2011-2012 University of Pennsylvania Application Thread

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That's weird. I had the status of death, but my status just now changed to "Your application is now in the screening process..."

What does THIS mean? It's now the same status as when I was first complete.
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nuitsansetoiles said:
That's weird. I had the status of death, but my status just now changed to "Your application is now in the screening process..."

What does THIS mean? It's now the same status as when I was first complete.
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I don't know exactly how they work, but for me, I went from the status of death to this status about a day before I was given an II. So, maybe one is in the cards for you?! Good luck!
 
It seems like there was a system wide change from the status of death to the "Your application continues to be reviewed but there is no change in your status. Reviews will continue." status. I don't think it really means anything...especially because I think they are winding down interviews by the end of January...they don't leave much time for people to schedule if people who had this status change were to get some good news.
Based on a sample size of 1..."Your application is now in the screening process..." seems to be the good change from the status of death. Regardless good luck!
 
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ialwayslose said:
hey i understand that penn is non-rolling, but are they internally rolling like duke or do they wait until all interviews are finished to make their decisions?
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Someone posted earlier in the cycle saying that decisions are made soon after the interviews, though I'd guess there is some movement (maybe some sort of ranking system? Total speculation).
 
I dont get it ... if they dont want us why dont they just out right reject us and get it over with??? What's the point of them constantly giving us hope to no end?!
 
adventure2011 said:
I dont get it ... if they dont want us why dont they just out right reject us and get it over with??? What's the point of them constantly giving us hope to no end?!
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Before january is over, there will be one more status change for those still waiting for interviews... and sadly it should be something like this:

"Thank you for your interest in Penn Med. You were among many candidates applying for acceptance to our class entering in the Fall 2012. Although we are unable to offer you a position in the class, we hope you will succeed in your career goals to become a physician

-- The Committee on Admissions"

This year, a couple of people here got interviews after the "status of death", so everything is possible!!...Unfortunately, I think that the most recent status change is just a way of Penn buying some extra time to get the feedback from the adcoms about the most recently interviewed applicants before that other status goes up in a week and a half or so.....(that is...if what they have done in past years still holds true)
 
Guys, when is the last interview day at Penn, does anyone know?
 
darkjedi is correct. The last interview day at Penn is this coming Friday, the 20th of january. Things must have changed since app1 got offered those dates.
 
BrainBuff said:
Did you get the FINAL status of death?
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No, not yet. I went from your application is being reviewed to "The Committee on Admissions reviewed your application but has not invited you for an interview at this time. Additional reviews will occur and any change in your status will be communicated to you."
 
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omelas said:
No, not yet. I went from your application is being reviewed to "The Committee on Admissions reviewed your application but has not invited you for an interview at this time. Additional reviews will occur and any change in your status will be communicated to you."
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Gotcha. The last interview day is this Friday, so that is not good. However, you seem to be in great shape with all your acceptances already. Also historically, students who get invited for interviews at Penn, Harvard and/or Hopkins always get accepted to at least ONE of the three schools...:) Good luck!!
 
That is good to hear! Thanks!

I sent an update letter to UPenn last week, but maybe it was already too late, or maybe it just didn't make a difference. Anyways, I'll have another chance during residency applications :)
 
Does anyone know if the admissions committee has been meeting already to make post-interview decisions in preparation for March? Or does this happen later in February/early March.
 
Interviewed early December. There is way too long of a lag between iview and final decision... too much suspense. I hope residency match isn't as bad as this - I can't imagine going through this again ahhh
 
I hope a decision is made shortly after interview, otherwise I fear that I would be easily forgotten by the end of interview season :(

mdhopeful65 said:
Does anyone know if the admissions committee has been meeting already to make post-interview decisions in preparation for March? Or does this happen later in February/early March.
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Rejected as well. Guess being traditional really does hurt you at this place. :oops:
 
Rejected. Glad to have closure with this school. At least we didn't have to wait till March.
 
pooghe said:
Rejected. Glad to have closure with this school. At least we didn't have to wait till March.
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Really sorry about the disappointing news for everyone. Penn seems to be very consistent with the timing of these emails every year.

pooghe, if past admissions algorithms keep holding true, in your case a Penn rejection will translate into an admission at Hopkins or Harvard... Not bad at all! :luck:
 
rxnfiend said:
Rejected as well. Guess being traditional really does hurt you at this place. :oops:
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Penn is a little uppity about the whole nontrad thing, and they're a lot more "trad" than they let on.

