How to Write the University of Pennsylvania Essays

Identify a meaningful person: Start by thinking about who it is you’d like to thank. It’s okay, and even encouraged to get a bit sentimental here—make sure that you’re choosing someone who has played a special role in your story. This could be anyone from a teacher who has influenced your academic career to a family member who has supported you, a friend who has been there for you during challenging times, or even someone you barely know but who has unexpectedly helped you or made a significant impact on your life. This is a good opportunity to give the admissions committee some insight into the meaningful relationships in your life.

Be Personal and Sincere: The note should be written from the heart. Authenticity is essential. Ensure that the essay communicates your gratitude sincerely and clearly explains the reasons behind your acknowledgment. Highlighting how the relationship has affected you positively is a good way to demonstrate maturity and introspection. To make best use of the brief word count, an anecdote or two can really help get your point across efficiently—show, don’t tell!

Reflect on the experience: After writing your thank-you note, spend a few lines reflecting on the experience. What has it taught you? How has it affected your perspective or actions? Have you learned something about gratitude, empathy, or connection to this individual? Try to tie this reflection back to your personal growth and development.

Stay within the word limit: Stick to 150-200 words, and ensure every word adds value to your message. The thank-you note should be concise, clear, and impactful.

Polish your writing: Even though this prompt may seem less formal than others, you still need to write professionally and coherently. Proofread your work for grammar and spelling mistakes, but make sure that your personality and voice still shine through.

Dear Grandma,

Your work organizing voiceless residents of your retirement community towards productive action in the family council is the roadmap I use for bettering my own community. Your committed work paved a path that I strive to always follow.

You’ve taught me the essence of advocacy, not just through your unquestioning support of me, but by showing what it means to work for the community. I hope to handle life’s obstacles with the grace, resilience, and unwavering conviction that you embody every day.

In the 1940’s, when you were not much older than I am now, you decided to dedicate your young adulthood to educating Japanese children in the face of internment and unimaginable bigotry. Your example showed me that—then as now—people young and old are capable of affecting immense change. Your courage is what I aspire to.

In our long rambling conversations about my world and yours, I’ve learned that empathy, gratitude, and connection are not just virtues, but guiding principles. Thank you for being an extraordinary example of strength and for teaching me to stand up for what is right.

Your loving grandson,
Cole

Research the Penn Community: Penn offers a plethora of unique opportunities and programs—from academic and research communities to cultural and interest-based groups. Many of these groups are pre-professional and provide unparalleled opportunities for experiential learning.To demonstrate interest and enthusiasm for the institution, identify specific aspects of the Penn community that align with your interests and values.

Clarify your interests and goals: Now that you’ve done your homework, it’s time to clearly articulate what you are interested in and how you plan to pursue these interests at Penn. Take the specific courses, extracurricular activities, research opportunities, clubs, or community service projects you researched and use them to tell a story of how you hope to navigate the campus. It’s all about translating interest into application on Penn’s campus on your journey to achieving your goals. It is crucial that your writing is as specific as possible. Broad generalities will not fly in this essay.

Demonstrate Contribution: Universities value students who not only take advantage of opportunities but also contribute to their campus community. Show how your unique experiences and perspectives will enrich the Penn community. This could be a special cultural background, personal experiences, skills, or interests you will bring to the table.

Discuss the impact of Penn on your perspective: Address how being a part of the Penn community would shape your worldview and future career aspirations. Demonstrate not only how you would contribute to the Penn community, but how the Penn community will contribute to your own academic, personal, and intellectual growth.

Since the start of my Senior year, I’ve developed youth engagement and outreach strategies to maximize their involvement in the campaign for California’s Education Chief. Within a democracy, I believe civic process participation is an individual’s primary responsibility. Justice Louis Brandeis phrased it perfectly: “The most important [political] office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.”

As a student, I see my civic responsibility as paramount, resounding not in the ballot box but boldly through ideas and actions. From volunteering with ReadNow, a campaign to expand educational access to low-income communities, to canvassing and door-knocking with Senator Eileen Smith’s congressional campaign, I learned firsthand what it means to be civically engaged.

