Hello, and welcome to the demonstrated interest support group. If youre a bewildered college applicant, youre in the right place. Demonstrated interest is confusing. For one thing, there no data that can tell us in cold, hard numbers how much it impacts admissions decisions, and colleges don have a clear definition of what behaviors they interpret as meaningful displays of interest.
Thankfully, weve got good news for ya: you can basically banish this concern from your brain. Put it in the box of existential questions youve given up on answering, like why would a loving God allow innocents to suffer and who are microbangs really for? It doesn matter, in the end, what all the intentionally amorphous category of demonstrated interest encapsulates, because the University of Pennsylvania, like most other prestigious institutions, has clarified that they do not track it for the purpose of evaluating applications.
UPenn Stance on Demonstrated Interest
Besides the fact that their common data set lists level of applicant interest in the not considered column, whoever is in charge of UPenn web presence definitely did not stutter.
Prayers up to the patron saint of anonymous profiles and blank avatars everywhere! This tells us everything we need to know. You can learn as much as you can about your top schools without worrying about leaving a superficial paper trail to prove youre really interested. This is great news for accessibility and equity in college admissions there are plenty of people who, no matter how fervently they admire their dream school, simply cannot visit for a campus tour or apply for its summer programs.
This is good news for everyone; you don need to waste a ton of time memorizing the tour guide setlist of dad jokes or stalking admissions reps who youd casually introduce yourself to if you happened to, I don know, bump into them at a coffee shop two blocks from the college fair you definitely didn know about.
However, were not telling you to stop demonstrating interest entirely were just reframing your expectations. Demonstrated interest is really for your benefit. No one is tallying the number of times youve called the admissions office. Don create busy work for yourself imagining that itll make you a shoe-in for a school with a 7% acceptance rate. The fruits of your labor are not an automatic admission coupon but self-knowledge and tangible material that will make your application as captivating and unique as possible.
The more you learn about UPenn, the better sense of the school youll have. If what you find out unexpectedly turns you off, well, that a blessing in disguise because now you know. You can redirect your energy toward places that feel like a better fit. If you just get more and more amped with every current-student Q&A on YouTube and email newsletter, then youve got much more compelling insights for your why UPenn supplemental essay than just um, because I want to go there really bad.
Okay, So What Does This Mean?
It means there no big secret underlying UPenns admissions that youve got to unearth before overhauling your application process. Huzzah! Take a deep breath, and keep doing what youre doing find out as much as you can about UPenn through their official admissions materials and unofficial resources from their current study body and recent alumni, and then use the facts, impressions, and anecdotes youve acquired to write a highly specific, persuasive, and socially engaging essay to tell admissions why this is the place for you. Good luck, youve got this, and may the unwavering gaze and soft smile of bronze Ben Franklin walk with you in your ways, amen.
Not sure how to get your interest across in your writing? Weve got you covered. Contact us!