2015-2016 University of Pennsylvania (Perelman) Application Thread

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Giving interview reviews:

Great research, great curriculum, great clinical opportunities, extremely nice students, extremely nice interviewers. The only point I will subtract is that the program seems to attract an eternal student type of person since everyone does a research year or extra degree, which at age 22 is not attractive to how I will spend my 20s. Also, the medical student youtube video that was played on loop in the morning hurt my ears and is still stuck in my head after being played 100 times, please never play it again 🙂

Grade: A-/A
 
Officer Farva said:
Giving interview reviews:

Great research, great curriculum, great clinical opportunities, extremely nice students, extremely nice interviewers. The only point I will subtract is that the program seems to attract an eternal student type of person since everyone does a research year or extra degree, which at age 22 is not attractive to how I will spend my 20s. Also, the medical student youtube video that was played on loop in the morning hurt my ears and is still stuck in my head after being played 100 times, please never play it again 🙂

Grade: A-/A
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For your auditory pleasure:

 
Officer Farva said:
Giving interview reviews:

Great research, great curriculum, great clinical opportunities, extremely nice students, extremely nice interviewers. The only point I will subtract is that the program seems to attract an eternal student type of person since everyone does a research year or extra degree, which at age 22 is not attractive to how I will spend my 20s. Also, the medical student youtube video that was played on loop in the morning hurt my ears and is still stuck in my head after being played 100 times, please never play it again 🙂

Grade: A-/A
Click to expand...
Try being a student here and hearing it every interview day...almost enough to drive you crazy :laugh:
Glad you enjoyed the day! Just as an aside, not everybody is planning on being here forever. Nobody looks down on somebody who is planning on 4 and out, which is exactly what I plan to do.
 
QuantumFlame said:
Try being a student here and hearing it every interview day...almost enough to drive you crazy :laugh:
Glad you enjoyed the day! Just as an aside, not everybody is planning on being here forever. Nobody looks down on somebody who is planning on 4 and out, which is exactly what I plan to do.
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Can you comment on the grading at Penn and how that affects you and/or the student environment and/or what time you are able to allow for activities outside school?
 
justadream said:
Can you comment on the grading at Penn and how that affects you and/or the student environment and/or what time you are able to allow for activities outside school?
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Sure, so as first years we just transitioned to the H/P/F system. Real talk: would I like to get honors? Sure! Am a studying any differently than I did last semester when it was P/F? Nope. Most of us are already working pretty hard, just cuz it's important material to learn. I'm involved in a free clinic, looking to pick up some research, involved in a student group, and none of that has been impacted. To be honest, the H/P/F system situation persists precisely because of the chill nature of the student body. If we could prove that we suddenly got way more stressed, dropped out of other activities etc., then they'd stop using it. But since it doesn't seem to be hurting anybody, and it doesn't make a big difference in our lives either way (all pre-clinical grades are like 5-10% of what goes into our dean's letter for residency in terms of calculation for AOA etc.) there is no incentive to change it. Hope that helps, would be happy to give my perspective on any other questions ya'll have.
 
Tankstah said:
Should I send Penn my first semester grades post interview?
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Last year, I didn't send anything until I was accepted and then sent the final transcript in right away. I don't think they'll use it for anything post-interview unless you frame it as an update letter somehow.

I'll second what @QuantumFlame said about H/P/F and everything else. I don't study any differently, and it didn't really change the nature of the class at all. I'm still involved in classes outside of the med school, student groups, research, and being social, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Also, I'm planning to graduate in four years as well.
 
justadream said:
Can you comment on the grading at Penn and how that affects you and/or the student environment and/or what time you are able to allow for activities outside school?
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It hasn't changed how much I study. Just how much time I spend double checking my work on the actual exam!
 
Interviewed here for MD/PhD in January. Anyone know if we hear back on a different day than the MD applicants? Also what day does everyone hear back? I know Yale gave a solid 3/10 so idk if Penn gave one but I couldn't remember it.
 
Also if any other MD/PhDs sent in updates to skip/Aimee, what was the tone of their response/did they respond?

The first update I sent immediately after the interview, and the second was two days ago.
The first, The directors sounded very positive /enthusiastic. However, for the second update one did not respond and the reply I did receive seemed far less enthusiastic.

I may be reading way too into this but receiving that email felt like an obvious rejection.
Here's to hoping I'm just a bat**** crazy neurotic and they were just busy.
 
I think we find out at the same time as MD. They only said by March 15 and not a definite date. And I wouldn't worry/read too much into that. It will only stress you out.
But I will say this: this week, I got an email asking if I have any major updates and my impressions of Penn. I basically said no, but my impressions were extremely positive (it was my favorite visit to any MSTP). I received a reply saying I did well when I was here and glad I am interested in receiving an offer. Hope that is good news, but been burned in the past, so I'm not going to read too much into it and just wait for March 15...plenty here to keep busy in the meantime.
 
I would not read into the responses only because there's no point stressing yourself out, there's nothing you can do now. It will be very interesting to see how this all pans out because Penn seems to have a very unique way of deciding who they want to offer admission. Although I get they want a high matriculation yield, it's starting to feel a bit more like a relationship/crush than applying to med school.
 
SurgeonOfLife said:
I think we find out at the same time as MD. They only said by March 15 and not a definite date. And I wouldn't worry/read too much into that. It will only stress you out.
But I will say this: this week, I got an email asking if I have any major updates and my impressions of Penn. I basically said no, but my impressions were extremely positive (it was my favorite visit to any MSTP). I received a reply saying I did well when I was here and glad I am interested in receiving an offer. Hope that is good news, but been burned in the past, so I'm not going to read too much into it and just wait for March 15...plenty here to keep busy in the meantime.
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Yeah I'm not sure if you sent any updates but your post actually just relieved a huge amount of stress for me. They pretty much said the same stuff they said to you to me in response to my first update/letter of intent. So it sounds like they're just trying to keep us all happy so that if the do end up accepting us we decide to go there. Thanks!
 