On my interview day, I asked them how they defined nontrad, and they got kind of defensive. Apparently it just means "not college seniors." Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering that the majority of applicants are not college seniors (many are applying right out of graduation, for example, which many schools consider traditional), Penn's whole nontrad reputation is mostly self-promoted hearsay. Especially when the average age is 23 in the entering class. Meh.
 
...and the rejections from all those schools that have been silent for the past six months begin to roll in. This is going to be a fun few weeks.
 
percy said:
Penn is a little uppity about the whole nontrad thing, and they're a lot more "trad" than they let on.

On my interview day, I asked them how they defined nontrad, and they got kind of defensive. Apparently it just means "not college seniors." Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering that the majority of applicants are not college seniors (many are applying right out of graduation, for example, which many schools consider traditional), Penn's whole nontrad reputation is mostly self-promoted hearsay. Especially when the average age is 23 in the entering class. Meh.
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You are half right. To Penn and a most of its peers, nontrad refers to students who took a year or two off after they graduated from undergrad in order to pursue research, Fulbright scholarships or worked in clinics and other academic projects overseas. As a matter of fact, 70- 80% of pre med students graduating from ivy schools (over 50% first year class at Penn comes from ivies) take a year off before applying, so the "nontrad" concept continues to be reinforced.

On the other hand, Penn likes older and more mature students. There are very few 21 and 22 yo in the first year class, so there must be plenty of 23 if that is indeed the average. Most of the students seem to be 24-25. I guess the few 29 and 30 yo with the few 21-22 keep that average at around 23.
 
To the current Penn med students:

How many students in your class do you think turn down Harvard and Hopkins, and what are some of the reasons you have decided to do so? I'm just interested in what differentiates these great schools from one another (other than location) and what factors can pull students away from even HMS.
 
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There's really over 50% of ivy league students? I know my interview felt like I was surrounded but I was hoping that was just paranoia, mainly caused by an ivy-crested tie-wearer during the interview day.
 
Wow, I personally think wearing a tie with your undergrad alma mater's crest at another school's interview is something of a dick move. Maybe I'm in the minority or unless they were all wearing Penn ties?
 
BrainBuff said:
There are very few 21 and 22 yo in the first year class, so there must be plenty of 23 if that is indeed the average. Most of the students seem to be 24-25. I guess the few 29 and 30 yo with the few 21-22 keep that average at around 23.
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Not really how averages work, but it's good to hear that you perceive the class in this way, be it a function of maturity, life experience, or just plain wrinkles.

Just to be clear, I enjoyed Penn, but I didn't find Penn any more diverse in this way than the other institutions I visited. Not that the comment above was necessarily serious, but looking at the entering class profile, Penn hardly merits the reputation RxnFiend described unless you're willing to somehow bend Penn's own definition of nontraditional.

masrawy said:
How many students in your class do you think turn down Harvard and Hopkins, and what are some of the reasons you have decided to do so?
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I think my host turned down both. It came down to school personality and scholarships.
 
ahh.. sweet rejection. i didnt even get to wear my tie
 
SpicyLentils said:
There's really over 50% of ivy league students? I know my interview felt like I was surrounded but I was hoping that was just paranoia, mainly caused by an ivy-crested tie-wearer during the interview day.
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On my interview day, almost everyone I met was either from Penn or Yale. This includes current Penn med students and people in my interview group. I thought it just happened to be like that on my day, but from the above comments it seems that I just noticed the trend.

However, don't let it intimidate you! They obviously consider non-ivy students if my experience means anything...
 
