*Updated September 2024*

Essay 2

How will you explore community at Penn? Consider how Penn will help shape your perspective, and how your experiences and perspective will help shape Penn. (150-200 words)

Before you start exploring anything, you need an aim. Even infants who don’t know any better still have an aim: ‘wander into the most dangerous areas in the most dangerous way and ideally create angst in my parents but also discover new stuff(!).’ 

Here are key questions to ask:

• What is your definition of community?
• Where does that definition come from? And more relevantly, in what ways has community played a role in your life?
• Can you identify specific ways in which engagement with community somehow affected your perspective, or helped shape you?

That’s your ‘starting point’ homework assignment. An important foundation. Once you have these concepts clear, you can start considering the next batch:

• Given your past relationship with community, and understanding of its potential value add (for now, how it impacts you), what new versions of this are you looking to experience while you’re in college?
• If these are the same, explain why; if they’re new, explain why.
• Now explain where at UPenn you’re hoping to find this. What is it about UPenn’s offerings/environment that may be more appealing than another school? How will you engage?
• Now consider ways in which you’ll be a value-add to the communities in which you hope to participate. 
• Why is it important to you? 
• Why should we believe you? Can you prove that you’re committed to this and not just saying things that sound great?
• Will your ‘contributions’ (your mixing with Penn communities) make Penn better, richer, cooler, more interesting somehow? If so, explain.

Those are some of the big questions you’ll do yourself a favor by thinking through carefully. Once you’ve done that legwork, now we can assemble a decent starting point for a first draft:

1. Sell us on why community matters to you, how it has shaped you and why you seek newer experiences given this history. This needs to be convincing, and if you pull this off, you’ll make others who don’t go to these lengths look like they’re talking a big game but may not necessarily walk the talk. (50 words)
2. Now show us how well-researched you are about Penn by walking through how one or two or three ‘communities’ intersect with the needs you laid out in your opening. As you talk through what you’re hoping to explore, explain the value it will bestow on you. (75-100 words) 
3. Finally, show us that you understand that community is a two-way street, and that you have something valuable to add. What is that thing, why should anyone want that, make it so that we can picture/appreciate the value-add. (50-75 words)

Of course, 2 and 3 do not necessarily need to be separate and chronological, it is 100% possible to integrate rather seamlessly. Find whatever ‘argument’ suits your style better. More importantly, hit the points. This is after all a first draft. If you hit those themes, having thought through all the other stuff, you’ll have a decent first pass.

*Updated September 2024*

Essay 3

The school-specific prompt is unique to the school to which you are applying. (For example, all applicants applying to the College of Arts and Sciences will respond to the prompt under the “College of Arts and Sciences” section). Considering the undergraduate school you have selected for your single-degree option, please respond to your school-specific prompt below.  

Each of these is similar-ish. But different enough that they each warrant some unpacking. Let’s go through each for a tailored approach to each program’s unique question.

School of Nursing

Penn Nursing intends to meet the health needs of a global, multicultural world by preparing its students to impact healthcare through advancing science. How will you contribute to our mission of promoting equity in healthcare and how will Penn Nursing contribute to your future nursing goals? (150-200 words)

“To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about Penn Nursing’s mission and how we promote equity in healthcare here. This information will help you develop a stronger understanding of our values and how they align with your own goals and aspirations.”

Curiously, they’re not that interested in your reasons for pursuing nursing, unless those reasons intersect with the theme of equity, in a way that aligns with Penn’s particular mission and definitions. It’s within their right to do so, but they are not-so-subtly saying, “Those whose missions do not align with ours on this issue, need not apply.” Or at least, it may be useful to interpret it that way. They are telling you what matters to them, and what they need you to be similarly drawn to, because therein (for them) lies the correct recipe for total success. 

So, if your relationship with equity isn’t in excellent alignment with theirs, you’ll either need to fake it convincingly here to make it seem like it is? Or, you might honestly be better off setting your sights elsewhere (and to Penn’s credit, mission accomplished for telegraphing what they’re looking for as clearly as they have.) If, however, when you click that link and read about their mission, those words resonate hard, fantastic, you’re in the right place.

