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- Dec 18, 2017
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Just wanted to pass out a fair warning to prospective students (as I wish I had this perspective prior to applying to this program).
Biology classes are more reasonable/fair in the LPS Post-bacc program (and are taught by actual Penn professors), but Chemistry professors will actively make a point to drive down grades. They pride themselves on keeping the average exam scores in the 50-60% range and then have full autonomy to manipulate a curve to fit a bell curve. However, they cap the number of A's given out to no more than 8-9% of the class, such that the average grade comes out to roughly a 2.3-2.5 GPA. One former professor (I should mention that post bacc professors are mostly non-Penn professors and often aren't even full time or established professors at smaller schools) was effectively fired in the middle of the Fall 2017 semester, however at that point, she started to enact her revenge on students. It was extremely unprofessional and spoke volumes to her character; for example, when asked for more transparency, she even made a point to threaten the entire class by email that she was instituting 0 curve whatsoever - which ultimately would've failed 40 or so students, as the average grade was a high 50%. The Canvas site - with files and grade calculations and distributions - was wiped and hidden almost immediately following the completion of the course. That's not to say that the professor was specifically hiding the evidence, but it sure was convenient and fishy.
Furthermore, topics that were heavily emphasized across multiple lectures were never once tested on midterms or the final. On the other hand, 50% of the final exam was based on topics that were discussed for fewer than 30 minutes in aggregate over the semester or entirely unmentioned until a review session a few days prior to the final exam. In addition, there were no practice exams or practice materials provided in the latter half of the semester, and previous exams were not returned until the next exam was already taken. Even if you end up being one of the 7 students in a class of 80 to get a 4.0 GPA, it's unlikely that you would have obtained much knowledge to carry over to future classes and the MCAT; to get an A, you will have obtained roughly a 70% raw score and received feedback more on your ability to guess answers on new concepts rather than feedback on how clearly you were able to demonstrate mastery of the topics covered.
Luckily for future students, she is no longer a part of this program, but other chemistry professors seem to share similar attitudes. However, it magnifies a system issue across the program and lack of concern for students. The program administration was completely lackadaisical about the issue, and when pressed hard by multiple students, finally instituted a "grand, sweeping" fix, which resulted in a grade boost of approximately 1% which either bumped people up by a third of a grade or nothing at all.
Overall, the program is of little to no concern for the actual administrators at the University of Pennsylvania. Sure, you have the Ivy league name, but this program is essentially unaffiliated with the University and overall is an insult to the Ivy League brand. It's really not worth the time and money - just go somewhere else.
Biology classes are more reasonable/fair in the LPS Post-bacc program (and are taught by actual Penn professors), but Chemistry professors will actively make a point to drive down grades. They pride themselves on keeping the average exam scores in the 50-60% range and then have full autonomy to manipulate a curve to fit a bell curve. However, they cap the number of A's given out to no more than 8-9% of the class, such that the average grade comes out to roughly a 2.3-2.5 GPA. One former professor (I should mention that post bacc professors are mostly non-Penn professors and often aren't even full time or established professors at smaller schools) was effectively fired in the middle of the Fall 2017 semester, however at that point, she started to enact her revenge on students. It was extremely unprofessional and spoke volumes to her character; for example, when asked for more transparency, she even made a point to threaten the entire class by email that she was instituting 0 curve whatsoever - which ultimately would've failed 40 or so students, as the average grade was a high 50%. The Canvas site - with files and grade calculations and distributions - was wiped and hidden almost immediately following the completion of the course. That's not to say that the professor was specifically hiding the evidence, but it sure was convenient and fishy.
Furthermore, topics that were heavily emphasized across multiple lectures were never once tested on midterms or the final. On the other hand, 50% of the final exam was based on topics that were discussed for fewer than 30 minutes in aggregate over the semester or entirely unmentioned until a review session a few days prior to the final exam. In addition, there were no practice exams or practice materials provided in the latter half of the semester, and previous exams were not returned until the next exam was already taken. Even if you end up being one of the 7 students in a class of 80 to get a 4.0 GPA, it's unlikely that you would have obtained much knowledge to carry over to future classes and the MCAT; to get an A, you will have obtained roughly a 70% raw score and received feedback more on your ability to guess answers on new concepts rather than feedback on how clearly you were able to demonstrate mastery of the topics covered.
Luckily for future students, she is no longer a part of this program, but other chemistry professors seem to share similar attitudes. However, it magnifies a system issue across the program and lack of concern for students. The program administration was completely lackadaisical about the issue, and when pressed hard by multiple students, finally instituted a "grand, sweeping" fix, which resulted in a grade boost of approximately 1% which either bumped people up by a third of a grade or nothing at all.
Overall, the program is of little to no concern for the actual administrators at the University of Pennsylvania. Sure, you have the Ivy league name, but this program is essentially unaffiliated with the University and overall is an insult to the Ivy League brand. It's really not worth the time and money - just go somewhere else.
