UPenn Post Card

[UpstateNY27]

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Hi everyone:

Just wanted to let everyone know that yesterday I got a letter from UPenn letting me know that my application was received by them. They also included a postcard that I need to fill. It asks whether I have veterinarians in my family and/or if I have family members that attended UPenn.

Surprisingly it also asks me to calculate my overall GPA and last 45 hours GPA. You would think they could do this easily from the VMCAS application? No?

Does anyone know how the admission system works at UPenn?

This waiting game is definitely putting my nerves on the edge. Yesterday when I got the letter from UPenn I got really nervous since the envelope was so small! But it turned out to be alright.

 

[runnerDC]

Paragraphs 3-6 of the following describe Penn's admissions process:
http://alumni.vet.upenn.edu/alumni_liaison_report_05.htm

It also contains some other interesting information about the state of the school, hospital(s), program, etc.

Hope this helps,
Jen

 

[UpstateNY27]

Thanks Jen:

That was a really detailed report. It gives a lot of insight into the admission process at UPenn.

I wish one of my parents was a former of alum UPenn vet, 9/13 of those applicants got accepted!


Julian

 

[tiddlywinks]

From that report - "Areas of interest such as food-animal production, equine medicine and research are sought in the applicants."

That kinda worries me, since I'm not particularly interested in any of those. I wonder how strong the bias is. I've also heard that Penn likes to see that you have a lot of experience in the field you profess interest in, which for me is definitely more small animal and exotic.

 

[thesonofdarwin]

From that report - "Areas of interest such as food-animal production, equine medicine and research are sought in the applicants."

That kinda worries me, since I'm not particularly interested in any of those. I wonder how strong the bias is. I've also heard that Penn likes to see that you have a lot of experience in the field you profess interest in, which for me is definitely more small animal and exotic.

Yeah, that's about the only thing I'm worred about trying to enter into Vet school. Grades are good, experience is above average, but... animal production and research are definite 'no' for me, and although we've owned horses, I still would prefer to work with what I'd enjoy the most. Like you, that is small/exotic animals.

Just received my postcard on Monday. Seems when I had my transcripts sent they went to the wrong admissions office, so I'm glad I could get that taken care of so some small technical detail didn't keep me out.

 

[kate_g]

Surprisingly it also asks me to calculate my overall GPA and last 45 hours GPA. You would think they could do this easily from the VMCAS application? No?

It's an honesty test. They *do* calculate it from VMCAS, but they want to see if you fudge your numbers when given the opportunity.

(Just kidding... 😉 )

The thing that ticked me off about that letter was them trying to make it sound all generous that they give *two weeks* notice before your interview date. They know darn well that the plane ticket would cost 2/3 as much if they gave you three weeks. Grr.

 

[UpstateNY27]

ha 🙂 I hear you kate_g.

It would definitely help us out if they gave us more notice. 2 weeks just seems like too little time to get all of your affairs in order plus coordinate a trip to a city far-far away where probably most of us have not been.

 

[missmutt]

so are they using these post cards for pre-screening to decide which applications they are even going to look at? for instance... if you check off equine or food animal, or you are related to an alumni, or your gpas listed are above a certain cut off - your application gets reviewed. if you do not fall into any of these categories, they never bother looking at your actual application. if so, that's really disappointing, as i don't look so great on that little post card, but i think i show i have more to offer on the rest of my app.

 

[UpstateNY27]

I don't know the answer to that question missmutt. However, you raise a good point. How does the information in the post card affect your chances of being invited for an interview? I don't know if anyone here can answer that. But we can speculate. I would guess it has to have some impact, even minimal, otherwise why would they even ask?

 

[hopefulinPA]

I got mine yesterday, and they didn't get my GRE scores somehow. ETS mailed then Oct. 4, and thankfully sent them again free of charge tonight.

Since I am interested in research, do you all think I should put that under other? I would like to eventually do small animal practice, but want to do research first. Calculating my GPA is going to be such a pain, since I have courses from 4 schools (yuck).

Now the real wait begins! Good luck everyone!

 

[CookieBear]

I got mine yesterday, and they didn't get my GRE scores somehow. ETS mailed then Oct. 4, and thankfully sent them again free of charge tonight.

