<p>Hi everyone im new to the CC world, but have avidly read the many posts found on this site. PENN has been my dream school since the age of probably 6. A close family member went there and i visited PENN many times and fell in love wit the college and city. Now, im a highschool sophmore whos dream is to make it into penn. so the quesetion i’m posing is what makes a PENN student? Does it go beyond the grades and the numbers? What does Penn look for in their students?
Thanks for any help</p>
<p>Hi. I was in the same position as you. I loved penn and knew i wanted it more than anything. However, I was not accepted. It was heart breaking and i do think about it a lot. It is better not to fall in love with the school and find a few schools you would love. Dont do anything for penn. Work hard, study hard for sat, and really do a few extra currics that ur passionate about. Dont get set on a school.</p>
<p>Transfer9858 gave outstanding advice. MIT was my “dream school,” and I got deferred then rejected. I had a blast at Penn for four years, and it was a great fit. But I wasted the first few weeks of freshman year in the depressed mood of “I’m not at MIT, my life sucks, I should just drop out.” There are many wonderful schools in the country. Try to make your numbers (GPA, SAT, etc.) as good as they can be. Do things that you are passionate about outside of the classroom (whether that means playing sports, performing in band, competing in Science Olympiad, volunteering at a local homeless shelter, etc.). Everything else will fall into place. Many of the top schools in the country have very similar cultures, and I don’t know why society tells us that we need to pick a dream school. If you are lucky enough to be admitted to your dream school, it can never possibly live up to the expectations you set for it (i.e. all schools have their flaws). If you get rejected from your dream school, you will be more depressed than you ought to be. Dream schools are silly.</p>