Penn

[Shanomong]

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Hey future equine Penn-we's!

It was nice to see you all out at NBC today, even though my lab group was in the middle of a fetotomy and we probably smelled... Hope you all had fun and got/get good news soon!

Hey Deanna,
A friend and I were both recently accepted to Penn. I'm going there for sure but she's still deciding... we wanted to go see the NBC this weekend, I called a few people today but only got voicemails... any idea how we could go about doing this? Or should we just wait until we talk to someone and plan it for next weekend?
Thanks!! And YAY to being a Penn-we! 😀
~Tiffany

 

[PAThbrd]

Tiffany,

Biosecurity out here is pretty strict so it might be difficult to get something done this weekend. Your best bet would probably be to get in touch with Mac Keiter (the admissions guy) and ask him to help set you up with someone for next weekend. He was able to set me and a friend up for a tour back before I had even applied so hopefully he can still do that for you!

If you're interested in seeing the dairy and swine production facilities, tell him that specifically, because those are separate from the hospital (like 1/2 mile away). You might not be able to get in there on the weekends depending on how many people and who they have working.

Hope that helps!

 

[nonvideas]

I believe they'll be back at NBC in two weeks, you might be able to tag along on the tour then. Give Mr. Keiter a call.

 

[jenk]

I'm still waiting to hear from Penn. Are they still inviting ppl? I'm just debating whether I should call to check it out or not....😕

 

[thunderhawk86]

Yes they are still reviewing applications. I called because my answering machine was broken and I heard that some e-mails had be picked up by the spam filter. So don't worry we still have a chance of getting an interview.👍

 

[jenk]

Yes they are still reviewing applications. I called because my answering machine was broken and I heard that some e-mails had be picked up by the spam filter. So don't worry we still have a chance of getting an interview.👍

What did you find out from your call? Did they tell you whether you are selected for interview or not? 🙄

 

[thunderhawk86]

Haha I wish. The guy just told me that they are reviewing applications and even if my answering machine was broken and if the e-mail got gobbled up by the spam filters they would keep trying to get in contact with me. So now I it's back to the waiting game until the first week of March when the let everyone else know whether or not they got an interview. At least according to other people.

 

[jenk]

Haha I wish. The guy just told me that they are reviewing applications and even if my answering machine was broken and if the e-mail got gobbled up by the spam filters they would keep trying to get in contact with me. So now I it's back to the waiting game until the first week of March when the let everyone else know whether or not they got an interview. At least according to other people.

So I guess there's no point on me calling. Back to the waiting game 🙁.

Good luck, i hope you get an interview, i'm rooting for you!!! 😀

 

[thunderhawk86]

Thanks I'll be rooting for you too.

 

[Shanomong]

I believe they'll be back at NBC in two weeks, you might be able to tag along on the tour then. Give Mr. Keiter a call.

Yea we thought about that but we both work Fridays... and we already took off last week for our interview 😀

I left a voicemail on Roseanne Herpens number, she was probably with the NBC tour yesterday and now out for the weekend so I guess we'll hear back Monday... thanks for the info Deanna!

 

[tpad40]

I am so excited, I got in!!!!!!! I loved the day, the tours of NBC and the repro center were absolutely amazing and all of the students we met were great!

And PathBrd - the fetotomy was so cool!!

I am going to vet school next year! YAYAYAYAYAYA

Best Valentines Day EVER

 

[BobDog]

Thought I might mention that my interviewer told me that this years class will be 125 students (larger than previous years, with the exception of the HUGE c/o 2012).

Yep, huge barely begins to describe the size of our class! 😀

 

[Shanomong]

Yep, huge barely begins to describe the size of our class! 😀

Yea Mac said you guys were a big giant oops 😛

 

[StayingHopeful]

I was looking at the Interview roll call thread and noticed that it doesn't look like Penn has offered interviews (the email invitation) for almost a month now, so I was wondering if anyone knows when the final decision letters are sent out and if it would be an email even if it's a rejection?
I haven't given up, but I'm thinking the odds are pretty low at this point.
Thanks in advance!

