2012-2013 University of Pennsylvania (Perelman) Application Thread

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Ha good to know guys. For both, I pretty much just thanked the interviewer for their time and added something personal I remembered from the interview.
 
Is the admissions committee generally accepting of supplemental letters of recommendation post-interview? I have an activity that I had started briefly before submitting my AMCAS letters but only afterward proved to be one of my most influential, especially in forming my interest in a more specific field of medicine. Thinking about asking for a letter of recommendation from this place, but I'm not sure if the adcom would look favorably on that or consider me a bit pesky.
 
Brad94 said:
Is the admissions committee generally accepting of supplemental letters of recommendation post-interview? I have an activity that I had started briefly before submitting my AMCAS letters but only afterward proved to be one of my most influential, especially in forming my interest in a more specific field of medicine. Thinking about asking for a letter of recommendation from this place, but I'm not sure if the adcom would look favorably on that or consider me a bit pesky.
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Yes. I submitted one, and was encouraged to do so by my interviewer at Penn.
 
While thank you notes are a nice touch, and are something that I did for every interview I had, they are certainly not necessary and will not impact the admissions decision (at least at Penn). At Penn, specifically, your interviewers are required to submit your evaluation within 72 hours of your interview day, often before receiving any thank you notes. So, whether you send nothing, a one liner, or a novel, it will not change anything.

If you're looking to use a thank you note as an update letter, simply write a brief, sincere thank you note, but also send an actual update letter through the Penn upload system. This way it's going straight to the admissions committee, who ultimately makes the decisions.

Best of luck everyone. Hang in there- I know it's a long, rough process!
 
asking this on behalf of a friend applying from my alma mater, who doesn't want to make an account lol!! --

is penn still going to send out more invitations to interview, and when is the last interview date they're having? if anyone knows, she'd really appreciate it, thanks! 😍😍

also, she never received the Status of Death, her status is still complete and under review (without interview)
 
wangers5270 said:
asking this on behalf of a friend applying from my alma mater, who doesn't want to make an account lol!! --

is penn still going to send out more invitations to interview, and when is the last interview date they're having? if anyone knows, she'd really appreciate it, thanks! 😍😍

also, she never received the Status of Death, her status is still complete and under review (without interview)
Click to expand...

I received an invite a few weeks ago, and I believe the last interview date that showed up then was 1/23. Not sure if that is actually the last interview date or just the latest date among the several that were available when I signed up.
 
MiltonPiklbarel said:
I received an invite a few weeks ago, and I believe the last interview date that showed up then was 1/23. Not sure if that is actually the last interview date or just the latest date among the several that were available when I signed up.
Click to expand...

I believe that may have been the last date, my source being the SOM's website:

"The completed application goes through a series of competitive reviews which may take from one to three months. Interviews are by invitation of the Committee on Admissions, and candidates will be notified by the Office of Admissions if an interview is granted. The interview program will occur on select weekdays from late September into mid January. Combined degree interviews are scheduled by graduate group in conjunction with medical school interviews."
 
doctorSOX said:
While thank you notes are a nice touch, and are something that I did for every interview I had, they are certainly not necessary and will not impact the admissions decision (at least at Penn). At Penn, specifically, your interviewers are required to submit your evaluation within 72 hours of your interview day, often before receiving any thank you notes. So, whether you send nothing, a one liner, or a novel, it will not change anything.

If you're looking to use a thank you note as an update letter, simply write a brief, sincere thank you note, but also send an actual update letter through the Penn upload system. This way it's going straight to the admissions committee, who ultimately makes the decisions.

Best of luck everyone. Hang in there- I know it's a long, rough process!
Click to expand...

Does the admissions committee review thank you notes? I know the thank you notes uploaded through the penn application portal are somehow placed in your file and I was just curious.
 
If the letters are added to your file, then I guess that the admissions committee will see them when they review your packet. However, I doubt that adcoms are going to give much, if any, weight to the content of a thank you letter or even if you wrote one at all since they all really say the same thing ("Thank you for the opportunity to interview with _____, enjoyed talking about ____ during the interview, hope to have the chance to attend ____ school, etc).