Your next mission will be NOT simply to restate those bullets and claim them as your own, and conclude “You see? This is my mission as well! We’re meant for each other!” Instead, you’ll need to develop a kind of ‘proof’ that shows what life events and experiences led you to develop an affinity for those ideas. Show us how things in your life made those mission statements a part of you. If you do that, then without even stating it, you will have made it apparent *that* you and Penn are peas on a pod on this theme. 

Here’s how you’ll want to structure this one:

1. Show us the crumbs in your life that led you to your relationship with the theme of equity in a way that aligns with Penn’s mission statements (using that link). We need to understand how you got to where you are on this topic. (75 words)
2. Now draw a link between Penn’s approach to Nursing, with its focus on these issues, and your personal connection to the field of nursing, your experiences, goals, etc. All with an anchor-point focus around (Penn’s and therefore your definition of) ‘equity.’ (50-75 words)
3. Now, finally, take us through precisely how you will advance that mission, carry it forward, add to it, contribute something perhaps new and well-aligned, etc. Think about this very carefully, it’s easier said than done. Your credibility here relies on having nailed ‘Part 1’ above. Others who neglect Part 1 will simply be saying words and hoping Penn believes them. (50-75 words)

College of Arts and Sciences

The flexible structure of The College of Arts and Sciences’ curriculum is designed to inspire exploration, foster connections, and help you create a path of study through general education courses and a major. What are you curious about and how would you take advantage of opportunities in the arts and sciences? (150-200 words) 

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about the academic offerings within the College of Arts and Sciences.  This information will help you develop a stronger understanding of how the study of the liberal arts aligns with your own goals and aspirations. 

Penn wants to see a deep level of engagement with Penn. Others in the competitive pool will be going full tilt here, and spoiling it for those who only make a ‘very credible argument but don’t go far enough toward proving that they have immersed fully in all the Penn specifically has to offer.’ So, understand that that’s where the bar is, and if you hope to compete, you need to put in the work. 

Here’s what they’re asking, and honestly, this can double as the structure for your essay itself:

• What are you curious about? (25-50 words)
• What are you hoping to do with that curiosity? How are you hoping to harness it? To what end? Where might it take you? What about that drives you? (25-75 words)
• We know that there are 10-20 other places that offer opportunities in the ‘arts and sciences’ and that if you were to combine you and your interests with ANY of those programs, you would likely be plenty fulfilled and plenty successful. Why, though, might you feel a particular, unusual, stronger attraction to OUR OFFERINGS? What is it about the combination of You + Penn that makes you feel like it may catapult you to a cooler, better, more fulfilled Future You? (100-125 words)

When you get to that last bullet, you’ll want to connect your interests and goals with not just specific offerings of Upenn but some combination of ‘UPenn offering + UPenn trait/feature’ that makes it distinctly different from a similar opportunity at another program. Every program may offer a unique set of classes. Great. Who cares. It’s not enough to name a class or a professor. There has to be more. There has to be some thread, or cumulative cultural characteristic or theme that connects UPenn opportunities in a way that sums to a more desirable option set than any alternative. 

One of the mistakes applicants make is to think that they can simply study UPenn (and links like the one UPenn provides here) and fashion a convincing argument. Wrong. In order to have chosen UPenn, in a way that’s truly convincing, you need to have done this exact type of homework with competitor programs, and found deltas between UPenn and those programs, and be able to articulate what those deltas are as you see them, and why they draw you in. This is where the real ‘study’ is. You need to do this level of digging with Harvard, and Columbia, and Brown, and wherever else you’re applying alongside UPenn, getting a ‘feel’ for those programs. You then need to be able to describe succinctly what makes each school different from one another, or at the very least, what makes UPenn somehow distinctly different from the rest.

Do all that legwork, think through these issues carefully and then develop your case.