After a little thinking, this whole process is like a crush/bachelorette sort of deal for all schools haha. Penn is just a little more flirtatious. In the end, the schools'll give out the roses to the ones they like. Job searching and continued employment in real life is the same. I've had jobs where they will be flirtatious when hiring you and find the money to keep you. And ones where they'll turn a 180 after a fantastic interview and reject you... or worse, after hiring you and deciding they don't like you anymore, they'll f with you until you quit. That's the name of the game - job searching and med school apps. It all comes down to - do they like you or not - because many qualified applicants exist from which to choose and do a good job. Now, who are they gonna choose to be in a relationship for the next ~8 years, Eh? Lol
 
@SurgeonOfLife I couldn't agree more. I have been deeply involved in the hiring processes at my current and previous companies as well as my graduate program. I cannot emphasize enough how much decisions come down to fit. Aka, do the people interviewing you and your future colleagues want to be your friend?
 
SurgeonOfLife said:
After a little thinking, this whole process is like a crush/bachelorette sort of deal for all schools haha. Penn is just a little more flirtatious. In the end, the schools'll give out the roses to the ones they like. Job searching and continued employment in real life is the same. I've had jobs where they will be flirtatious when hiring you and find the money to keep you. And ones where they'll turn a 180 after a fantastic interview and reject you... or worse, after hiring you and deciding they don't like you anymore, they'll f with you until you quit. That's the name of the game - job searching and med school apps. It all comes down to - do they like you or not - because many qualified applicants exist from which to choose and do a good job. Now, who are they gonna choose to be in a relationship for the next ~8 years, Eh? Lol
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Flirtatious enough where I'm questioning my sanity every day
 
NeverStressedAlwaysHappy said:
Yeah I'm not sure if you sent any updates but your post actually just relieved a huge amount of stress for me. They pretty much said the same stuff they said to you to me in response to my first update/letter of intent. So it sounds like they're just trying to keep us all happy so that if the do end up accepting us we decide to go there. Thanks!
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I'm kind of worried I sent an update and received nothing in return 🙁((((
 
At this point, I feel like I should withdraw after having an average interview. Everyone that gets into penn is some sort of rockstar applicant, and as a current undergrad, I just do not have the ECs to compete with all y'all.
 
doctorswagnyc said:
At this point, I feel like I should withdraw after having an average interview. Everyone that gets into penn is some sort of rockstar applicant, and as a current undergrad, I just do not have the ECs to compete with all y'all.
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If you've already interviewed it makes absolutely no sense to withdraw for this reason (nor would it be a good reason to withdraw pre-interview). Chill out and wait the two or so weeks for a decision.
 
doctorswagnyc said:
At this point, I feel like I should withdraw after having an average interview. Everyone that gets into penn is some sort of rockstar applicant, and as a current undergrad, I just do not have the ECs to compete with all y'all.
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There's no harm in just waiting it out, but there could be harm in withdrawing. You have spent money to apply/interview here, why not at least get a decision? Worst case scenario, you get rejected.... okay but if you withdraw you get the same outcome. Might as well see what happens, you could end up pleasantly surprised.
 
doctorswagnyc said:
At this point, I feel like I should withdraw after having an average interview. Everyone that gets into penn is some sort of rockstar applicant, and as a current undergrad, I just do not have the ECs to compete with all y'all.
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Look, don't sell yourself short. If you've only got like 4-5 nature publications you've still got a shot. While I know that not every applicant can't be Jesus himself (obviously only one could be) Nobel peaceprizes are an acceptable substitute for being the savior of the human race.

What I'm trying to say is don't be an idiot and withdraw your app.
 
Can any current students comment on whether there is funding to present your Scholarly Pursuit you complete in 4th year?
 
Another Penn MSTP applicant here- the whole showing interest thing is definitely souring my opinion of Penn a bit. Penn is definitely one of my top choices, but from emails I got from interviewers and talking to people that applied before unless you let them know that Penn is your top choice getting in is pretty slim. I definitely wouldn't lie and say I would go if accepted, but it does suck that it could be that if you didn't say that you won't even get a chance to consider the school on revisit. I understand protecting your yield and getting people that really love your school, but this seems so excessive.

Sorry for the rant.
 
snowonkey said:
Another Penn MSTP applicant here- the whole showing interest thing is definitely souring my opinion of Penn a bit. Penn is definitely one of my top choices, but from emails I got from interviewers and talking to people that applied before unless you let them know that Penn is your top choice getting in is pretty slim. I definitely wouldn't lie and say I would go if accepted, but it does suck that it could be that if you didn't say that you won't even get a chance to consider the school on revisit. I understand protecting your yield and getting people that really love your school, but this seems so excessive.

Sorry for the rant.
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Is this true for MD applicants too? Do we need a letter of interest in order to get accepted?
 
No idea for sure on regular MD, but I would guess less so with the larger class size/less monetary investment by the university
 
TickTockxx said:
Just out of curiosity-- did all MD applicants get the health equity email? One of my friends who interviewed at Penn did not... :eyebrow: conspiracy time? 😉
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Mine went to my spam folder, even though emails from them in the past didn't go there. Maybe have them check their spam too?
 
TickTockxx said:
Just out of curiosity-- did all MD applicants get the health equity email? One of my friends who interviewed at Penn did not... :eyebrow: conspiracy time? 😉
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Mine went to my spam folder, even though emails from them in the past didn't go there. Maybe have them check their spam too?
 
Did any of you guys send a letter of interest to Penn? Or is that more for if you get on the waitlist?
 
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