(At least that's what I'm hoping since I haven't been writing thank you letters for any of my interviews so far and it's been working out just fine at rolling admission schools)
 
wangers5270 said:
asking this on behalf of a friend applying from my alma mater, who doesn't want to make an account lol!! --

is penn still going to send out more invitations to interview, and when is the last interview date they're having? if anyone knows, she'd really appreciate it, thanks! 😍😍

also, she never received the Status of Death, her status is still complete and under review (without interview)
Click to expand...

The 23rd is indeed the last interview date.
 
Does anyone happen to know if UPenn is still sending out interview invitations? I applied on Nov 19th and my status is still saying I'm in the screening process.

Thank you so much.
 
BUMP! Anyone know if Perelman is still sending out interview invitations? Complete in late October/early November but haven't heard anything.
 
I think they are either done, or will send out a few more in early january. Their interview season ends in late january, and based on this thread they are already booked through mid-january at least.
 
Is it worth sending the school an update letter?
 
So my status went from the SOD to:

Complete - Additional Application Update


Your application continues to be reviewed but there is no change in your status. Reviews will continue.


What does this mean? Are they actually looking at my app? Or is it just a typical update they put up?
 
I think at this point this just means a rejection.... 🙁
 
A lot of people reported that in last year's thread as well... SOD to Currently being reviewed... I think a few II's came out of it but not a lot. So I'd say be skeptical but hopeful.
 
Does anyone know the latest date that invitations will be sent out?
 
tonguetalker said:
Does anyone know the latest date that invitations will be sent out?
Click to expand...

I looked at the last 3 application cycles and this is what I found were the last reported dates for II's. Someone reported an II yesterday for this cycle so this tells you that you can't always rely on incomplete SDN data.

2011-2012 - December 22
2010-2011 - December 22
2009 - 2010 - There was one reported on Dec. 19th but someone also said they got an invitation a week before Jan 27 (maybe around Jan 20) for an interview in late January.

I suspect all "waves" of invitations have ceased and now there will only be a few invitations still going out. Most schools usually give 4 weeks to interviewees from scheduling the interview to going. Someone from the 2009-2010 forum suggested that near the end of the interview season they sometimes invite single applicants to interview "in case they [had passed] over an app that they wished they had viewed". This is all highly variable but if I were to guess, I would say around Jan. 20 would be the last date.
 
Wait For It said:
I looked at the last 3 application cycles and this is what I found were the last reported dates for II's. Someone reported an II yesterday for this cycle so this tells you that you can't always rely on incomplete SDN data.

2011-2012 - December 22
2010-2011 - December 22
2009 - 2010 - There was one reported on Dec. 19th but someone also said they got an invitation a week before Jan 27 (maybe around Jan 20) for an interview in late January.

I suspect all "waves" of invitations have ceased and now there will only be a few invitations still going out. Most schools usually give 4 weeks to interviewees from scheduling the interview to going. Someone from the 2009-2010 forum suggested that near the end of the interview season they sometimes invite single applicants to interview "in case they [had passed] over an app that they wished they had viewed". This is all highly variable but if I were to guess, I would say around Jan. 20 would be the last date.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, oh well :cry: I guess my dreams wont come true this time
 
Wait For It said:
I looked at the last 3 application cycles and this is what I found were the last reported dates for II's. Someone reported an II yesterday for this cycle so this tells you that you can't always rely on incomplete SDN data.

2011-2012 - December 22
2010-2011 - December 22
2009 - 2010 - There was one reported on Dec. 19th but someone also said they got an invitation a week before Jan 27 (maybe around Jan 20) for an interview in late January.

I suspect all "waves" of invitations have ceased and now there will only be a few invitations still going out. Most schools usually give 4 weeks to interviewees from scheduling the interview to going. Someone from the 2009-2010 forum suggested that near the end of the interview season they sometimes invite single applicants to interview "in case they [had passed] over an app that they wished they had viewed". This is all highly variable but if I were to guess, I would say around Jan. 20 would be the last date.
Click to expand...

