How to get into UPenn

What is UPenn’s reputation?

“pre-professional paradise” “entrepreneurial spirit” “high-energy campus” “cut-throat mentality” “everyone is always networking” “best undergraduate business program in America” “the social Ivy” “flex culture” “$1,000 Canada Goose jackets everywhere” “future CEOs” “mediocre dining options” “big party scene” “Philly is great but a bit sketchy” “diverse but not integrated” “you can take classes at any of the four amazing colleges”

University of Pennsylvania (aka “UPenn” or “Penn”) is the second largest Ivy League with 10,000 undergraduates, and at times it can feel like every single one of those students is obsessing about their career. Unlike most Ivies, you have to apply directly to one of the four undergraduate colleges: College of Arts and Sciences (CAS or “the College”), Wharton Business, Penn Engineering, or School of Nursing. Perhaps because of this, Penn has developed a solid reputation as the most “pre-professional” of all the Ivies, meaning that — for better or worse — career advancement seems to be forefront on everyone’s mind.

Bear in mind, however, that Penn encourages a highly interdisciplinary approach to learning, which means that regardless of what particular college you enroll in, you are free to take any of the 4,000+ classes offered at any of the four undergraduate colleges, space permitting. This is in line with the school’s “One University, Four Schools” philosophy. You can enroll in the College of Arts and Sciences, for example, with a major in English, and earn a minor in Data Science from Penn Engineering. Penn undergraduates can also apply to pursue a dual degree with Wharton, or to transfer into Wharton, though the process is highly competitive.

Note that although the University of Pennsylvania is frequently called “Penn,” it should not be confused with Penn State (The Pennsylvania State University) which is a large public university in University Park, PA. And although “UPenn” and “Penn” are both commonly used, those in the know just say “Penn.”

The pre-professional vibe.

While it’s true that everyone who attends an Ivy League university is probably thinking that it will help them in their careers, Penn has cultivated a particularly strong pre-preprofessional campus culture, particularly in the field of business. You can see this as either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on who you are and what you’re looking for in your undergraduate education.

At Yale, for example, lots of students will end up as doctors, lawyers and CEOs. But the vast majority of Yalies spend a lot of their free time engaged in very non-professional activities, like singing in an a capella group, or staging a rock-n’-roll production of Hamlet, or studying medieval sword-making, just because it’s fun. At Penn, students seem to be a lot more serious and focused about getting their career in gear. There are tons of clubs on investment banking, business leadership, entrepreneurialism, tech start-ups, you name it.

This can be a good thing if you’re champing at the bit to get started in your career right away, if you want to learn as much as you can about your field both in and out of class, if you’re looking to gain hands-on experience before you start grad school, if you want to meet regularly with impressive guest speakers and leaders in their fields, and if you want want to make important alumni connections so you can land that perfect internship, research opportunity or summer job. But it can also feel overwhelming and exhausting if everyone around you is continually obsessing about their future instead of enjoying the here and now. So it’s really a question of whether this type of high-pressure environment will inspire you to do your best, or leave you feeling burnt-out.

The Pros of Penn…

For starters, there are magnificent opportunities for pre-professional training, particularly in business. For example, there’s a club called Penn International Impact Consulting (PIIC) where you’re put on a small team of students from all four undergraduate schools (Wharton, Engineering, etc.) to study and provide consultation services to a nonprofit (NGO) in a developing region around the globe. Working with faculty mentors, you learn to create financial models, make pitch decks, devise e-commerce strategies — basically everything about strategic consulting. At the end of the year, you spend three weeks overseas working directly with the CEO of the NGO to implement your strategies. No other Ivy League school does this.

Want another example? There’s an awesome Penn program called Projects for Progress, where undergraduates pitch their own idea for a community outreach program to improve the surrounding community of Philadelphia, perhaps uplifting an impoverished area or addressing education inequity in local schools. If your proposal is selected, you’re awarded $100,000, given a team of 3-5 students, and allowed one year to create, implement and evaluate your pilot program. How’s that for promoting social impact and creating the leaders of tomorrow?

