingly high. Undergraduate school aside, the committee wants a well-balanced group, so even if you don't have super-amazing stats you may be really important in another way and contribute greatly to the composition (read: diversity) of the class. It's worth applying unless you're extremely far below the GPA and MCAT ranges - I say that just so I don't advise anyone to waste their money.
I can tell you that they read every application and they are pretty serious about you if you are given an interview invitation. Anyone have any questions about the interview days? (I'm assuming there will be a bunch after the first round of interviews are sent out.)
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I saw on a penn admissions webpage that in their 2011 incoming class they've 60% nontrads. Are they really that Nontrad friendly or are they using a really broad definition of the term?
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What's your definition of non-trads? Ours is usually anyone who took at least one year off between undergrad and med school.
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Well over in the Nontrad forum folks get mad if you call yourself one and are less than 25 years of age. I'm only 28 and feel only kind of nontraditional
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Then yes, we use a fairly lax definition of non-trad. We rarely have folks over 30 years old.
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Interview invite!!! I'm so so so so excited!!!!
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Interview invite!!! I'm so so so so excited!!!!
Congratulations! How did you find out, via e-mail?
found out via email!
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Me too! Interview invite!
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I called them to try and reschedule, and they were really inflexible about it - much more so than any other school (I've had to reschedule at 3 other schools due to a weird class schedule) . Good luck, but they were only able to offer one other date, which also didn't work for me. I ended up moving around my schedule so one of those 5 dates will work.
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Actually, during orientation the number we were told was "over 60%". By non trads they refer to students who do no come directly from college and took a year or two before applying to med school (research, Rhodes, working abroad, etc).
When I was applying, I heard that Penn liked older students and it seems to be true. Most people seem to be over 24 (unlike Harvard, who likes a younger crowd)
Congrats on the invites! I think this year we took only 3 people off the waitlist, so getting an invite this early is really awesome news!
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What is a Penn Faculty Mentor, as it refers to this question?
Have you been employed at the University of Pennsylvania Health System or Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and worked with a Penn faculty mentor? If yes, please indicate name, department, phone number of faculty, and start/end dates.
I worked for Penn for two years in clinical research and I worked at CHOP for a few months. However, I had no 'faculty mentor' that I know of - I was not a student, I was straight up employed. Is this some sort of program for research and students? I'm leaning toward clicking no, but I just wanted to see if anyone had any input. I will contact admissions if nobody knows, but I don't like to call them unless I absolutely have too because they are so busy.
Thanks!
Have you been employed at the University of Pennsylvania Health System or Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and worked with a Penn faculty mentor? If yes, please indicate name, department, phone number of faculty, and start/end dates.
I worked for Penn for two years in clinical research and I worked at CHOP for a few months. However, I had no 'faculty mentor' that I know of - I was not a student, I was straight up employed. Is this some sort of program for research and students? I'm leaning toward clicking no, but I just wanted to see if anyone had any input. I will contact admissions if nobody knows, but I don't like to call them unless I absolutely have too because they are so busy.
Thanks!
in the secondary, should I put updates in the "Is there any special information or circumstance that the Committee on Admissions should be aware of in reviewing your application to Penn Med? (Siblings/Relative at Penn/Special Circumstances)" question?
I recently got a research honor designation on my transcript, and started a service group at my University (which I didn't put in my primary). Should I put that info here, or in a update letter...I feel like this question is for other things, not for updates, but I wanted to make sure.
I recently got a research honor designation on my transcript, and started a service group at my University (which I didn't put in my primary). Should I put that info here, or in a update letter...I feel like this question is for other things, not for updates, but I wanted to make sure.
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Great accomplishments! I'd save it for an update letter. This space is more for "my wife is a second year med student, and Penn is therefore my absolute 1st choice"
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