The Wharton School

Wharton prepares its students to make an impact by applying business methods and economic theory to real-world problems, including economic, political, and social issues.  Please reflect on a current issue of importance to you and share how you hope a Wharton education would help you to explore it.  (150-200 words) 

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about the foundations of a Wharton education. This information will help you better understand what you could learn by studying at Wharton and what you could do afterward. 

This question (sigh) presumes that your interest in Wharton (and business) must be inextricably linked to real-world ‘problems.’ This prompt seems to invite themes that are heavy, hot-topics, big ‘important’ issues as if on a universal scale, rather than something that’s important to you, and might serve to add value to the business space and affect even a tiny corner of the world in a small, indirect, and unspectacular (but still meaningful) way. Our advice: kill that noise.

Figure out what drives you. Figure out what you’re hoping to achieve in the realm of business. Be as unflinchingly pure and honest as possible. Really ‘get’ to it. The what. The why. Imagine succeeding at whatever it is that lights a fire in you. How will anything be different/better as a result of that? Start there. (This is really what UPenn is hoping to get a sense of btw.)

Now, you’ll need to do some ‘curve-fitting’ potentially. And go through the Wharton stuff (use their links, study the hell out of it, read everything you can). But then, do this again with NYU Stern, Ross, all the other undergrad business options and get their vibe also. See if you can pay attention to ways in which the Wharton version is generating a different kind of feeling, and see if you can pinpoint it, and then explain what those examples are, why a path that travels through Wharton gets more out of you than an alternative.

Yes, there’s more to connect, but our advice is to start here, hit these themes first and foremost and then we can assess whether this is compelling enough to build on, or whether we need to consider more ‘universal themes’ of social issues/business problems that may telegraph a kind of socially-engaged applicant that UPenn is looking for.

The School of Engineering and Applied Science

Penn Engineering prepares its students to become leaders in technology by combining a strong foundation in the natural sciences and mathematics with depth of study in focused disciplinary majors. Please share how you plan to pursue your engineering interests at Penn. (150-200 words)

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about Penn Engineering and its mission to prepare students for global leadership in technology here. This information will help you develop a stronger understanding of academic pathways within Penn Engineering and how they align with your goals and interests.

Sobriety, clean, measured, cogent responses will win the day here. Can you weave a compelling relationship between natural sciences and mathematics, and the focused disciplinary majors mentioned in that link? Not just in a vacuum but given your specific engineering interests? One neat way to do this is to imagine a narrower understanding of how someone else might pursue this area of interest, in a way that *didn’t* weave in those other areas. Can you extrapolate what that looks like? Can you now make that picture much stronger by flowing it through a more exhaustive and creative approach that borrows from nearby areas? If it’s better, what makes it so? Take a spin through UPenn’s engineering approach, but then read the equivalent pitch from 5-10 other programs. Are there any differences? What are they? Can you find a way that a few of those differences, or perhaps a through-line, makes for a stronger opportunity for your specific interests than an alternative? If you’re headed toward engineering, you need to be able to demonstrate ‘precise thinking’ and put that on display here.

1. What ideas/interests are you attracted to (engineering-wise)? (25-50 words)
2. What are you hoping to parlay these into, in a perfect world? Give us a potential end game, even if you can’t possibly know the specifics, you might have a sense of the general themes/processes/areas you’d like to marinate in. (50 words)
3. Now explain what kind of approach will lead to the best version of this (ahem, this is the part where you start to show an awareness of how things like a combination of natural sciences plus mathematics works well and why). (25-50 words)
4. Now explain the ways in which UPenn’s unique approach is the most attractive version of this for you, given who you are, and your interests. (75 words)

That gets you to a decent first draft, which we can hack into.

*Updated September 2024*

Transfer Essay (required for all transfer applicants): Please explain your reasons for transferring from your current institution and what you hope to gain by transferring to another institution. (4150 characters) 

Check out our analysis of The Transfer Essay here.