What are your thoughts on UPENN?

[Premed2003]

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I've been accepted to a few schools that I am ecstatic about. I have a UPENN interview coming up, and I'm wondering if I should go. Are there things about UPenn that would make it more attractive than, say, JHU? Gut instinct is that I'll decline, but I really don't know much about the school. Do people seem to be happy there? How is the condensed curriculum? What is stress level? nice faculty? students? Please share thoughts and advice. I'd be very grateful. Thanks 🙂

 

[Patrick Noonan]

sounds like you're just not into the place

 

[cocoabutter]

sounds like you have already made your decision. but, my advice is to decline or cancel the interview in the interest of saving money and to offer the spot to someone else....if you have no interest or no plans to attend UPENN, i see no reason to go to the interview.

 

[Premed2003]

I really just don't know anything about the school, so any thoughts from previuos interviewees or students actually attending would be marvelous. 🙂

If people love the school, then I'll attend the interview and then might really want to attend. I want to hear what people think of the school and whether students feel the same way about the school as Hopkins students or other schools. 🙂 Hopkins students seem very passionate about being there. Before I decide to attend the interview, I'm trying to decide if I would choose penn over hopkins if given that choice

 

[indianboy]

UPENN is moy beuno. I would personally take Penn over JHU anyday, but hey, some people have bad taste, and thats just A-OK.

Hope that Helps.

PShankOut

 

[jalfredprufrock]

I really liked Penn. There are a couple of advantages to the so-called "condensed" curriculum. First of all, it's not really condensed. Rather, the faculty really makes an effort to remove extraneous or redundant parts of the curriculum. you start clinical rotations 6 months earlier than other schools, and people at Penn say that the clinical work really helps out with step 1 of the USMLE.
I found that the students were very friendly and very happy. The administration was very student-oriented. In that sense, it's very much like WashU. The students, for the most part, are down to earth but do have some of the traits you'd expect people at an Ivy med school to have....

 

[DW]

you'll never know until you go there. if you're curious, go to the interview. you also might want to pm ucla2000 or bonds756, i think they both go there

if only they'd interview me, sigh.............

 

[indianboy]

Yo Jalfredprufrock, that was the first poem I ever liked ... and the rest is history ...

PShankOut

 

[Premed2003]

Thanks Prufrock. Your post is very helpful.

Is the curriculum pass/fail? Are faculty accessible? how is the campus?

Thanks

Originally posted by jalfredprufrock
I really liked Penn. There are a couple of advantages to the so-called "condensed" curriculum. First of all, it's not really condensed. Rather, the faculty really makes an effort to remove extraneous or redundant parts of the curriculum. you start clinical rotations 6 months earlier than other schools, and people at Penn say that the clinical work really helps out with step 1 of the USMLE.
I found that the students were very friendly and very happy. The administration was very student-oriented. In that sense, it's very much like WashU. The students, for the most part, are down to earth but do have some of the traits you'd expect people at an Ivy med school to have....

 

[AussieNYC]

i say go. why give up the opportunity to see the school? you have an interview, which is such a big step...just GO, for crying out loud.

 

[Premed2003]

Thanks Indianboy. Could you please elaborate on why you'd choose Penn over JHU?

Would you choose Penn over other schools like Yale or Columbia? Of course, I will not know anything about post-interview news from them until later in the spring, but I did like those schools. I'm trying to weigh advantages vs. disadvantages of spending time at yet another interview. Would any of you guys choose Penn over say Yale or Columbia?
If yes or no, please specify why. I'm trying to learn about Penn from student/applicant perspectives

Originally posted by indianboy
UPENN is moy beuno. I would personally take Penn over JHU anyday, but hey, some people have bad taste, and thats just A-OK.

Hope that Helps.

PShankOut

 

[jalfredprufrock]

I think the curriculum is high honors/high pass/pass etc, although it's been a while since I was there and I can't remember. Apologies.
From what I could tell, the faculty are very involved with the students. I interviewed with a student who was a MSTP and hence, spent a lot of time around the faculty. The other was a physician who split time between research, teaching, and practice. He seemed to love working with the med students. Overall, I left Penn with the impression that Penn is intensely focused upon developing its students in a constructive and nurturing way. I was very impressed, and I think the school is a wonderful place to learn medicine.
That said, it appears you'll have a few difficult choices ahead of you. Hopkins is a wonderful school too, but don't write off Penn without seeing it. you might decide that you really like it!
Good luck to you!

 

[dr kevin40]

upenn is a great school with a new curriculum that offers advantages over others. the first sememster isnot graded, so it lets u relax and get to know others. ppl seem pretty chill.

plus its part of a FUN UNDERGRAD CAMPUS! and in the city of philly. philly is a great city, lively, w/ lots of clubs/bars/sports teams. much better than jhu

 

[Bonds756]

The first 1/2 year is just pass/fail. I think all of the remainder of the class stuff, the next one year, is honors/pass/fail. We just started this part of the curriculum and that is how it is now, and I don't think they add high pass and low pass until the last 2 1/2 years when you start in the clinics.