By engaging in the myriad opportunities for civic engagement at Penn, including the Netter Center and the University Assisted Community Schools program, I hope to engage Philadelphia students in Penn’s push for civic engagement. I want to use my time at the ‘civic
Ivy’ to create structures for engagement in school governance and connect students to Penn education policy researchers. Only at Penn will I find a university community devoted to the civic engagement that has transformed my life.

Identify where your curiosity resides: The first step in approaching this prompt is to reflect on the places your intellectual curiosity most frequently leads you. Do you have a love of studying the planets and how their heavenly movements relate to astrophysics? Is Victorian history through the lenses of antique fashion and beautification processes your niche interest? Are you a mathematician with a passion for its applications in theoretical physics? Whatever your key curiosities are, make sure that the connection between them and the narrative conveyed throughout your application are aligned. In other words, this interest shouldn’t come completely out of left field in the eyes of admissions officers!

Detail your itinerary of exploration: Now that you’ve identified the topic that piques your interest, it’s time for you to clarify precisely how you’ll transform it from a curiosity to a course of study at UPenn. Don’t be afraid to get creative as you illuminate the classes, research opportunities, and extracurricular commitments that will enable your understanding of the topic to ramify throughout your studies. It’s important that while you’re weaving the journey of exploration you hope to follow in the College of Arts and Sciences in this essay, the connection to your curiosity is clear and the academic experiences you hope to savor are specific.

Politics became my passion at nine years old when I began staying up late watching The West Wing with my parents. Much of the jargon flew over my head, but picking up tidbits of foreign policy and political theory that I would then research and pore over for hours eventually pieced together a certified passion for it.

With Penn’s unique opportunities for experiential learning in education policy and government, the College of Arts and Sciences is the perfect place for me to explore the roles of privilege and power in the American experience. Through programs such as Penn in Washington and the Penn Program for Public Service Summer Internship, I want to perfect my role as a private citizen. In the process, I’ll learn key strategies for ameliorating sociopolitical maladies such as racism, sexism, and religious discrimination.

With Penn’s stimulating curriculum and unique approach to learning, I hope to immerse myself in the passion for government that I have had since I was nine. Whether I pursue a career in public policy, political office, the law, or even film and television, I know that Political Science at Penn will give me the platform necessary to be a true leader.

Introspection and Action: When this prompt invites you to “reflect” upon an issue close to your heart, it subtly implies two dimensions of reflection: introspection and action. In terms of introspection, you should think about your life experiences, academic studies and personal background and how they have directly impacted your fervor for whichever issue drives you the most. The relevant actions you’ve taken regarding the issue, on the other hand, will help ground your reflection in tangible involvement. Including both sides of reflection will ensure that you avoid hollow platitudes and lofty pleas for world peace and instead showcase—with evidence—the matters in the world that matter most to you.

The Wharton Effect: Now that you’ve merged introspection with action to describe the global issue you’re most passionate about resolving, it’s time to introduce the role Wharton will play in your journey. It’s critical that you do your research beforehand and identify the niche professors, internships, research opportunities, and other offerings that will prove indispensable in your pursuit of crafting a better world through the lens you identified. Business can be an irreplaceable tool for positive change, so make sure you explain precisely how you’ll wield it at Wharton and beyond.

Diversity of interests: Penn Engineering seeks students with deeply multifaceted intellectual interests, not just one-dimensional students with a myopic lens on STEM. Think about the layered context and real-world applications of your desired degree – how will it contribute to the betterment of the world? Which auxiliary topics, subjects and areas will you need to supplement your STEM education, and how will UPenn in particular offer the perfect coursework and infrastructure to do so?

Depth, breadth and specificity: Dive into the details! Which specific interdisciplinary options, research opportunities, study abroad programs, professors and classes at Penn will advance you in your journey towards becoming an engineer with purpose? True leadership evolves from embracing healthy challenges, insisting on persistence, and making a practice out of thriving outside of your comfort zone. How will Penn Engineering shape your intellectual exploration and character development?