Anything from Penn?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

cryogen9

Member
10+ Year Member
5+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
42
Reaction score
0
I know there are more than a few people waiting to hear. So, has anyone heard anything at all?
(...and if they had heard, would they tell us?)

I'm sure I'm not the only one waiting with bated breath...
 
cryogen9 said:
I know there are more than a few people waiting to hear. So, has anyone heard anything at all?
(...and if they had heard, would they tell us?)

I'm sure I'm not the only one waiting with bated breath...


On the Penn Class thread page, looks like one person who went to revisit already got admitted. There doesn't seem to be anyone else off the Tier 1 waitlist who has come out and said they've gotten in. Plus hey, it's only been 3 days...
 
mexikian said:
On the Penn Class thread page, looks like one person who went to revisit already got admitted. There doesn't seem to be anyone else off the Tier 1 waitlist who has come out and said they've gotten in. Plus hey, it's only been 3 days...

Who was it? I didn't see anyone saying anything about getting off the waitlist after preview there, but then again I'm very good at missing the obvious...
 
cryogen9 said:
I know there are more than a few people waiting to hear. So, has anyone heard anything at all?
(...and if they had heard, would they tell us?)

I'm sure I'm not the only one waiting with bated breath...

Why don't you call Penn and let us know what they say?
 
So I did a search for ''Penn waitlist'' today on SDN and came up with an MD-PhD thread where they were discussing that Penn ranks people as Top Tier 1, Tier 1, and Tier 2 on their waitlist. Has anyone else heard about this ''Top Tier 1?'' Is it just for MD-PhDs or does this apply to us as well? I knew I shouldn't have gone searching... 🙁
 
jeanneson said:
So I did a search for ''Penn waitlist'' today on SDN and came up with an MD-PhD thread where they were discussing that Penn ranks people as Top Tier 1, Tier 1, and Tier 2 on their waitlist. Has anyone else heard about this ''Top Tier 1?'' Is it just for MD-PhDs or does this apply to us as well? I knew I shouldn't have gone searching... 🙁

So this is the forum I was referring to:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=267583

Looks like Infiniti (sp?) got in officially on May 15th and it seems he/she was invited to Penn Preview. ChocolateKiss also mentions that people had been getting in off the waitlist before May 15th. She doesn't say how she found that out, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true.

That leaves the Tier 1 non-preview invitees who received the 'strongly considering you' (or whatever) message and the Tier 1 who just got the generic message (people like me) and the Tier 2s on the waitlist. Dunno what Penn's next move is, but do you all remember them saying something about the waitlist going from 400 to 100 around May 15th or something and that that wasn't just to students dropping off of it (i.e. the implication was that they narrow it down themselves as well)? What did that ever mean?
 
mexikian said:
Dunno what Penn's next move is, but do you all remember them saying something about the waitlist going from 400 to 100 around May 15th or something and that that wasn't just to students dropping off of it (i.e. the implication was that they narrow it down themselves as well)? What did that ever mean?

This is what I was referring to:

"There are not a fixed number of positions on the waitlist. Individuals are placed on the waitlist if they are found to be highly qualified, and there is no room in the class. The list ranges from a larger number (400) in March to a reduced size (100) later in the year (May). Reductions occur by self-selection or Committee action."

Anyone know anything more about the process?
 
mexikian said:
This is what I was referring to:

"There are not a fixed number of positions on the waitlist. Individuals are placed on the waitlist if they are found to be highly qualified, and there is no room in the class. The list ranges from a larger number (400) in March to a reduced size (100) later in the year (May). Reductions occur by self-selection or Committee action."

Anyone know anything more about the process?


Hmm...I had initially interpreted the phrase "or Committe action" to mean that the comittee would admit students, thereby lowering the number on the waitlist. I hadn't considered the possibility that Penn was actively culling the list as the time to May 15 approached...is that what you are wondering/suggesting? I'm also a Tier 1 waitlistee (with generic message)...seems that Penn has had relatively little movement compared to some other schools, but then again, I don't think too many people will want to say no to such a great place.

One seperate question - do you guys have any feeling for how good the financial aid might be at Penn? I just got a decent scholarship offer from Michigan that's making this whole decision-making process awfully difficult. It'd be nice if I got off the waitlist *and* got some hefty award money, though perhaps that's wishful thinking given I'm on the waitlist <g>.
 
