High School Preparation

When you apply to Penn, you’ll be asked to choose one of our undergraduate schools or specialized programs as your home base for the time you’re a student here. 

Every Penn student gains a strong foundation in the liberal arts and sciences and can take classes in all four schools. Therefore, we encourage you to consistently take classes in core academic areas—English, social studies, math, science, and foreign language—throughout your four years of high school. We hope that every student who applies to Penn will challenge themselves in high school based on the opportunities offered at their school. 

We also understand that every high school is different, so we will review your school’s profile to best understand the types of courses available to you, your school’s grading scale, and the ways you can challenge yourself with extracurricular or post-secondary activities. 

When reviewing your transcript, our Admissions Committee is asking the following questions to determine whether you will be academically successful on our campus: 

  • Are you taking advantage of rigorous courses available in your high school? 
  • Are you getting good grades in the coursework that will be preparing you for pursuing a specific academic program?  
  • Do you seem like a good fit for the major or program you are applying for? 

Please keep in mind the following guidance about academically preparing for each undergraduate school at Penn:  

In applicants to the College of Arts and Sciences, we would like to see: 

  • a curiosity in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences 
  • an ability to apply classroom knowledge to the real world 
  • a strong preparation in a balanced and advanced college preparatory curriculum 

In applicants to Penn Engineering, we would like to see: 

  • an ability to innovate, design, and practically apply scientific discoveries 
  • expressed reasons for pursuing an engineering education 
  • a strong preparation in physics and mathematics, particularly calculus 

In applicants to the School of Nursing, we would like to see: 

  • a commitment to patient care 
  • a desire to explore issues in health care 
  • a strong preparation in the sciences, particularly in chemistry 

In applicants to The Wharton School, we would like to see: 

  • an interest in leveraging business to fuel positive change that advances the world's economic and social wellbeing 
  • demonstrated leadership 
  • a strong preparation in mathematics, particularly calculus