 

[TractorKid]

Yep, huge barely begins to describe the size of our class! 😀

Come on BobDog, admit it: You LOVE living in B101. The hospital basement is SUPER awesome

 

[Shanomong]

I was looking at the Interview roll call thread and noticed that it doesn't look like Penn has offered interviews (the email invitation) for almost a month now, so I was wondering if anyone knows when the final decision letters are sent out and if it would be an email even if it's a rejection?
I haven't given up, but I'm thinking the odds are pretty low at this point.
Thanks in advance!

There have still been interviews going on, but they're Equine day, and next week is Large Animal or Farm Animal day, both at New Bolton. There were a few equine posts on here but I don't think there are too many of the farm/large animal folks on this website? Or maybe a ton of them just don't apply to Penn? Either way... there should be at least one more interview date coming up that they haven't invited for yet. And yes Penn sends out rejection emails when all's said and done.... I didn't get mine until 3/28 last year so it could still be a while...

 

[tpad40]

Anywhere I can buy Penn Vet gear? Online would be awesome but I am thinking of heading back up that way in not too long...

Haven't quite made the final decision yet, but I am leaning a certain direction... 😀

 

[tpad40]

I was looking at the Interview roll call thread and noticed that it doesn't look like Penn has offered interviews (the email invitation) for almost a month now, so I was wondering if anyone knows when the final decision letters are sent out and if it would be an email even if it's a rejection?
I haven't given up, but I'm thinking the odds are pretty low at this point.
Thanks in advance!

Don't lose hope! It is still in the "no news is good news" timeframe! I know a lot of people didn't hear until quite late last year. Definitely scroll back through the old posts and you will feel better!!

 

[starlene45]

Anywhere I can buy Penn Vet gear? Online would be awesome but I am thinking of heading back up that way in not too long...

Haven't quite made the final decision yet, but I am leaning a certain direction... 😀

Haha, me too, big time... Current students? Any ideas?

 

[Shanomong]

Haha, me too, big time... Current students? Any ideas?

Theres a medical supply book store next to WAWA on the corner of 38th and Spruce St that sells Penn Vet stuff... I'm headed there this week 😀

 

[Emio]

Haha, me too, big time... Current students? Any ideas?

like the last poster said, Dolbey's is definitely your best bet! yeah, it's expensive, but they have some neat hats and hoodies there. once you get to school, the student chapter of AVMA runs a little merchandise gig that offers sales every once in a while. mind you, its run by students and *not* a regular hour store. they'll email when you can come up and buy stuff, so watch out for those emails! that have a good variety of fun stuff, so stock up once you get to school 😉

 

[Ysabel327]

Congrats to all you that got accepted!! I will be applying for the Class of 2015, seems like a long ways from now. Just wondering if you know how the school feels on getting some of the pre-req done at a community college, I've gotten mixed answers from many schools. What do you guys think?

 

[nonvideas]

A word of warning about Dolbey's - they have a small collection of vet school gear (one or two t-shirts, a sweatshirt, and a cap last I checked), and I"ve never found that any of it fit right or was particularly comfortable. It's also not cheap.

But yeah, there's also no way to find it online. You're pretty much stuck waiting for the student merchandise sale. They have a lot of great stuff, and it funds SCAVMA. They really ought to organize an online sale to admitted students.

 

[veryanxious]

I was looking at the Interview roll call thread and noticed that it doesn't look like Penn has offered interviews (the email invitation) for almost a month now, so I was wondering if anyone knows when the final decision letters are sent out and if it would be an email even if it's a rejection?
I haven't given up, but I'm thinking the odds are pretty low at this point.
Thanks in advance!

I called Penn admissions today. The last interview date is March 20th and they will be sending those invitations via e-mail during the first week of march.

 

[StayingHopeful]

I called Penn admissions today. The last interview date is March 20th and they will be sending those invitations via e-mail during the first week of march.

That's good to know, but at the same time, isn't the last day food animal?