I'm not intimidated. The SEC is clearly a better conference, but I'm just surprised by such a significant representation (anyone know how many penn undergrads per med class?).
 
percy said:
Not really how averages work, but it's good to hear that you perceive the class in this way, be it a function of maturity, life experience, or just plain wrinkles.
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I know how averages work. In fact the figure Penn releases is "approximate 23". It is actually closer to 24 (23.8)


Saragam said:
On my interview day, almost everyone I met was either from Penn or Yale. This includes current Penn med students and people in my interview group. I thought it just happened to be like that on my day, but from the above comments it seems that I just noticed the trend.

However, don't let it intimidate you! They obviously consider non-ivy students if my experience means anything...
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Exactly. If you have a great application and interview, it should not really matter much which undergrad you attended. Remember that the bias goes both ways: northeast students tend to stay in the area, and those familiar with the schools find them a good fit.

And I just counted a 86 ivy leaguers out of 166. Penn, Harvard and Yale are very well represented there as well.

masrawy said:
To the current Penn med students:

How many students in your class do you think turn down Harvard and Hopkins, and what are some of the reasons you have decided to do so? I'm just interested in what differentiates these great schools from one another (other than location) and what factors can pull students away from even HMS.
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At the end it comes down to fit, location and city.

Penn- you get to interact with the whole student body (undergrad plus 10 other grad schools are in the same campus so you have access to amazing academic and cultural resources right there), you can live in center philly (15 min walk from campus) which is safe and plenty of great neighborhoods. Penn makes it very easy to obtain other Masters degrees if you are interested and very important - gives some merit aid!!

Hopkins - Great facilities and beautiful school, but it stands alone, it is surrounded by housing projects and you may get a sense of isolation. You need to live in the dorms the first year, and forget about having a social life outside medical students that year. I personally found the student body a little more "nerdy". The students that go to Hopkins have worked "all their lives to get into Hopkins". It could be a little intense. The only second degree that you can get is a Master in Public Health, nothing else. But the big downer is that it gives no merit aid whatsoever.

Harvard - Great everything. Younger students (unlike Penn). Stands alone, surrounded by hospitals. The student body seems to be a little fragmented. Less flexible curriculum and research is a must. And again, no merit aid.

This year, more people turned down Hopkins to go to Penn instead. Harvard seems to have been half and half (the lack of merit aid hurts Harvard)

SpicyLentils said:
I'm not intimidated. The SEC is clearly a better conference, but I'm just surprised by such a significant representation (anyone know how many penn undergrads per med class?).
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I just counted them for you : about 22 Penn undergrads in my class
 
BrainBuff said:
I know how averages work. In fact the figure Penn releases is "approximate 23". It is actually closer to 24 (23.8)
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Not really how rounding works, then.

BrainBuff said:
Harvard - Great everything. Younger students (unlike Penn).
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Obviously, I have nothing better to do than try to find anything that would suggest that Harvard and Penn aren't extremely similar in age. Is this opinion, reputation, somewhere on the schools' websites, or something on USNews I can't see without full access?
 
^^^^ Yup, I can really see that you have nothing better to do percy... and I am going to leave it at that :)
Best of luck to you, and if you are waiting to hear from either of them, then you will be able to draw your own conclusions during second look!
 
percy said:
Penn is a little uppity about the whole nontrad thing, and they're a lot more "trad" than they let on.

On my interview day, I asked them how they defined nontrad, and they got kind of defensive. Apparently it just means "not college seniors." Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering that the majority of applicants are not college seniors (many are applying right out of graduation, for example, which many schools consider traditional), Penn's whole nontrad reputation is mostly self-promoted hearsay. Especially when the average age is 23 in the entering class. Meh.
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Just fyi, you're quoting the AAMC definition, which nearly all medical schools follow.
 
hazmat2 said:
Just fyi, you're quoting the AAMC definition, which nearly all medical schools follow.
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Source? I don't doubt it's true, but on different interviews, I remember non-trad referring to 1) at least 2 years out of college, 2) non-science majors, apparently regardless of year of study, and 3) the Penn(/AAMC) definition. There's little consistency, at the very least.