But that’s not all. At Penn, a small number of top students can also apply to earn a prestigious “dual degree” from two different Penn colleges at the same time, all in just four years. This isn’t just a dual major, which you can pursue at almost any university; it’s actually two different college degrees for the price of one. For example, if you’re accepted into the prestigious Jerome Fisher Management and Technology (M&T) program, you can earn both a BS (Bachelor of Science) in Economics from Wharton Business School and a BS in Engineering from Penn Engineering School. Or if you’re accepted into the Huntsman Program, you can earn both a BA in International Studies from the School of Arts and Sciences, and a BS in Economics from Wharton. Naturally, these highly-coveted dual degree programs are absurdly difficult to get into (many have less than 3% acceptance rates), but when you graduate, you will be first in line for the best jobs and graduate schools.

The Cons of Penn…

Probably the biggest drawback to Penn is the strong pressure to keep climbing the social ladder: to nab that great internship, lock down that summer job, get accepted into the right business club, etc. And it can cause a terrible strain on your mental health, even if you are a high-achiever. At Penn, there’s something known as “Penn Face,” which is where everyone acts like everything is going great, but inside they’re completely falling apart. Penn seems to be one of those places where students feel like they have to have their “game face” on all the time, leading to a lot of anxiety and depression.

Many students also complain that Penn is a very wealthy “show off” school, where students parade around in their incredibly expensive high-fashion clothing and accessories, even in the dead of winter. Obviously not everyone can afford this, and it makes for an uncomfortable divide between the haves and have-nots. Compare this with places like Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell where absolutely no one cares what you wear; they’re probably too cold to even notice.

The final issue to consider is whether you want to go to a college where virtually everyone is pursuing the same field: business. While not all Penn undergraduates attend the Wharton School of Business, it can seem like everyone has one hand in that pot. Even students who major in something completely different like Fine Arts or Physics seem to minor in Economics or Finance or Marketing. Penn is known for Wharton, so it’s not surprisingly most students want to take advantage of that. Compare this with Yale or Brown, for example, where the vast majority of students are not obsessed with business.

What does Penn look for in applicants?

Like all the Ivies, Penn is looking for straight-A students with remarkable extracurricular achievement. But Penn seems particularly interested in students who are doers more than just thinkers. Perhaps because of their pre-professional bent, Penn wants to see evidence that you have hands-on experience actually accomplishing something in your community and making an impact. Yes, they value intellectual curiosity for its own sake, but it may not be as impressive as tangible results.

The other thing to be aware of is that Penn is evaluating your application for evidence that you’re a good fit for the particular college you’re applying to. For example, if you’re applying to Wharton Business, you’d better have top grades in all of the most advanced math classes your high school has to offer, plus real business experience, either creating a company, interning for a top firm, or achieving something else notable. If you don’t have that, you won’t get in.

Final tips for getting in.

If Penn is your first choice, you should definitely consider applying Early Decision since you statistically have a much better chance of getting accepted. For example, the acceptance rate for Regular Decision is only 3%, but the acceptance rate for Early Decision is five times that at 15%. In addition, for the Class of 2027, Penn filled 49% of its freshman class with ED applicants. That means that if you wait to apply Regular Decision (with everyone else), half the seats will already be gone. You can learn more about the pros and cons of Early Decision here.

You should also know that while Penn is technically “test optional” for the SAT and ACT, 71% of admitted students submitted their scores for the Class of 2026. That means that while you can still get into Penn without submitting your test scores, only 29% of students managed to do so. Our advice: sign up for an SAT or ACT program, crush the test, and submit that score.

In addition, you should apply to the college that you’re most qualified for, based on your high school transcript and extracurriculars. If you want to study business and tech at Penn, but don’t have any tech background, don’t bother applying to the Management and Tech dual degree program or to Penn Engineering, because you won’t get in. Apply instead to Wharton Business (if you have strong business credentials), or to the College of Arts and Sciences, and supplement your education with all the courses you want from those other schools once you get in. That’s a far better plan than getting rejected.