Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Solid state school. Excellent football (but can’t quite get over the hump).

🤦‍♀️

Nope. Just nope.

Anonymous wrote:Solid state school. Excellent football (but can’t quite get over the hump).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard mixed things. It's on my child's list so they have researched it fairly well. It sounds like it has both a "work hard play hard" and "social Ivy" reputation, and also a grind, grind, grind reputation. My kid sent me a link purporting to show that Penn has some of the worst mental health outcomes around. So I'm concerned about it.

We were also concerned about this. My kid chose Dartmouth over Penn for this reason -- wanted a more relaxed and collaborative atmosphere.

Anonymous wrote:Soph parent: Penn is very undergrad focused! Professors are amazing. Wharton and Engineering admission stats have gotten insane and unhooked they all are the same as HYPSM, especially the rare kids who get into the Dual degrees(M&T, Viper, LSM, Huntsman) who usually have multiple ivy/similar admissions to chose from. Engineering was the lowest acceptance rate ever at sub-3.5 % for ED and RD combined(so RD for Engineers is estimated to be under 2% the last 2 cycles), for class of 2026 and 2027, announced at the last two parents weekends, &Wharton is sub -4% for over 3 yrs now. College A&S and Nursing dont release but obviously slightly higher. Still extremely difficult. Wharton has always drawn a lot of applicants, but lately loads of CS/Engineers apply to ivies/T15s these days, especially the ones with Engineering schools. Over 25% of the applicant pool was to Engineering, yet only 1/6th of the undergrads are in the Engineering school. Mine says students are all super smart but collaborative, not cut-throat.

Anonymous wrote:Solid state school. Excellent football (but can’t quite get over the hump).

Anonymous wrote:My high stats DC applied to Penn on a lark. I don't have high hopes, but you never know.

Anyhow, if you're applying to Wharton, my impression is that you need HYPSM-level credentials--i.e., immaculate stats, national awards, major hooks, and great fortune. For the other Penn programs, students may be admitted with marginally lower credentials, but it's still a crap shoot.

As mentioned above, Penn has a reputation for (a) "work hard play hard" culture, (b) competitive students, and (c) preprofessional focus, although this will vary from student to student and program to program. Two or three decades ago, Penn had a reputation for being extremely graduate-focused to the neglect of its undergraduate programs. But I think Penn has largely corrected that perception.

Soph parent: Penn is very undergrad focused! Professors are amazing. Wharton and Engineering admission stats have gotten insane and unhooked they all are the same as HYPSM, especially the rare kids who get into the Dual degrees(M&T, Viper, LSM, Huntsman) who usually have multiple ivy/similar admissions to chose from. Engineering was the lowest acceptance rate ever at sub-3.5 % for ED and RD combined(so RD for Engineers is estimated to be under 2% the last 2 cycles), for class of 2026 and 2027, announced at the last two parents weekends, &Wharton is sub -4% for over 3 yrs now. College A&S and Nursing dont release but obviously slightly higher. Still extremely difficult. Wharton has always drawn a lot of applicants, but lately loads of CS/Engineers apply to ivies/T15s these days, especially the ones with Engineering schools. Over 25% of the applicant pool was to Engineering, yet only 1/6th of the undergrads are in the Engineering school. Mine says students are all super smart but collaborative, not cut-throat.