Heh, from the nontrad board:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=267723
"My definition of a non-trad is that if your age is a decent MCAT score then you are a non-trad." –Remo

Far as I can tell, a 2011 neuroscience major who claims he's "non-trad" sounds like a "vegetarian" who eats fish.

Also, thanks BB. I will find a new hobby eventually. :)
 
percy said:
Source?
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Non-traditional applicants are those who do not apply to medical school directly from college or shortly after earning a B.A./B.S. degree, either because they had not considered medicine as an option; or because they were premedical majors, but upon graduation from college, they were not sure of their motivation for medicine; or because they did not believe that they had sufficiently competitive credentials to apply to medical school and therefore decided on other career alternatives.
-AAMC Handbook for Admissions Officers, p. 49

I understand your arguments completely, but don't forget that non-traditional doesn't necessarily mean non-science major either.

From my experience, I believe the majority of non-traditional applicants bring something "extra" to the table, even if the applicant was only out for a year. Does this stand for everyone? Of course not, but as someone that is non-traditional by all definitions I notice and really enjoy the diversity in my class and what it entails.

Edit: I found another, more recent, AAMC source which defined it more broadly:
Non-traditional applicants are those who do not apply to medical school immediately before or after college graduation. In this case, motivation for medicine will be an important factor to assess. These applicants often have a level of maturity and invaluable life experiences beyond that of a traditional applicant.
-2011 Handbook for Admissions Officers, p. 34
 
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Does anyone remember if Penn rejects post-interview or is everyone automatically either accepted/waitlisted??
 
hazmat2 said:
Non-traditional applicants are those who do not apply to medical school directly from college or shortly after earning a B.A./B.S. degree, either because they had not considered medicine as an option; or because they were premedical majors, but upon graduation from college, they were not sure of their motivation for medicine; or because they did not believe that they had sufficiently competitive credentials to apply to medical school and therefore decided on other career alternatives.
-AAMC Handbook for Admissions Officers, p. 49

I understand your arguments completely, but don't forget that non-traditional doesn't necessarily mean non-science major either.

From my experience, I believe the majority of non-traditional applicants bring something "extra" to the table, even if the applicant was only out for a year. Does this stand for everyone? Of course not, but as someone that is non-traditional by all definitions I notice and really enjoy the diversity in my class and what it entails.

Edit: I found another, more recent, AAMC source which defined it more broadly:
Non-traditional applicants are those who do not apply to medical school immediately before or after college graduation. In this case, motivation for medicine will be an important factor to assess. These applicants often have a level of maturity and invaluable life experiences beyond that of a traditional applicant.
-2011 Handbook for Admissions Officers, p. 34
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Thanks for the links, Haz. Both AAMC definitions are kind of broad in their own ways—"shortly after" is vague—but neither seems to correspond to Penn's definition of nontrad (from their site: "Any student who does not go straight to medical school after graduating from college.") AAMC's definition is a little more exclusive. As I understand it, any 2011 grad who is currently applying would be considered AAMC trad, Penn nontrad.

Doesn't change the fact that we still agree with each other on the more important stuff. I just haven't found a new hobby yet. :)
 
percy said:
Thanks for the links, Haz. Both AAMC definitions are kind of broad in their own ways—"shortly after" is vague—but neither seems to correspond to Penn's definition of nontrad (from their site: "Any student who does not go straight to medical school after graduating from college.") AAMC's definition is a little more exclusive. As I understand it, any 2011 grad who is currently applying would be considered AAMC trad, Penn nontrad.

Doesn't change the fact that we still agree with each other on the more important stuff. I just haven't found a new hobby yet. :)
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I think it is funny that the one year gappers are sometimes considered nontrad. I guess it makes sense, but when they're applying in June/July, they haven't had time to experience that nontraditional experience, and would have to speculate on life lessons learned from it. I almost did only one year off, but wanted to be able to talk about what my gap year was like when I was applying.
 
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