2012-2013 University of Pennsylvania (Perelman) Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Just randomly noticed my award package on the status page below the "Congratulations! You have been accepted...." line. No email or anything, so you guys might want to take a look. Very happy with it! 🙂
 
johnster3 said:
Just randomly noticed my award package on the status page below the "Congratulations! You have been accepted...." line. No email or anything, so you guys might want to take a look. Very happy with it! 🙂
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Found it too! Very pleased. I think this cements my plans now. GO PENN!
 
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+1 its very similar to my other estimates. But still its between this and one other.
 
Tots said:
Eh. Am I the only one not terribly impressed? :laugh: I mean pretty much what I expected. Looks like Penn is not in the cards.
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The last line of the award letter says, "we encourage you to talk with us about our award as well as any other awards that you have received." If you really liked Penn, you should let them know about your other offers because they seem very willing to take them into consideration.
 
johnster3 said:
The last line of the award letter says, "we encourage you to talk with us about our award as well as any other awards that you have received." If you really liked Penn, you should let them know about your other offers because they seem very willing to take them into consideration.
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Award letter? Where is this? I only saw what is posted online under the financial aid tab...

Also, +1 about my award being incredible! xoxo for Penn
 
johnster3 said:
The last line of the award letter says, "we encourage you to talk with us about our award as well as any other awards that you have received." If you really liked Penn, you should let them know about your other offers because they seem very willing to take them into consideration.
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Yeah I saw that. Not complaining because I am in a good position but I just want to make a decision and be done with it. This just complicates things. :laugh:

sizamtaylor said:
Award letter? Where is this? I only saw what is posted online under the financial aid tab...

Also, +1 about my award being incredible! xoxo for Penn
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It is on the front page right after you log in. 🙂
 
Has anybody found a calendar with dates for orientation/first day of class?
 
kitty8 said:
Has anybody found a calendar with dates for orientation/first day of class?
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Orientation is August 12 and class starts August 19. There is a link to the Perelman academic calendar at the bottom of the "Accept" page.
 
I would recommend that you all check out Medloan calculator (https://www.aamc.org/services/first/medloans/) to get a realistic picture of what you'll be paying back over the next ten years including interest. The calculator will also incorporate whether the loan is subsidized or not.

I've found it super helpful in comparing the offers from the various schools!
 
I'm trying to interpret my financial aid award. There's a row with the title "School Loan(s)", which has the value zero. But then there's another line with no row title, and this line does have a dollar amount. And then the row below that, "School Loan Total", has the same dollar amount. Are there different types of School Loans? And what exactly are these School Loans? (e.g. are they subsidized? what is the interest rate?)
 
somethingdeep said:
I'm trying to interpret my financial aid award. There's a row with the title "School Loan(s)", which has the value zero. But then there's another line with no row title, and this line does have a dollar amount. And then the row below that, "School Loan Total", has the same dollar amount. Are there different types of School Loans? And what exactly are these School Loans? (e.g. are they subsidized? what is the interest rate?)
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check out the financial aid page - the institutional loan is set at 6% interest rate and is subsidized at least throughout med school
 
Member2488 said:
check out the financial aid page - the institutional loan is set at 6% interest rate and is subsidized at least throughout med school
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Ooh thanks, that's very helpful.

I notice that page says the School of Medicine Loans are for "students with demonstrated exceptional financial need." Pretty funny/awesome that they're giving me one of these in addition to the full-tuition scholarship!
 
Anyone know when we'll hear about hosting for Penn Preview?
 
seracus said:
Anyone know when we'll hear about hosting for Penn Preview?
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I got an email a week ago saying that we could submit our hosting needs through the Visit tab on our status page. You can select a host that way.
 
Is the total under school scholarship totally need-based? This is triple what I've gotten from a school that should probably have similar FA!!
 
I just checked my financial aid letter again after the official email went out. Yesterday all my loans were unsubsidized--now some of them have been switched over to subsidized. Just wanted to let you all know that it's worth looking again for slight improvements.
 
Hey guys - what you thinking of packing for Penn Preview for the "dress casual (no jeans)". You think they want dress shirts or should a polo suffice? It never feels good to be under-dressed for this stuff..

From website:
Dress for Penn Preview is casual. Dress code for Philly after Dark, the College of Physicians and the Destination Gatherings is dress casual (no jeans)
 
Any current students lurking who can answer questions?

- How necessary are textbooks? Do most students buy them? Does anyone get by just studying with Step 1 materials?

- How often are exams during the first 1.5 years?

Thanks 🙂
 
- No textbooks are absolutely necessary. The learning curve is steep: I'm not sure I know of anyone buying books past the first couple of months. An anatomy atlas is probably most useful.

- You probably won't be able to study just from Step 1 materials. They might be a nice supplement, but the details are different and most often not enough.

