Why do you choose upenn

Another reason it's confusing is that the Ivy League consists of only private universities, but UPenn sounds as though it's a public state university when, in fact, it's not! For the record, Penn State is a public school, so no surprises there. So what are the Ivy League schools? Here's the full list , along with their current US News rankings , so you can see how Penn compares with the other Ivies:. The gist of it is this: UPenn is a highly ranked, private Ivy League institution, while Penn State is a large, well-ranked public university.

In reality, the two schools aren't connected to each other in any major way, except for the fact that they're both well known and located in Pennsylvania.

University of Pennsylvania Bryan Y. In this section, we give you a comprehensive UPenn vs Penn State comparison to show you how these two big-name universities differ and are sometimes a lot alike as well. Remember that "Penn" refers to the private Ivy League institution. UPenn is located in Philadelphia , the largest city in the state, on the southeast tip of Pennsylvania. It takes around two hours to drive from Penn to New York City. Meanwhile, the main Penn State campus called University Park is based in City College , a smaller college town that's surrounded by mountains and located smack in the center of the state.

It's about a three-hour drive in either direction to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia where Penn is based. Note that while Penn has one main campus, Penn State has 24 campuses all around the state.

We already covered this above, but just to reiterate, Penn is a private Ivy League university, whereas Penn State is a public state university. Check out our detailed guide to learn more about the differences between private and public colleges. Few realize how different the two schools are in size, or total number of undergraduates.

Whereas Penn has approximately 10, undergraduates, Penn State has around 40,— that's four times as many students. In fact, Penn State is one of the largest schools in the US in terms of enrollment. As you might've guessed, Penn, being a more prestigious Ivy, is much higher ranked than is Penn State by publications and websites such as US News , Forbes , and Niche.

That said, Penn State performs well , often ranking within the top spots and even in the top 25 for best public colleges in the US.

As you can see from this chart, Penn is consistently ranked in the top 10 national universities, making it an extremely prestigious school. This means that Penn—that's the more prestigious Ivy League school—is way harder to get into than is Penn State. So out of every applicants, a little less than half will get into Penn State, but only eight will get into Penn. This puts Penn at the same level of selectivity as Northwestern, Duke, and the University of Chicago.

It also makes it one of the most selective colleges. What this means is that you'll need to have a much more competitive application to be able to get into Penn than to get into Penn State. You likely know that private US universities are generally a lot more expensive in tuition and fees than are public universities especially if you're in-state. The same rule applies to UPenn vs Penn State. That's a ton of money that doesn't even include housing or meal plans.

Despite all this, Penn might ultimately be the cheaper option for you. The student-faculty ratio shows how many students there are per professor at an institution. The lower this ratio, the better , as that means students can get more one-on-one time with their professors. Penn Admissions Blog. Why Penn? Share this post. About the author. Back to. Admissions Blog.

Why take Swahili if you might be interested in law? Because why not! Where else will you get the chance to study something totally new but here, in college?

Another important thing to consider is the social life. Many students end up spending significant amounts of time with the people they meet there. Yes, some students are pre-professional , but Penn students join these clubs and genuinely enjoy their time there.

Finally, find yourself a school with strong, student-supported traditions. This is one place where Penn really lacks with no excuses. The Palestra, the most historic venue in college basketball, often remains empty during our basketball season. At my first football game it took the spectators three tries to throw toast at the right time toast, you say?

Eat it. It's worth noting that Penn, unlike Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, but like Cornell, does ask students to apply to one of the four specific colleges within the university. Revisiting coursework for a moment, admission suggestions for each of the four undergraduate colleges are slightly different.

The College of Arts and Sciences expects your child to have had a balanced and advanced college prep curriculum, while both Penn Engineering and the Wharton School expect particularly strong preparation in mathematics, with coursework in calculus of possible. The School of Nursing likes to see strong science prep, particularly in chemistry. Choosing one of the four colleges also means that, to apply to Penn, your child may need a little more information about their future academic plan than they might at another school.

However, while identifying an intended major gives the admissions committee an idea of what your child might pursue at Penn, it has no impact on their studies once they enroll in one the undergraduate colleges.

Over half of students who indicate an intended major end up majoring in a different subject once they are studying at Penn. If your child is undecided, they can check that box, like over half of students admitted to the College of Arts and Science.

Penn accepts both the Common Application and the Coalition Application. Common App essay. Two Penn-specific essays and possibly several more essays tailored to the undergraduate school to which your child intends to apply. School report, transcript, and midyear senior report plus a final report required in June for matriculating students. Optional: Additional letters of recommendation, art or music samples, or an expanded resume or research abstract in addition to the activities section of the application.

Your child can apply to Penn via a binding early decision agreement by November 1st. Penn admits roughly half of their incoming class through early decision, but the UPenn early decision acceptance rate is still low, around 15 percent. Your child can also apply regular decision to Penn, by January 5th. If your child needs the fall semester of their senior year to improve their test scores, GPA, or activities profile, then they should wait for regular decision.

The answer: Not particularly. Admissions rates to the College of Arts and Sciences, Wharton, and Penn Engineering are all typically under 10 percent. Only the School of Nursing is slightly higher—about 25 percent in recent years. Suggested reading: Early Action vs. Penn will evaluate your child based on their Common App personal statement, but it is equally important that they have exceptional Penn-specific supplemental essays. Some individual undergraduate schools and specialty programs require additional written supplements, so make sure your child is aware of all Penn-specific essays required for their chosen program.

For all undergraduate admissions, Penn requires two supplements, both of which are shorter than the Common App essay: a —word essay that focuses on academic pursuits and a —word mini-essay that focuses on life outside of school.

Jean is a first-generation college student interested in the Science, Technology, and Society major at Penn as a foundation for law school. Jean writes a history of technology column for her school newspaper and serves as its web developer—last year, she even created an app for the paper. Since his freshman year in high school, Aashish has held a part-time job as a dishwasher at a restaurant owned by his uncle.

Alice grew up between Minneapolis and Mexico City. Question 1: Considering the specific undergraduate school you have selected, how will you explore your academic and intellectual interests at The University of Pennsylvania?