<p>Hey, congratulations to all of you who were accepted to Penn!! I’m a current undergraduate in the Vagelos MLS program. If you were invited to Vagelos, or pursuing science in the College, and have any questions about it or in general about Penn, I’d be happy to answer them. I know I wish I had known more information before accepting the offer and coming to Penn, even though now I’m really happy having joined Vagelos.</p>
<p>Yes, I definitely need more info. How big are your classes? Is is possible to do more than two years of summer research? Also, I am seriously considering going into a PhD program after graduating, so would having a double-degree really help me in the long run? Thanks for the help:)</p>
<p>The class sizes vary. The lower level science classes range from small honors/majors classes with about 17-30 students to lectures of 80-200 students. As you take higher level classes, the class size will naturally thin out.</p>
<p>You can do more research; in fact, it’s encouraged. You are required to work in a lab for the summers after sophomore and junior year at Penn, and you also basically have to be working in a lab throughout the school year by the time junior and senior years come around. Some students get involved in research as freshmen, and there is a lot of variety about when students start doing their research.</p>
<p>As for whether the double-degree will help you, I don’t know if I can offer a complete answer as I have not gone through graduate school myself 
But the double major or submatriculation is designed to give you more experience in a range of sciences. Vagelos strongly emphasizes this approach. While it is primarily a biochemistry program, it focuses on the hard sciences to give you a better understanding of molecular biology. So having this on your transcript might not necessarily help you in the long run, but Vagelos is for those who are really driven to learn a lot of science.</p>