If I could pick again...
Penn>Yale
Penn>>Columbia
Penn>>>>>JHU

 

[Premed2003]

Thanks Prufrock!

When you guys went to Penn, how would you rate your gut feeling about the school? What other school did you think it compared to most?

For example, my gut feelings about the schools that I've been to would be:
1) Yale-Cornell ---most impressed upon visiting
2) Hopkins-Harvard ----next impressed upon visiting
3) Columbia - WashU
4) etc

How woud you guys rank gut feeling of the schools you've visited? This might be an interesting new thread to start too -- ranking schools based on gut feeling would be pretty interesting

Thanks guys🙂

 

[DarkChild]

premed, when is your penn interview... mine is on i think the 17th of january, or thereabouts... unfortunately for penn I'll be 13,000 miles away and laughing at them.
thats what they get for waitlisting me last year.
i know, i'm a bitter little man.
(sheesh, just kidding i'll cancel it guys 😀 )
well i saw penn last year, and i really liked it:
a) the location is pretty good. phili isnt a bad place and i think its definately a much more liveable location that baltimore is.
b) facilities are very nice, and the schools research is pretty impressive. but i guess that goes without saying for most of the top schools out there
c) the students are friendly, laidback and outgoing and it struck me as a very collegial atmosphere.
d) the school has done some interesting rejuggling of its curriculum... i just cant really remember much about it, except that its supposed to get students seeing patients earlier

all in all, for me the real draw of UPenn compared to lot of its peers (Columbia/Cornell aside) is the location. I think phili slaughters B'more, Durham, N. Haven...

 

[Premed2003]

Hey Bonds, your post is really helpful

Why would you pick Penn over Yale, Columbia and JHU? Do you have friends at the other schools that aren't too happy to be there?

I'm trying to make an informed decision about spending money and time, but you guys are starting to convince me that it's a good idea...but i want to make the most informed decision possible

 

[DarkChild]

oh yeah. and the eye candy at Penn isnt that bad at all
😉
gut feeling wise:
Yale>Penn>Cornell>>Columbia

 

[CTIL]

I have a Penn interview this month that I was debating whether or not to accept. I decided to check it out because I've heard so many good things about the school. After all the work that went into applications and stuff, I think its worth it to at least check these places out, even if you think you're satisfied with a school you're already accepted to.

 

[Bonds756]

One of the major appeals about Yale is a general feeling of a lack of stress. The way Penn does the 1.5 year curriculum does mean a lot of work for that time (but also being on the wards sooner!), but they made a lot of attempts to make it as stressfree as possible (like just pass-fail, picking a very chill group of students who are friendly and go out together, etc). So in that way, I think Penn and Yale are most similar.
There are at least eight kids in my class who were planning on going to Columbia but signed up for Penn when they got in off the wait-list. I don't know the reasons, but I just remember there were a lot of people who did this so it must have been for some reason or another. One think that I remember is the high lecture to PBL/small group time that Columbia has. And I can tell you it is sometimes hard to sit through many hours of lecture straight (Penn generally has a rule they can't give us more than three hours of lecture in a row- and yes, we always have a break every hour).
JHU. Well, I don't really know too much about them, but they are apparently our rivals so I used emphasis in my last post. But honestly, I didn't even apply to Hopkins. While it is probably totally unfounded, their intense reputation (which I actually think is more for undergrad than med), plus the thought of living in Baltimore made me not apply.
I hope that is a little more helpful than my ">" signs.

 

[Premed2003]

Bonds, thanks for your marvelous insight

The other schools that I'm accepted to but am right now planning on JHU instead are Stanford and WashU. Does anyone have any insight on these compared to Penn?

Based on this thread, it seems that most people don't like JHU. Maybe I should start a separate thread about what do people think about JHU...Well, what are your thoughts on Stanford and WashU? Do any of you guys think Penn is more attractive than Stanford or WashU?

I do love Stanford too, and was for a whiile planning on Stanford over JHU, but I recently decided on JHU. Maybe I should reconsider this. I am grateful and appreciativfe to have these options. Would you guys think Stanford would be better than JHU? I don't think I'm going to choose WashU over either of the other two. I guess my question now is JHU or Stanford, and would Penn be a better 4 years than either of these 2?

I guess another question is: Is a January interview late in the season for Penn? Considering my application was complete in July and I'm just now being interviewed, does it mean they're not too fond of my application? Are my chances of an acceptance low? Or does Penn interview most people late?