 

[EqSci]

Update in case anyone is waiting for news from them - I just got an e-mail today that says I'm on hold and will be reviewed again at a later date.

 

[robeezy08]

That's good to know, but at the same time, isn't the last day food animal?

Hey - I think those interested in food animal med are being interviewed Feb 27....As for the rest of us - the first week of March seems like such a looong time from now

 

[tpad40]

Update in case anyone is waiting for news from them - I just got an e-mail today that says I'm on hold and will be reviewed again at a later date.

That's great! They were talking about the "hold" thing a bit during my interview day (perhaps you were there!). They said that many people on hold get accepted, and the rest are usually alternates. They said that it is very rare to go from hold to rejection. I would take it as very good news! 👍

 

[DocDVMD]

I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but what if you were to receive interview invites to both Florida and Penn for the 20th, their last days of interviews!? That would be awful if you had to choose and eliminate an entire school option.

 

[redsteven]

Update in case anyone is waiting for news from them - I just got an e-mail today that says I'm on hold and will be reviewed again at a later date.

You get to join the club too 🙂

That's great! They were talking about the "hold" thing a bit during my interview day (perhaps you were there!). They said that many people on hold get accepted, and the rest are usually alternates. They said that it is very rare to go from hold to rejection. I would take it as very good news! 👍

i hope so...

Does anyone know how many students they interview? I remember being told that they do 8 or 9 interview days. Assuming that each day they interview the same number of applicants (was about 30 on my day) then 240-270 interviews, when the class size is 125, isn't bad at all.

 

[tpad40]

I may be way off...but I thought I heard that they were interviewing around 200-220. That was from another interviewee @ Penn so I am not sure how accurate!

 

[PAThbrd]

Im sure Em or someone will come on and correct me, but I think its more like 7 interview days (so 200-210) and Im not sure if they are going to take 125 again. This years 1st year class was (unintentionally) too big for the facilities and I believe they are aiming to go back down to around the 115+/- mark (like the other classes).

Edit: I take it back, it looks like there are at least 8 interview days this year...

 

[RockStarKDub]

I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but what if you were to receive interview invites to both Florida and Penn for the 20th, their last days of interviews!? That would be awful if you had to choose and eliminate an entire school option.

You could take a late Friday flight straight from the Penn interview, since the FL interview is Saturday. You could also call FL and see if they could accommodate you on their earlier date, which they could if someone from the earlier date needed to switch to the later.

 

[EqSci]

That's great! They were talking about the "hold" thing a bit during my interview day (perhaps you were there!). They said that many people on hold get accepted, and the rest are usually alternates. They said that it is very rare to go from hold to rejection. I would take it as very good news! 👍

That is exciting... I must have missed that on Friday. I think I may withdraw my application, though. Good luck to everyone else!!

 

[eatpinkpenguins]

Hi! This is sort of off topic, but does anyone know if it's possible to get the financial aid info if if you were accepted to Penn before sending in the deposit in order to compare aid packages? It seems a little unethical that you would need to send in the deposit first... 😕

Also, if you do send in the deposit, does anyone know if everyone hears back from financial aid at the same time, or if the $$ is on more of a first come basis. Thanks so much! this financial aid stuff is killing me.

 

[bunnity]

With the financial aid thing they say that the office won't answer questions / meet with you until you have sent in your deposit. It does seem kind of frustrating that it is done in that order - I think it is because they are so busy this time of year. My acceptance letter did seem to imply that I needed to send a deposit in order to hear more...

I just sent in my deposit so I'll try to report back when I hear anything about financial aid.

Since a lot of Penn's scholarships aren't until 3rd or 4th year anyway you might get an idea of your situation if you go ahead and do your FAFSA, since financial aid in the first year is pretty much just loans from what I understand. The FAFSA will at least tell you what the federal government thinks it would be reasonable for you to pay out of pocket this year, and it will make your financial aid easier / faster when the time comes if you have FAFSA done already.

