The University of Pennsylvania is an iconic urban research university and member of the coveted Ivy League. Admission to Penn, as it is best known, is particularly sought after by students with a strong pragmatic streak. Whether in the humanities, STEM, or business, Penn students are known as problem solvers and solution seekers. There are nearly 10,500 full-time undergraduate students, and the largest undergraduate college (by far) is the College of Arts and Sciences. They also have the School of Engineering and Applied Science, School of Nursing, and the Wharton School — the most famous business school in the United States with an undergraduate program. The overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was only 4.9%.
Penn prioritizes students who pick them, too. For the Class of 2028, over 50% of admitted students were accepted in the Early Decision round. If you want to take advantage of the boost offered by ED, you will need to get strong SAT and ACT scores early. Penn has reinstated their standardized test requirement for the 2025-2026 application season, so you will be required to submit either an SAT or ACT result. A strong SAT for Penn is 1540+, while a strong ACT score is a 35+. You can get in with slightly lower scores, but your chances go up if your scores do.
In this post, we’ll be talking about the piece of the Penn puzzle that you can’t sum up in strong numbers, though. The supplement is a crucial piece of any Penn application. If you have the grades and the scores, you have the leadership experiences and maybe a few awards, that’s awesome. It means that you are in the running. Standing out beyond that, though, requires more than another data point. That’s what we’ll dive into below.
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The Penn supplement has two questions for all applicants, plus a specific question depending on which undergraduate school you are applying to.
ALL APPLICANTS
Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge. (We encourage you to share this note with that person, if possible, and reflect on the experience!) (150-200 words)
This prompt stumps a lot of students. Where do you even start? We like to start with some clarification. Yes, this will be a letter. There will be an opening, like a letter (i.e., Dear) and a closing, also like a letter (i.e., Sincerely). Next, you need to decide who it is that you are writing this to. This is where some sort of strange calculations come into play. This needs to be for someone that you know, but not someone that you are so close to that it’s weird that you haven’t said “thank you” yet. Most family members, a current teacher, and a current coach or mentor are all out, then, as you don’t want the application reader to be asking themselves why you haven’t simply expressed your gratitude already.
So, you need to look one ring out from your close circle. This could include a past teacher or coach, a past supervisor or co-worker, or someone you encounter on a daily basis in a less structured way. It could be a bus driver who always waits if you’re running to catch the bus to school, a front desk worker who makes you feel at home, a friend of one of your parents who said something at dinner one time that has stuck with you for years and impacted your vision for your future.
Once you’ve picked the person, you need to write the letter. Try to forget that this is being read by anyone other than the person you are writing it to, at least as you start drafting. If it seems performative or written for an outside audience, it falls flat. Focus on authenticity, honesty, and true meaning.
How will you explore community at Penn? Consider how Penn will help shape your perspective, and how your experiences and perspective will help shape Penn. (150-200 words)
This is Penn’s big-picture “why us.” The school-specific supplements are a ‘why us’ specific to your major, but this one is really asking, “Why Penn?” We encourage our students to start out by doing some research. Dig into what Penn offers as a community where students live, learn, and grow. Check out community spaces, clubs, and opportunities to be engaged to in the Philadelphia community.
Pick out two things that you could contribute to as a member, and later as a leader. Remember that Penn wants to know how your experiences will contribute to their community. One of the best ways to illustrate this is by opening the supplement with a story that shows you working collaboratively as part of a team or club, then transition that to what you would become involved with at Penn and how you could grow into a leadership role there, too.
SCHOOL OF NURSING
Penn Nursing intends to meet the health needs of society in a global and multicultural world by preparing its students to impact healthcare by advancing science. Why have you decided to apply to Nursing? Where do you see yourself professionally in the future and how will you contribute to our mission of promoting equity in healthcare? (150-200 words)
If you are interested in going to Nursing school, there is probably a reason why that goes deeper than an interest in job security (we’ll always need nurses, after all). Tell that story, but in a compact way because you only have 200 words and half of them actually need to be spent on mentioning specifics of the Penn program that you are attracted to and where you see yourself in the future as related to furthering equity in healthcare. We link to link these things all together for strong flow. For example, if you are inspired to go into nursing because of an experience with the medical system, you could map that onto helping others through similar experiences. Perhaps, there is even a way that you can engage with the particular piece of the medical system that you know a bit too well as a student studying at Penn. If so, include that.
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
The flexible structure of The College of Arts and Sciences’ curriculum is designed to inspire exploration, foster connections, and help you create a path of study through general education courses and a major. What are you curious about and how would you take advantage of opportunities in the arts and sciences? (150-200 words)
“What are you curious about,” is our favorite type of question. It allows you to show your enthusiasm for the subject you want to study in a hyper-specific way, connecting it to the specifics of the Penn program you are hoping to pursue. Remember, though, that the college is heavily multi-disciplinary, requiring all students to take diverse general education courses. This means that you should incorporate mentions of how taking classes outside of your major will inform your work within your major.
Our recommended structure for this prompt is to start with a short story about specific thing within the field you are hoping to major in that you are particularly fascinated by, then connect that to the major program at Penn. Mention a course you are excited about and a professor you hope to study under before pulling in something from outside of your major department that would inform your studies within your major. End the supplement with a dream for the future that builds on your opening story.
THE WHARTON SCHOOL
Wharton prepares its students to make an impact by applying business methods and economic theory to real-world problems, including economic, political, and social issues. Please reflect on a current issue of importance to you and share how you hope a Wharton education would help you to explore it. (150-200 words)
Wharton is extremely competitive, and Penn filters strongly for students that they feel will best take advantage of what they offer. Asking applicants to identify a current issue is a great way for them to figure out if you have a real grasp of what you care about — and what is going on in the world. With that in mind, there are not really any wrong answers here. However, there are wrong picks for current issue for you, and wrong ways of writing about it.
When selecting a current issue, pick something relevant to you rather than picking something off of the front page of your preferred news source. Keep it personal, as that will put you in the best position to then build out a proposal of how you would explore the issue at Wharton and, ideally, enact change in the future beyond Penn. This should include a course or two, a professor you hope to study under with expertise in the relevant area, and a club or community initiative that would help you engage with the issue while still on campus.
THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES
Penn Engineering prepares its students to become leaders in technology by combining a strong foundation in the natural sciences and mathematics with depth of study in focused disciplinary majors. Please share how you plan to pursue your engineering interests at Penn, particularly within the intended major you selected. (150-200 words)
Like the other school-specific supplements for Penn, they want to know what you are interested in and how a Penn education can help launch you into a meaningful, impact-making career. We advise students to start this supplement with a story that illustrates what inspires you within engineering, then use that story as a way into writing about the specific major you hope to pursue. When writing about the major, be specific. Give a course or two you are excited about, a professor you want to study under, and maybe a lab, research, or field opportunity you would definitely take advantage of. Again, be as specific as you can when relating what Penn offers to your passion for engineering.
The Penn supplement offers an amazing opportunity to share details about yourself that would not come up in your application otherwise. To make the most of each, be sure that each supplement is focused on new information that you aren’t repeating stories. You want to give the Penn admissions officials as many reasons to say yes as you can, and repeating things undercuts the power of each piece of writing.
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