Submission Guidelines

Submitting Supporting Documents

The University of Pennsylvania accepts applications through the Common App, Coalition App, or through the QuestBridge National College Match program. That part is simple enough!

Once you submit your application, your school will need to send us official documents—like your transcript—directly. Read on to learn how that works! 

Submitting Official Application Materials

Please note, the information below does not apply to financial aid. Any and all financial aid documents should be submitted by the applicant through their secure Penn Portal. Any financial aid documents submitted via email will be deleted.

Our Preferred Method: Through Your Application

The Common App, Coalition App, and QuestBridge all allow you to invite school officials and recommenders to submit documents directly through the platform. Some schools also use counseling software (Naviance, SCOIR, MaiaLearning, Cialfo, Slate.org) or transcript services (ScribOrder, SchooLinks, Parchment, National Student Clearinghouse) for this. Whenever one of these options is available to your school or recommender, please use it. It's the fastest and most reliable way for documents to reach us.

The Next-Best Method: Email Document Submission

If your school or recommender is unable use one of the platforms above, they may send documents to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions as an email attachment to documents@admissions.upenn.edu. Please allow 3–5 business days for processing once materials are received.

A few guidelines to keep this working smoothly:

1. Emails must come from the school official or recommender, not the applicant. Documents forwarded by the applicant can't be accepted as official, even if they're the exact file the school sent.
   • To be considered official, a letter of recommendation must be emailed directly by the recommender, as an attachment. Letters written into the body of an email can't be processed.
   • Official transcripts and other official school records must be emailed to Penn directly by a school official. If the applicant sends them, even unaltered, they can't be accepted as official.
2. Email submissions must include:
   • the full name of the applicant  
   • and at least one of the following pieces of information:
     • application ID
     • current school
     • date of birth 
3. Each attachment must be a single document. Please don't combine multiple documents into one PDF, such as a transcript and a recommendation letter; send them as separate files. If one attachment contains multiple documents, we may not be able to process it.

The following file types will not be processed via email:

• image files and photographs, including JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, and TIFF
• screenshots
• photos of documents
• links to Google docs, Box folders, or other file storage systems

Additionally, any and all financial aid documents should be submitted by the applicant through their secure Penn Portal. Any financial aid documents submitted via email will be deleted.

A quick test for whether a document counts as official: did it reach us at Penn directly from the school or recommender, without passing through you first? If you're the one attaching or forwarding it, it's unofficial, no matter how official the file itself looks.

If Necessary: Paper Documents Submission Guidelines

When possible, documents should be submitted via the electronic methods listed above. If a document cannot be submitted electronically, it may be sent to the following mailing address:

University of Pennsylvania 
Office of Admissions 
3535 Market Street 
Suite 850 
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3326

Paper transcripts must be sealed in their original envelopes with any signatures or official seals intact. The envelope must contain the official letterhead of the issuing institution.

Paper recommendation letters should be written on official letterhead and sealed in an envelope with official letterhead where possible. If no official letterhead is available, the envelope should be signed across the envelope seal by the letter writer. 

Please note that paper documents have significantly longer processing times than electronic documents. Please do not send duplicate paper copies of documents you have submitted electronically.

Updating Your Application

If you have any new information you want to share with us after your application has been submitted, you can use the “Update My Application” section of your Penn Portal and select “New Information” to provide us with updates. These may include items like a new award you have won, a leadership position you have gained, or a change to your class schedule that you initially reported on your application. Sharing updates directly in your Penn Portal will ensure that they are added to your application immediately. 

If your checklist is showing missing documents and your school may be delayed in sharing any missing transcripts, mid-year report cards, or predicted or finalized examination results with us, you may submit unofficial copies of these documents through the “Update My Application” section of your Penn Portal and selecting “Add Documents.” These documents help us evaluate your application while we await final or official records. Your checklist will continue to show these items as “missing” until we receive the official documents from the appropriate recommender or school official.