DrinkSKYY said:
One seperate question - do you guys have any feeling for how good the financial aid might be at Penn? I just got a decent scholarship offer from Michigan that's making this whole decision-making process awfully difficult. It'd be nice if I got off the waitlist *and* got some hefty award money, though perhaps that's wishful thinking given I'm on the waitlist <g>.

Hmm, you may be right. I had thought of that too, but it seems a weird thing to say if they just meant it as 'or if we actually let one of you people in off the waitlist.' I dunno, i'm trying not to fall into the 'let me read into everything they say pool,' but i'm having a hard time stopping myself.

As to the financial aid, I dunno how good it is. During the interview day presentation, Gaye Shefler made it seem as if Penn didn't often have a great deal to offer (along with her words of wisdom about how we should plan to pay for med school), so I don't know how to read into that. Maybe get on the admitted students thread and see what they're saying about the financial aid?
 
🙁

Penn likes toying with our feelings.

Any word yet?
 
TinyFish said:
🙁

Penn likes toying with our feelings.

Any word yet?


Bump.
Generic Tier 1 message here too.
 
mexikian said:
Hmm, you may be right. I had thought of that too, but it seems a weird thing to say if they just meant it as 'or if we actually let one of you people in off the waitlist.' I dunno, i'm trying not to fall into the 'let me read into everything they say pool,' but i'm having a hard time stopping myself.

As to the financial aid, I dunno how good it is. During the interview day presentation, Gaye Shefler made it seem as if Penn didn't often have a great deal to offer (along with her words of wisdom about how we should plan to pay for med school), so I don't know how to read into that. Maybe get on the admitted students thread and see what they're saying about the financial aid?

Okay here comes some generic info from hearsay... According to a classmate of mine, lots of people got in off the waitlist that are in our class now... I don't know who or how many because it doesn't matter once school starts. Also, for me personally. Penn fin aid was amazing.. they made it cheaper than my state school. I also know they do give out some (not sure how many) LARGE merit based scholarships but I think you would know by now if you got it as it would say so on the accepted page. Anyhow, take my info as you will and good luck to you all! (Btw, I'm MD.. and the top tier 1, tier 1 and tier 2 is true of MD)
 
Sorry for my confusing post guys. I actually meant that I officially dropped all other acceptances and will be definitely going to Penn in the fall. I was accepted in late march like everyone else. I don't really know much about the waitlist. I did however meet some people on the waitlist at Penn Preview. I would assume those people would be the first to get in!
 
Does anyone know on what page the generic message shows up? Does it show up on "status" or "choose Penn" tab?
 
infiniti said:
Sorry for my confusing post guys. I actually meant that I officially dropped all other acceptances and will be definitely going to Penn in the fall. I was accepted in late march like everyone else. I don't really know much about the waitlist. I did however meet some people on the waitlist at Penn Preview. I would assume those people would be the first to get in!


Aha! That's what I thought, Infiniti; people posting about your post gave me half a heart attack.

Let's keep this post alive-- the Penn admissions office is so cagey that we need every crumb we can get from them...
 
Whew.

The posts about Inifiniti were also giving me heart attacks. 😛

So basically, all we have to go on is a rumor that people have been getting in since early May, right?

Some/all of the waitlisters invited to preview have probably been accepted. But as for the rest, I'm not going to bank on a rumor. Just to keep my hope alive.

Then again, it's easy to delude myself when it comes to Penn. 😍

:luck: :luck: :luck: Good luck, everyone. As soon as one of you guys gets accepted, POST IT ON HERE!!!
 
As of May 8th, I was told no one had been accepted off the waitlist, and there were no plans to do so until after May 15th. I know that was long ago in waitlist-time, but thought I'd share the news.
 
sparkygalore said:
As of May 8th, I was told no one had been accepted off the waitlist, and there were no plans to do so until after May 15th. I know that was long ago in waitlist-time, but thought I'd share the news.


Sparky, even if it's not true, I 😍 you for telling us that.

Lie to me, people, lie to me.

Okay, I promise I will now stop posting useless posts on this thread.
 
