IN AT UPENN Forum

[swampthang]

Waiting to hear if they will throw me a few bucks. If so I am in.

Yeah same. But when I spoke with the Financial Aid office and Dean Post, they hinted at a ballpark dollar figure to try to close the gap with my Mich scholly. If it comes through, I'm totally there

If it doesnt....

Close the gap? Why wouldn't they, you know, match the offer from a school ranked the same as them? Why does Penn's finaid office act like their peer group is CCN?

[r6_philly]

Close the gap? Why wouldn't they, you know, match the offer from a school ranked the same as them? Why does Penn's finaid office act like their peer group is CCN?

I don't think schools judge themselves by US News rankings. It is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to admissions, but top schools couldn't care less about the rankings when they are considering what the peers are.

[slax]

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[r6_philly]

Close the gap? Why wouldn't they, you know, match the offer from a school ranked the same as them? Why does Penn's entire school act like their peer group is HYS?

Ftfy

FTFY

[HeavenWood]

Close the gap? Why wouldn't they, you know, match the offer from a school ranked the same as them? Why does Penn's entire school act like their peer group is HYS?

Ftfy

[r6_philly]

TBF, the only school that I only hear comparisons about in class is Harvard.

[pereira6]

A school could simply like an applicant more than what we consider "peer" schools.

I got waitlisted at every "peer" school and Penn gave me a small merit scholly. I think they legitimately just wanted me more than the other schools.

Waiting to hear if they will throw me a few bucks. If so I am in.

Yeah same. But when I spoke with the Financial Aid office and Dean Post, they hinted at a ballpark dollar figure to try to close the gap with my Mich scholly. If it comes through, I'm totally there

If it doesnt....

Why don't you guys tell them that? "If you give me X dollars I will 100% attend". Is that too direct? I would try it.

[HeavenWood]

TBF, the only school that I only hear comparisons about in class is Harvard.

slax has the right to her opinion. I have the right to respond with emoticons.

[swampthang]

Close the gap? Why wouldn't they, you know, match the offer from a school ranked the same as them? Why does Penn's entire school act like their peer group is HYS?

Ftfy

Yeah, I'm confused- I did not get this impression at all. I thought the people at Penn- students and admits alike- were very down-to-earth and friendly. The only possible complaint I could muster is that they were not a very geographically diverse group (almost all Northeast and California, but I suppose that's not too surprising).

In contrast, I had less pleasant (more pretentious) experiences at Columbia, NYU (a few, though majority were positive), and UVA. So I'm curious, slax, since you said you wouldn't say any more on the topic but now have, what did I miss that was so bad at ASW? I'm always open to whatever additional information I can get my hands on.

[r6_philly]

slax has the right to her opinion. I have the right to respond with emoticons.

It's people like you and me that gives Penn bad names!!!

[niederbomb]

Close the gap? Why wouldn't they, you know, match the offer from a school ranked the same as them? Why does Penn's finaid office act like their peer group is CCN?

I don't think schools judge themselves by US News rankings. It is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to admissions, but top schools couldn't care less about the rankings when they are considering what the peers are.

CC are undoubtedly better than Penn. But I'm not so convinced about NYU. If NYU didn't consider Penn a peer in scholarship negotiations, I'd consider that pretentious.

[mcweanis]

i think nyu does consider penn schollys, but i still think nyu is considered a more prestigious school, at least/especially for pi. then again i might just be convincing myself cuz im looking at a 90k scholly difference between the two!

[absolutazn87]

I just wanted to sadly announce that I'm most likely going to Mich this fall.

Just talked to the financial aid office and they decided not only not to match my Mich scholly, but to offer me ZERO $$ altogether.

[wackyjack22]

I just wanted to sadly announce that I'm most likely going to Mich this fall.

Just talked to the financial aid office and they decided not only not to match my Mich scholly, but to offer me ZERO $$ altogether.

Seriously!? They told me they were going to come up a bit and beat my Mich scholly. I'm still stunned that I got money from them seeing as how they have given zero to so many strong applicants. A2 is a pretty nice place to be, though, so not like you are losing out in life or anything.

[bdubs]

I just wanted to sadly announce that I'm most likely going to Mich this fall.

Just talked to the financial aid office and they decided not only not to match my Mich scholly, but to offer me ZERO $$ altogether.

Sorry to hear that, but it's not too surprising. Only 42% of Penn students get scholarships/grants, whereas 60% get them at Michigan.

[swl56]

I just wanted to sadly announce that I'm most likely going to Mich this fall.