 

[Emio]

Im sure Em or someone will come on and correct me, but I think its more like 7 interview days (so 200-210) and Im not sure if they are going to take 125 again. This years 1st year class was (unintentionally) too big for the facilities and I believe they are aiming to go back down to around the 115+/- mark (like the other classes).

Edit: I take it back, it looks like there are at least 8 interview days this year...

right-oh, we're doing 8 this year 🙂 and... mac is shooting for 125. last year wasn't entirely a mistake as they were planning to increase the class size to 125 from our years; he was just a little overzealous and ended up with 135, lol. he won't make that mistake again.

eatpinkpenguins - i'm pretty sure most everyone's financial aid is the same for the first several years. if you need money (i.e. parents aren't writing checks for tuition) and have filled out a FAFSA, you'll get $40,500 in federal loans. if you need more than that, there are additional loans you can get.

that amount is what i live on. it's just enough to get me through the school year; i have to get a job in the summer in order to pay rent.

there is one scholarship open to first years ($12k over four years, from generous donors) that you will get information for during the first month or so of school. after that, there is a top 25% of class scholarship in 2nd year, and then in 3rd adn 4th are the real opportunities. i can't speak much for them now because i'm still a poor 2nd year!

EqSci... why withdraw?!? you've made it this far! unless you have something wildly better and don't want to waste the committee's time with offering you a spot, i'd keep it in.

oh, and mad props to the student who said "penn-wes aren't snobby!" in the interview feedback! that's exactly what we're going for! 😉

 

[Emio]

Congrats to all you that got accepted!! I will be applying for the Class of 2015, seems like a long ways from now. Just wondering if you know how the school feels on getting some of the pre-req done at a community college, I've gotten mixed answers from many schools. What do you guys think?

hate to say it, but... it depends. it depends on your situation, in other words, have you taken upper level science courses at your previous institution? do you need an overall GPA boost? what was the quality of your undergrad schooling ?

call admissions, they can specifically answer your questions. good luck in the next two years!

 

[starlene45]

Congrats to all you that got accepted!! I will be applying for the Class of 2015, seems like a long ways from now. Just wondering if you know how the school feels on getting some of the pre-req done at a community college, I've gotten mixed answers from many schools. What do you guys think?

Ysabel--
When I had an admissions advising meeting at UPenn this summer, Roseanne Herpen told me that the adcom there does not like to see pre-reqs done at Community Colleges, because they are "not competitive" enough...

...That being said, I am a post-bac with no science background who was just accepted at UPenn and I did several of my basic science (lower-division only) courses at Community College. Specifically:

Bio 1A & 1B (5 unit courses each, A's in both)
Physics 4A & 4B (Calculus-based, 5 units, A in one, B in the other)

I specifically took the calculus physics b/c I wanted to take the most challenging course since it was a CC. Don't know if that made any difference but I figured it couldn't hurt. 4B was horrible, though!

My interviewers at Penn did not mention anything about my CC pre-reqs during my interview, and it can't have hurt too much, since I was accepted! I think as long as you do well in the courses, and limit them to lower-division classes, it shouldn't affect your application too much.

Good luck!

 

[Shanomong]

Congrats to all you that got accepted!! I will be applying for the Class of 2015, seems like a long ways from now. Just wondering if you know how the school feels on getting some of the pre-req done at a community college, I've gotten mixed answers from many schools. What do you guys think?

I was also told by Penn in my follow up after I was rejected last year that CC classes are frowned upon. They do not like to see it. If you have to take anything at a CC, take graduation requirements that aren't pre-reqs... but they'd prefer you take nothing there.

And Deanna, Mac told me in my interview that they are doing 125 from here on out 🙂. Like Emio said, 135 was a mistake that they don't plan to repeat.

 

[EqSci]

EqSci... why withdraw?!? you've made it this far! unless you have something wildly better and don't want to waste the committee's time with offering you a spot, i'd keep it in.

I was accepted to Iowa and even if I am accepted to Penn, I will be choosing Iowa. So it doesn't make much sense to hold out... admissions will be spending time looking over my app, and they could be looking at someone else's and giving them that opportunity.