Looks like yesterday's carefully crafted update letter was for naught. 🙄
 
Would anyone please tell me if it's okay to book a flight back from Philly at 5:30pm on the interview day? Thank you!
 
somethingdeep said:
I was thinking of sending one to mention a new volunteering activity. Not sure when the best time to send it is though.
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Just my personal opinion- I would send it towards the end of January, or very early February. I say that because Penn's interviews conclude for the year at the end of January, and since they have non-rolling decisions, I would imagine (don't know for sure) that the committee probably meets in mid/late-Feb and/or early-March to make the decisions for mid-March. By waiting, this allows you to include any additional information in the letter that may arise between now and the time that you submit. It also will help the letter carry more weight if you are using it as a letter of intent since it would definitely be at the end of the interview cycle. That's just me though. I'm sure other people may have different opinions.
 
OK.. this is odd.. my status just changed again this morning:

"Complete - Additional Application Update

Your application continues to be reviewed but there is no change in your status. Reviews will continue.

ALL ADMISSIONS DECISIONS WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY MARCH 15."

It basically says what it did before, but in a different way, so why the change??
 
bearintraining said:
OK.. this is odd.. my status just changed again this morning:

"Complete - Additional Application Update

Your application continues to be reviewed but there is no change in your status. Reviews will continue.

ALL ADMISSIONS DECISIONS WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY MARCH 15."

It basically says what it did before, but in a different way, so why the change??
Click to expand...

+1...I had the status of death before this.
 
bearintraining said:
OK.. this is odd.. my status just changed again this morning:

"Complete - Additional Application Update

Your application continues to be reviewed but there is no change in your status. Reviews will continue.

ALL ADMISSIONS DECISIONS WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY MARCH 15."

It basically says what it did before, but in a different way, so why the change??
Click to expand...

I just checked and have this now too. I had SOD before.. wonder what it means, if anything?
 
only thing that makes sense to me is that perhaps they've "small-pooled" the remainder of the applicants.. and perhaps a bunch of rejections are going out today/soon ??

*optimistic*
 
bearintraining said:
only thing that makes sense to me is that perhaps they've "small-pooled" the remainder of the applicants.. and perhaps a bunch of rejections are going out today/soon ??

*optimistic*
Click to expand...

with you on the optimism! 🙂
 
looking at last year's thread, it looks like most people got that status on Jan 15 and then rejected on Jan 25. 🙁
 
bearintraining said:
only thing that makes sense to me is that perhaps they've "small-pooled" the remainder of the applicants.. and perhaps a bunch of rejections are going out today/soon ??

*optimistic*
Click to expand...

let's be optimistic! I'm probably really over-reading this but is the part where it says "Application Update" now in green font instead of red for you guys too? Not that it means anything LOL...
 
bearintraining said:
only thing that makes sense to me is that perhaps they've "small-pooled" the remainder of the applicants.. and perhaps a bunch of rejections are going out today/soon ??

*optimistic*
Click to expand...

This theory might be stronger if we could confirm that some still have the SOD.
 
OK peeps!!! I have info..

I contacted the admissions office, at risk of making them angry.. I asked whether this status change went out to all applicants (pre-interview) or just a subset.. they didn't exactly answer me, other than to say my file is still being reviewed.

HOWEVER... The admissions person did say that this week is likely the LAST WEEK FOR INTERVIEW INVITES, so if "you're getting an interview you will hear this week"!!!

😱 i'm gonna be super nervous all week
 
bearintraining said:
OK peeps!!! I have info..

I contacted the admissions office, at risk of making them angry.. I asked whether this status change went out to all applicants (pre-interview) or just a subset.. they didn't exactly answer me, other than to say my file is still being reviewed.

HOWEVER... The admissions person did say that this week is likely the LAST WEEK FOR INTERVIEW INVITES, so if "you're getting an interview you will hear this week"!!!

😱 i'm gonna be super nervous all week
Click to expand...

you're awesome!!! thanks so much for this -- looks like there might still be some hope out there for us!
 
mine changed to this green thing too. sounds from this thread that most of ours did.
 
ZWEgR.png


🙁
 
^ A lot of us have the same status. We can't be sure what it means yet, so hang in there.
 
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