Hi all, I got the "exciting times" message, but I haven't heard a peep either. I am still trying to keep the hope alive but sometimes i feel like I want closure, it feels like going through a break up, i keep telling myself things like "take your heart out of it" and "move on"... Good luck to everyone waiting! 😳
 
I know a Yale student who got in off of the waitlist last week (either the 15th or the 16th; I can't remember which).

(Also, I'm leaving school right now so if there are responses, I won't be able to get back to you for awhile.)
 
ayayay....is this the beginning of the end???

when will penn accept waitlisters?
 
A fellow SDN friend of mine (whose SN I will refrain from disclosing because I do not have his/her consent) was accepted from the Tier 1 Waitlist w/Penn Preview Tab after receiving a phone call after May 8th but before May 15th. (I apologize for all the ambiguity, but I am not sure how much information I should reveal.)

I am a generic Tier 1 Waitlist, and was wondering if any generic Tier 1 OR "strongly considered" Tier 1 without Penn Preview waitlisted applicants have been accepted.

Best wishes to all of you!

sparkygalore said:
As of May 8th, I was told no one had been accepted off the waitlist, and there were no plans to do so until after May 15th. I know that was long ago in waitlist-time, but thought I'd share the news.
 
mercaptoethanol said:
A fellow SDN friend of mine (whose SN I will refrain from disclosing because I do not have his/her consent) was accepted from the Tier 1 Waitlist w/Penn Preview Tab after receiving a phone call after May 8th but before May 15th. (I apologize for all the ambiguity, but I am not sure how much information I should reveal.)

I am a generic Tier 1 Waitlist, and was wondering if any generic Tier 1 OR "strongly considered" Tier 1 without Penn Preview waitlisted applicants have been accepted.

Best wishes to all of you!



are u talkin about the md/phd fellow....we all know about that
 
mercaptoethanol said:
I am a generic Tier 1 Waitlist, and was wondering if any generic Tier 1 OR "strongly considered" Tier 1 without Penn Preview waitlisted applicants have been accepted.

Best wishes to all of you!
Good question!
 
I know for a fact that somone was accepted off the waitlist yesterday (he was invited to Penn Preview). Good luck!
 
mercaptoethanol said:
I am a generic Tier 1 Waitlist, and was wondering if any generic Tier 1 OR "strongly considered" Tier 1 without Penn Preview waitlisted applicants have been accepted.
I don't know if my guy was generic or 'strongly considered', but I do know that he did not have a Penn Preview invitation.
 
cherryman said:
are u talkin about the md/phd fellow....we all know about that

No, I do not believe this person was applying to the Penn MSTP.
 
So I asked my former PI to call admissions at Penn (on the theory he'd be able to get more out of them than I would - he's faculty there) and he was told that the class was "pretty much set." I don't want to believe this. Has anyone heard anything lately?
 
Unfortunately your info about a full class and almost no WL movement is correct.
 
out of curiosity, how do you know this?
 
cryogen9 said:
Unfortunately your info about a full class and almost no WL movement is correct.

If you're correct, that's pretty anticlimactic. Why bother having a tiered waitlist?
 
For all of you who are losing hope, do remember that probably the biggest school to take students away from Penn is Harvard. Harvard's WL moves in late June, so perhaps that will cause some movement at Penn as well?
 
why does harvard's waitlist move in late june?
 
lastrun82 said:
why does harvard's waitlist move in late june?

Not really sure. The admissions office and the waitlist info said not to expect to hear from them until after June 20 though.
 
jeanneson said:
So I asked my former PI to call admissions at Penn (on the theory he'd be able to get more out of them than I would - he's faculty there)...

That was a smart move, Jeanneson. Thanks for the information. Anyone else know anything? What does Neuronix have to say about all this?

-BME
 
Hi, I was WLed, first tier, no Penn Preview invite. I got a call from Gaye Sheffler on May 16, who invited me down for a visit the following week. She offered me a spot then
 
After calling the admissions office today, I spoke to a woman who was straightforward enough to tell me that “the class for next fall has pretty much been set.” (Despite being the herald of bad news, she was really nice.)

She said the Committee on Admissions had already used the waitlist as much as they expect to this season, and that the chances of a currently waitlisted applicant being admitted at this point were unlikely.

I am sorry to be the bearer of unhappy news, but I am almost certain that if Penn offered you an interview then there awaits another medical school, proud to welcome you to a seat in their class.