Since I am interested in research, do you all think I should put that under other? I would like to eventually do small animal practice, but want to do research first. Calculating my GPA is going to be such a pain, since I have courses from 4 schools (yuck).

Now the real wait begins! Good luck everyone!

Can you use Excel to calculate your GPA? That's what I did. I, too, have 4 transcripts.

 

[spikey]

I havent recieved anything yet. I hope my mailman didnt lose it

 

[ginkogirl]

I havent recieved anything yet. I hope my mailman didnt lose it

Yeah, my mailman put the letter with the UPenn postcard in the wrong apartment's mailbox. Luckily, they were nice enough to give it to me but it's kind of scary (and an unfortunate way to start the application mailings process) because I know some people would be insensitive enough to just throw it away. Hopefully it was just a one-time mistake and it won't happen again!

Lisa

 

[HorseyVet]

Yeah, my mailman put the letter with the UPenn postcard in the wrong apartment's mailbox. Luckily, they were nice enough to give it to me but it's kind of scary (and an unfortunate way to start the application mailings process) because I know some people would be insensitive enough to just throw it away. Hopefully it was just a one-time mistake and it won't happen again!

Yikes. When I was waiting on schools I lived in a duplex and the mail was always screwed up. I think the non-regular mailperson was just too lazy to split the mail or something (the boxes where literall less than about two feet away). He'd just dump everything into either my mailbox or the guys up stairs. The other people in the duplex even put our respective names on the boxes, but that apparently wasn't a big enough hint for this carrier. We usually got it straighten out, but it was kinda scary during that time. I have to admit to peaking in the upstairs neighbor's mailbox a few times when I didn't get any mail, but that was usually when very obviously their were a bunch of horse magazines buldging out of it and/or a bunch of car magazines in my box.

 

[UpstateNY27]

Spikey. Maybe you can call UPenn and tell them what your situation is, and hopefully they would be kind enough to send you another letter?

 

[ri23]

I had the same problem. I haven't gotten my postcard and I contacted them Friday. They were very nice about it, and said that if I didn't get it by today they would send out another one for me. I'm just nervous there is a problem with our mail (I live right off of campus) and being that Penn only corresponds through mail I won't here from them for other things.

 

[Meg519]

Hey all of you that applied to penn. I am a first year there and I just wanted to let you know that if you have any questions about the application process I can answer some of them for you. I just thought I should sign back in on here because this forum really helped me and I appreciated it when vet students could give me advice when I was applying.
I noticed some questions about penn's postcard/interview process. I got my interview invitation sometime around christmas if I remember correctly and then I had the interview on Jan. 27th. Last year, the first interview group was the 13th of January. They do them every friday starting in January. Hope that helps!! 🙂

 

[Meg519]

Oh PS. I forgot.. for the people who said they were worried because they didnt' have much large animal or research experience I think that's fine. I didn't have any research and only about 30 hours of volunteer large animal experience. As long as you show an open attitude about all different species you should be fine!

 

[UpstateNY27]

Meg519. Thanks for coming back to these boards and giving us your thoughts.

Are you from Penn? or out-of-state? Does Penn send invites to out-of-state residents in December too?

Also, why did you choose to go to Penn? And judging from your 1st year experiences, do you think these perceptions were correct?

 

[Meg519]

I was in-state for Penn. but I'm pretty sure that interviews get sent out for everyone at the same time, with the exception of large animal focused students (they got their interviews like mid january I think). There were out of state people in my interview group so they must have gotten the interview invitation at the same time that I did.
As for my impressions of penn, I think it is a very good school and I know that it has a good name..not to be snotty, I simply mean that people respect penn because they know it as an ivy league school ya know? I'm not going to lie and say it isn't challenging because it is probably the hardest thing i've ever done as far as school goes but I'm sure all the vet schools are like that. I have noticed that we have classes longer here than most schools (9-5 monday through friday) and our vacations (such as our xmas break) are shorter than some of my friends schools. It is a lot of work but I think they will prepare us well..I do know that the average penn graduate gets 7 job offers by the time they graduate. I was worried about people being snotty here because it is penn but I havnt' gotten that impression. Vet school is vet school...it's hard but I think all of the vet schools are good and you need to just go to them and visit and see which one is the best for you... I also chose penn because of location because I am family oriented...hope that helps!