Don't get me wrong, I was actually very impressed last Friday!! I was expecting the area to be a lot worse (I hate cities), I was expecting snobby people, etc. But I decided to keep an open mind and go to my interview and I was pleasantly surprised! I could definitely be happy there if it was my only choice. But I have the option to live in a small town with the LA facilities on main campus - for only a few thousand more per year - and I'm taking it. 🙂

ETA: What is a Penn-we???? I can't for the life of me figure it out. lol!

 

[thunderhawk86]

Hey just to let everyone know that is an in state waiting for an interview that I withdrew my application to UPenn. Good luck to those of you in staters still waiting for an invitation.👍

 

[pupsforseeing]

Just wondering if you know how the school feels on getting some of the pre-req done at a community college, I've gotten mixed answers from many schools. What do you guys think?

as other people have said, your best bet is to talk to admissions directly. having said that, i was accepted to penn last year and had done a few of my pre-reqs at community college (gen chem, a bunch of humanities, and math through calc II). but, i did the rest of my undergraduate coursework at a competitive liberal arts school so that may have helped to balance it out (in showing i was capable of handling a tougher workload). just to say, though, that a couple CC courses aren't the kiss of death.

 

[Shanomong]

ETA: What is a Penn-we???? I can't for the life of me figure it out. lol!

lol if you'd been given the impression that Penn students would be snobs, I'm surprised you didn't know this one already...

People like to call Penn grads "PennWe's" because after school they go other places and (supposidly) constantly say "At Penn we.....do it this way" 😛

 

[starlene45]

FWIW, Dolbey's does have on-line sales... but they're hard to find

I had to Google "Dolbey's medical bookstore" and then somehow search the site itself for "soft goods" and then finally I found the soft goods section and there were some PennVet clothes there.

HOWEVER-- there are no PHOTOS of the Penn Vet goods!!! So, hahah, probably not the best idea to buy them online unless you're damn sure you want some, no matter what!

And, Emio, that might've been my interview feedback about non-snobby penn-we's 😉 I thought everyone was awesome and very easy to talk to! I was still exhausted after the whole day but never really felt stressed out, props to the student adcoms for being so welcoming and fun to chat with 😀.

 

[Shanomong]

oh, and mad props to the student who said "penn-wes aren't snobby!" in the interview feedback! that's exactly what we're going for! 😉

My favorite feedback remark was the person who got REALLY excited about getting to see a stallion be "collected".... does that mean what I think it does?! How exciting...

 

[EqSci]

lol if you'd been given the impression that Penn students would be snobs, I'm surprised you didn't know this one already...

People like to call Penn grads "PennWe's" because after school they go other places and (supposidly) constantly say "At Penn we.....do it this way" 😛

Hahaha, I see.

 

[EqSci]

My favorite feedback remark was the person who got REALLY excited about getting to see a stallion be "collected".... does that mean what I think it does?! How exciting...

Yes, we saw a stallion collection, dog collection, calf fetotomy(sp?), and a mare breeding soundness exam. I've collected stallions and done breeding soundness exams before, but the dog collection and fetotomy were new! It was the first school I've been to that I actually saw real students doing things (other than sitting in a classroom at Ohio). So that part was very cool. 👍

 

[robeezy08]

Hey, this is completely off topic but if anyone's thinking of moving closer to center city area w/o paying cc prices, the building i'm currently living at is pretty awesome - great views of jersey/bridges. Its a high rise, but the price ain't bad for what your getting. I've lived in university city and fairemont park area, and this building is by far the best. PM me if you want more info!

Ok back to stalking/refreshing SDN and checking emails! 😀

 

[bunnyslippers]

Dear Penn,

I haven't heard from you in a while and I just wanted to remind you that I still have a crush on you. Do you like me back? Do I still stand some chance with you? Please circle yes or no.

Love,
One of the masses

(I'm going craaazzzyyyy!!!!)