I wish you all the best in the years ahead. It has been a blessing to have had all of you throughout this process. If you’re feeling down, try to smile, and just remember, you’re going to be a physician!

With sincerity,
BME
 
Not to give anyone false hope, but it's my understanding that the Harvard waitlist has not seen action yet. If that's the case, it's possible that we will lose a couple of classmates in the near future, which would in theory open up at least a spot or two from the waitlist at Penn.

Then again, I don't know Penn's admissions procedures; hence the extensive use of qualifiers above.
 
mercaptoethanol said:
I am almost certain that if Penn offered you an interview then there awaits another medical school, proud to welcome you to a seat in their class.

I remember one of the deans giving me the same speech on interview day:

"If Penn invites you for an interview, rest assured that you'll get in somewhere because you wouldn't be here unless you were among the cream of the crop."

It was probably the most self-aggrandizing thing I've ever heard.

But would this attitude dissuade me from attending if I got in? No way.
 
I was given a spot this week from the normal tier 1 waitlist (ie: no special message, etc.). So they might still be taking people through the end of the month.
 
flyhigh said:
I was given a spot this week from the normal tier 1 waitlist (ie: no special message, etc.). So they might still be taking people through the end of the month.
Congrats; look forward to meeting you in under two months!
 
flyhigh said:
I was given a spot this week from the normal tier 1 waitlist (ie: no special message, etc.). So they might still be taking people through the end of the month.

Congrats Fly! That's awesome. I wonder why they dropped to the general tier 1 though without accepting the whole "exciting" tier 1. Did you have any special developments in your application?

Eh, maybe Penn just likes to play with people. Or maybe they try to balance their class by accepting people similar to the ones that drop. Qui sait?
 
Hi all, not to again give people false hope, but someone at Stanford said those exact same words to me. She said they had 86 "firm accepts", and that she doesn't anticipate the class will move. I even offered to send in an extra update after I had sent around 5 or 6. She said "no, don't do that ... you've already done all that you could". I mean she said it in a really nice way, but it was still very disappointing. Anyway, 3 business days later, I got a call that I was accepted. I guess my point is: just keep doing whatever you can to help yourself get in, and you can only hope for the best. Don't let anyone discourage you.

mercaptoethanol said:
After calling the admissions office today, I spoke to a woman who was straightforward enough to tell me that “the class for next fall has pretty much been set.” (Despite being the herald of bad news, she was really nice.)

She said the Committee on Admissions had already used the waitlist as much as they expect to this season, and that the chances of a currently waitlisted applicant being admitted at this point were unlikely.

I am sorry to be the bearer of unhappy news, but I am almost certain that if Penn offered you an interview then there awaits another medical school, proud to welcome you to a seat in their class.

I wish you all the best in the years ahead. It has been a blessing to have had all of you throughout this process. If you’re feeling down, try to smile, and just remember, you’re going to be a physician!

With sincerity,
BME
 
The other possibility is that the tier system we've developed here is incorrect.
 
Centinel said:
Congrats; look forward to meeting you in under two months!

Look forward to meeting you too! See you in August!
 
ChocolateKiss said:
Congrats Fly! That's awesome. I wonder why they dropped to the general tier 1 though without accepting the whole "exciting" tier 1. Did you have any special developments in your application?

Eh, maybe Penn just likes to play with people. Or maybe they try to balance their class by accepting people similar to the ones that drop. Qui sait?

I wrote two very strong interest letters; only new developments were induction into PBK and very strong winter quarter grades. I hear the waitlist is very fluid and acceptance from it depends strongly on interest.
 
All of you disappointed about not hearing anything yet, just remember that if you do get in, at this time next year, you will STILL be an MS1 unlike at every other med school out there... hehe I'm just trying to lighten the mood.. last exam until summer begins is tomorrow morning.. good luck all.. :luck:
 
Just called to check in on my app and thought I'd relay on a few details: While the class is just about set for this year, they have taken people from the waitlist. If they decide to accept an individual, they will call and then follow that up with a written communication. A final communication (read rejection from waitlist letter) can be expected sometime in late July.
Good luck to all the waitlisters!
 
I just withdrew my spot, so I'm hoping it goes to one of you. :luck: !
 
Where are you going? Either way, best of luck.
 
Top