Just talked to the financial aid office and they decided not only not to match my Mich scholly, but to offer me ZERO $$ altogether.

NooOOooooOoo

[OutCold]

I just wanted to sadly announce that I'm most likely going to Mich this fall.

Just talked to the financial aid office and they decided not only not to match my Mich scholly, but to offer me ZERO $$ altogether.

Seriously!? They told me they were going to come up a bit and beat my Mich scholly. I'm still stunned that I got money from them seeing as how they have given zero to so many strong applicants. A2 is a pretty nice place to be, though, so not like you are losing out in life or anything.

If you two don't mind me asking, how did you get in contact with them about matching the offers? I sent in a competing offer today to the scholarships@law.Penn.edu address, but I would really like to have a more active dialogue than me simply sending the offer. Any advice on who to contact?

[HeavenWood]

I just wanted to sadly announce that I'm most likely going to Mich this fall.

Just talked to the financial aid office and they decided not only not to match my Mich scholly, but to offer me ZERO $$ altogether.

I'm sorry, azn.

[swampthang]

I just wanted to sadly announce that I'm most likely going to Mich this fall.

Just talked to the financial aid office and they decided not only not to match my Mich scholly, but to offer me ZERO $$ altogether.

That's both shocking and disheartening. Still, if you're looking to end up in the Midwest, half-tuition at UMich is a pretty good deal!

[wackyjack22]

I just wanted to sadly announce that I'm most likely going to Mich this fall.

Just talked to the financial aid office and they decided not only not to match my Mich scholly, but to offer me ZERO $$ altogether.

Seriously!? They told me they were going to come up a bit and beat my Mich scholly. I'm still stunned that I got money from them seeing as how they have given zero to so many strong applicants. A2 is a pretty nice place to be, though, so not like you are losing out in life or anything.

If you two don't mind me asking, how did you get in contact with them about matching the offers? I sent in a competing offer today to the scholarships@law.Penn.edu address, but I would really like to have a more active dialogue than me simply sending the offer. Any advice on who to contact?

When I went to ASW I handed Anthony Henry my Michigan and Duke offers during his open office hours. He is a really swell guy and told me that the scholarship committee would be reconvening in the next few weeks and I should hear by April 11. If you emailed him your offers you should find out in the next few weeks as well. This next part is based on anecdotal evidence and some personal speculation but if you didn't get any merit money from Penn the first time around, it seems like you might be out of luck. They seem to be willing to go up if they gave you something at first but if they excluded you to begin with it seems like they stick with that. Again, this is just based on a few people I happen to have talked to so don't take it as gospel. I just want to be able to sign the form already. It's weird, but hopefully going to help my financial situation just a bit, to have an apartment in Philly secured and not have sent in the form that says I'm actually going to Penn.

[slax]

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[OutCold]

When I went to ASW I handed Anthony Henry my Michigan and Duke offers during his open office hours. He is a really swell guy and told me that the scholarship committee would be reconvening in the next few weeks and I should hear by April 11. If you emailed him your offers you should find out in the next few weeks as well. This next part is based on anecdotal evidence and some personal speculation but if you didn't get any merit money from Penn the first time around, it seems like you might be out of luck. They seem to be willing to go up if they gave you something at first but if they excluded you to begin with it seems like they stick with that. Again, this is just based on a few people I happen to have talked to so don't take it as gospel. I just want to be able to sign the form already. It's weird, but hopefully going to help my financial situation just a bit, to have an apartment in Philly secured and not have sent in the form that says I'm actually going to Penn.

Thanks! That was really helpful, although I'm crossing my fingers that the initial offer part doesn't hold true in all cases. Best of luck in having your offer increased!

[absolutazn87]

So...it's been a really roller coaster day.

Anthony Henry just called back saying they found a 39k deans scholly for me and asked if I'd consider it even though I got a larger scholly from Mich! I told him definitely and now he just has to double check with the committee!!

So excited!!!

[HeavenWood]

So...it's been a really roller coaster day.

Anthony Henry just called back saying they found a 39k deans scholly for me and asked if I'd consider it even though I got a larger scholly from Mich! I told him definitely and now he just has to double check with the committee!!

So excited!!!

YAY!!!

Join me on the dark side, azn.

We're the Harvard of Philadelphia, ya know.

[law_monkey]

So...it's been a really roller coaster day.

Anthony Henry just called back saying they found a 39k deans scholly for me and asked if I'd consider it even though I got a larger scholly from Mich! I told him definitely and now he just has to double check with the committee!!

So excited!!!

OMG phew!!! That is sooooo much better! They should really get more organized though...