- Exams come about every 4-5 weeks. First semester (pass/fail), it's usually 3 exams over a couple of days. Second (and presumably third) semester, it's one exam per month or so.
 
omphalos said:
- No textbooks are absolutely necessary. The learning curve is steep: I'm not sure I know of anyone buying books past the first couple of months. An anatomy atlas is probably most useful.

- You probably won't be able to study just from Step 1 materials. They might be a nice supplement, but the details are different and most often not enough.

- Exams come about every 4-5 weeks. First semester (pass/fail), it's usually 3 exams over a couple of days. Second (and presumably third) semester, it's one exam per month or so.
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Awesome, thank you. Would you suggest buying the books for the first couple months, or not at all? And if nobody uses textbooks, what do they study from? Just from lecture notes provided by the professors?
 
I would suggest an anatomy atlas (and I disagree that Netter's is the best of the bunch; check some others out before your buy). Other than that: no. Even if the syllabus says a book is required, it is not. However, if you really want a textbook, just about all of them are floating around (i.e., you'll have no trouble obtaining a .pdf version if you want).

As for studying, firstly the school provides pretty good notes in the form of power points and doesn't too often stray from that material on tests. In addition, your class will have its own gmail account - and you'll have access to the previous 3-4 years' gmail accounts as well - that will have more sets of notes and study guides than you will likely be able to use. In our year, several kind souls post their own notes from lecture for everyone to use. Others will post study guides and flash card sets as well.
 
omphalos said:
I would suggest an anatomy atlas (and I disagree that Netter's is the best of the bunch; check some others out before your buy). Other than that: no. Even if the syllabus says a book is required, it is not. However, if you really want a textbook, just about all of them are floating around (i.e., you'll have no trouble obtaining a .pdf version if you want).

As for studying, firstly the school provides pretty good notes in the form of power points and doesn't too often stray from that material on tests. In addition, your class will have its own gmail account - and you'll have access to the previous 3-4 years' gmail accounts as well - that will have more sets of notes and study guides than you will likely be able to use. In our year, several kind souls post their own notes from lecture for everyone to use. Others will post study guides and flash card sets as well.
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Sounds great. I appreciate the info. Looking forward to the fall :nod:
 
why did all of my loans change from subsidized (direct plus) to unsubsidized (direct)???
 
Yes... even though we will all be doctors, and have the same earning potential, and thus the same ability to pay back loans, some people get them at a lower interest rate, and some pay a higher higher interest rate. Make sense? Didn't think so.
 
DoctorDachshund said:
Yes... even though we will all be doctors, and have the same earning potential, and thus the same ability to pay back loans, some people get them at a lower interest rate, and some pay a higher higher interest rate. Make sense? Didn't think so.
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Everyone in med school can get direct loans up to a certain amount(usually 40-45k a year). They are not based on need or your credit or anything. Any remaining COA can be covered by Plus loans but they do require a credit plus. The only lower interest rate loans that some people may get and not others are institutional loans. Sometimes these loans are used for recruitment(ie merit) but usually they are based on need, yes even though everyone has the same earning potential.
 
Tots said:
Direct Plus are not subsidized. You want direct loans. Direct Plus have a higher interest rate and require a credit check. http://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/plus
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I could have sworn my print-out FA offer page yesterday said "Direct Loan Plus(subsidized)" and "Direct (unsubsidized)," but alas it changed again sometime today and no longer mentions Plus at all 🙄

Are any of the non- "school loans" offered by Penn subsidized?
 
Direct Loans have an interest rate of 6.8%, you can borrow up to about $45k in your first year. Anything above this amount will be Direct PLUS

Direct PLUS loans have an interest rate of 7.9%, with this you can borrow up to the amount set by your student budget.

Both Direct and Direct PLUS are not subsidized during medical school.

The only subsidized loans are the Federal Perkins loans and the "School of Medicine" loans, where the interest is paid for you during med school. Perkins loans are limited to only $8,000 a year, but there are only a limited amount of funds to go around.
 
sent in my deposit yesterday. Looking forward to meeting you guys next year
 
I hope that's the case, I was looking through last year's tread and people only started talking about waitlists at the end of May (yikes!).
 
Sanj04 said:
I hope that's the case, I was looking through last year's tread and people only started talking about waitlists at the end of May (yikes!).
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I'm expecting an email response about this soon. I'll let you know what I find out...
 
Waitlist movement will not happen until mid-May as other's have said here. Unfortunately no one will be able to predict how much the waitlist will move from year to year. People have been accepted off the waitlist in June.

For those still on the waitlist, stay patient!
 
Is there very little movement beyond the people invited to Penn Preview? But im sure people on the waitlist weed themselves out by withdrawing so who knows of the actual chances by mid-may to June point.
 
bluereedz said:
Is there very little movement beyond the people invited to Penn Preview? But im sure people on the waitlist weed themselves out by withdrawing so who knows of the actual chances by mid-may to June point.
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I'm wondering about this too.
 
It believe it's some smaller fraction pre-clinical grades and the remainder clinical grades - something like 1/3 and 2/3 (or 1/4 and 3/4), respectively.
 
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