 

[indianboy]

Here are my gut feeling only scales from some places I've been to:

How hard the students work (first is less work)
Havard,Yale,Penn/Cornell/UCSF/WashU,UCLA,Columbia/Duke (first year blows),JHU

Location (first is best)
Cornell/UCLA,UCSF/Penn,Havard,Yale,Columbia,WashU,JHU/Duke

Reputation for Putting out Competant Docs (first is best)
JHU,Columbia/Penn/UCSF,WashU,UCLA/Cornell/Harvard/Yale/Duke (eh whatever)

Happiest Students (first is happiest)
Yale/UCSF,Cornell/UCLA/Penn,Harvard/WashU,Duke (don't as the first years😉),Columbia/JHU

Financially (first is least)
UCSF/UCLA,Penn,WashU,JHU,Cornell/Yale/Duke,Havard,Columbia

These are my opinions. If you don't like them, have a cookie.

Hope that Helps

PShankOut

 

[Rapid Decomposition]

Another thing about Penn which I think is fairly unique, especially among the upper echelon schools, is that they have some money set aside for half and full ride merit scholarships, which aren't need based. I'm sure they are pretty competitive but judging from the interviews you have had you probably would have a good chance at getting one. Of course, if you are eligible for good need based aid then this wouldn't apply.

One of the great things about Penn is that it is on the same campus as a very prestigious and cool university, and I'm pretty sure there is a lot of opportunity for cross over and mingle with other non-medical students.

I for one think I was more impressed by Harvard and JHU, but I did all my interviews early (Oct/Nov) so I don't really remember, either.

 

[Biffer]

As a current Penn senior I can comment on the entire university. I think penn is great in that all the grad schools are on the same campus as the undergrad meaning that your social circle does not need to limited to fellow med schoolers. There is much more of an integrated feel to the med school at penn vs other schools. In fact, Penn has an active grad social body (GAPSA) which holds events regularly. My only peeve is the biomed library where you will probably have to spend some time in during your 4yrs. Its definitley in need of some renovation, but on the brighter side, med studs have exclusive access to an especially plush study lounge. Also, there are tons of other nice libraries on campus that are within 3 min walking distance from the core of the med school. Other resources owing to the cross-disciplinary nature of the university include joint MD/MBA, MD/JD, etc... there will be an MD/MPH track coming very soon, next year I believe. Even if you're not interested in attaining another degree, you are free to enroll in wharton/law(correct me) courses that interest you.

oh yeah, Philly is a great city for many reasons. Its affordable, fun, great food, good enough cultural offerings... overall, its not as intense and exciting as nyc, but certainly much more manageable than the big apple and a hell of a lot better than St.louis + Baltimore. In philly you can find excellent concerts, bars, festivals, etc. whenever you want and just as easily find peace and tranquility.

hope this helps a bit,
biff

 

[Desdemona]

Penn >>>>>>Columbia! the students at Penn absolutely love it there...they all said they wouldn't change anything about it. I didn't like columbia at all-I would definitely turn them down, but Penn is my top choice. I haven't gone to stanford yet, but at least in terms of the weather, it's better 🙂

 

[Thewonderer]

I have just quickly looked through both the JHU and this threads. It seems that you are getting supporters of various schools popping up.

Be patient.... These lists of pros and cons on reputation, curriculum, combined degree option, classmate demography, etc. won't help you much. Just wait.........for the financial aid to come out. You will be surprised that some school are willing to throw tons of grants at you while others are super stingy. Just fill out the financial aid forms for ALL of the schools above. Whichever is cheaper is the MAN. After finance, you can consider which city you like the most and where your friends and family are.

And if you really cannot decide, take out a coin and flip to your content!

 

[UCLA2000]

Unlike my colleagues I'm not going to spoon feed you info in order to convince you to come to an interview at one of the top schools in the nation. In truth, the notion that someone would need convincing to interview here is really perplexing. I can only conclude that you haven't done any research on your own about Penn.

Here is the admissions website. It has alot of great info on it about Penn.

Click Here

Penn's reputation stands for itself. It was the first medical school in the nation, and it takes pride in putting out some of the nation's finest physicians.

If you don't want to go to the interview...then don't go!

Just be sure to call and cancel early enough that they can give that spot to someone who really wants to be at Penn.

Best of luck in your future interviews, and your career.

 

[Bonds756]

Originally posted by UCLA2000
Unlike my colleagues I'm not going to spoon feed you info in order to convince you to come to an interview at one of the top schools in the nation. In truth, the notion that someone would need convincing to interview here is really perplexing. I can only conclude that you haven't done any research on your own about Penn.

That is why I initially only used >>> to say what I though, since I found it odd that someone needed convincing to go to a Penn interview.
But I figured I would try to help out since Premed at least knew the difference between Penn and Penn State.