 

[Tsuki]

I didn't receive the post card. Instead I received a rejection letter. The same thing happened to my friend. So I'm guessing that if you received the postcard, you're still in the running. Good luck guys!

 

[UpstateNY27]

Thanks Meg. That does help. Penn does have a great reputation. And it is good to hear comments from someone in the middle of their first year. Thanks. 🙂

 

[hopefulinPA]

Another thanks for Meg, it helps so much to hear from current students! 😀

 

[isitAprilyet]

thanks meg! it really does help to get an inside perspective during this insane time. how is your first year going?

 

[Meg519]

Thanks for asking..my first year is going alright..I'm of course happy that I'm here..I knew it was going to be hard but it still is harder than what I imagined lol..not to discourage any of you at all. Just enjoy your last couple of months of freedom before you get in!!! The first year is tough because you feel like you're not learning that much that actually pertains to veterinary medicine...it does but its just all the background stuff you have to have like biochemistry and histology..can't wait till next year when we hopefully get to work with some animals that are ALIVE lol. 🙂

 

[ginkogirl]

I didn't receive the post card. Instead I received a rejection letter. The same thing happened to my friend. So I'm guessing that if you received the postcard, you're still in the running. Good luck guys!

Sorry to hear about Penn, but thank you for letting the rest of us know...this process is so mysterious sometimes, it's good to have a vague idea of where you might stand.

Good luck on the rest of your applications, Tsuki, its still early in the application process, so don't loose hope! 🙂

Lisa

 

[Tsuki]

Sorry to hear about Penn, but thank you for letting the rest of us know...this process is so mysterious sometimes, it's good to have a vague idea of where you might stand.

Glad they let me know early on so I don't have to wait !
Here's some info from the letter:

"Over the past three years there has been a steady increase in the number of applicantions; primarily from out-of-state applicants.

This year our pool has risen by nearly 14% making our total number just under 1,500."

Good luck on the rest of your applications, Tsuki, its still early in the application process, so don't loose hope! 🙂

Lisa

Thanks! I have alot of other applications out there, so there's still hope.

Gosh though..I wish it was April already.

 

[CookieBear]

Thanks for asking..my first year is going alright..I'm of course happy that I'm here..I knew it was going to be hard but it still is harder than what I imagined lol..not to discourage any of you at all. Just enjoy your last couple of months of freedom before you get in!!! The first year is tough because you feel like you're not learning that much that actually pertains to veterinary medicine...it does but its just all the background stuff you have to have like biochemistry and histology..can't wait till next year when we hopefully get to work with some animals that are ALIVE lol. 🙂

A Penn grad said to me the other day, that she wishes they just skipped right on to second year.

 

[spikey]

Spikey. Maybe you can call UPenn and tell them what your situation is, and hopefully they would be kind enough to send you another letter?

i recieved it on thursday after contacting the office to let them know i hadnt gotten it. whats weird is i just got a letter from someone today sent out dec. 6, but Penn sent me a letter Nov. 28 and i got it dec. 7. strange, and nerve racking

 

[CookieBear]

I checked. I got my Penn rejection letter last year on February 24.

(In case that helps anyone consider timelines).

I didn't re-apply to Penn this year.

 

[thesonofdarwin]

I checked. I got my Penn rejection letter last year on February 24.

(In case that helps anyone consider timelines).

I didn't re-apply to Penn this year.

In-state or out-of-state? Really hoping they don't wait that long to let me know of rejection. Was hoping to stay in-state
<-- me until I hear something now

 

[CookieBear]

In-state or out-of-state? Really hoping they don't wait that long to let me know of rejection. Was hoping to stay in-state
<-- me until I hear something now

Err, out-of-state, I believe... I can't remem if Penn contracts with NJ. I think I was lumped as out-of-state since I'm applying from NJ.

 

[cyrille104]

Err, out-of-state, I believe... I can't remem if Penn contracts with NJ. I think I was lumped as out-of-state since I'm applying from NJ.

That's correct - Penn told me that NJ is in the out-of-state pile even though they contract with them.