Eligibility

Penn Summer Abroad programs are designed for undergraduate students at accredited U.S. or international institutions. All programs require that students are in good academic and judicial standing. Refer to your particular programs and courses for any additional criteria or prerequisites.

Application Deadlines

• Early Admission Deadline: January 20, 2009

Completed applications submitted by this date will received an admission decision by February 10, 2009. Applications must have all the required materials including the recommendation letter and application fee to be considered complete.

Note that programs may accept up to full capacity with the early admissions applications. Students intent on participating in a program are encouraged to submit their application for this deadline. 

• Rolling admissions until the program is filled

After the January 20 deadline, each program will continue to accept applications on a rolling basis until the program is full. Admission decisions are generally posted to the online application account within two weeks of submitting the completed application. Decision letters are mailed to the current address entered on the application.

• Program-specific deadlines

Penn-in-Cannes: Final application deadline is February 16, 2009. 

Penn-in-Beijing: Application deadline will be announced when further information about this program is available.

Penn-in-Seoul: Application deadline will be announced when further information about this program is available.

Application 

Applications may only be submitted through our online application system. We are currently accepting applications for the following programs. (Click on London link for a note about this application.)

Alicante     Buenos Aires     Cannes     Florence     London     Prague     Tours 

Click button to begin:

An application must contain all of the following in order to be considered complete:

1. Completed application
2. Current resume with a listing and description of relevant coursework.
3. Non-refundable application fee of $70.00. Payable online by credit card or by check. (Make checks payable to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.)
4. Application essay
5. One letter of recommendation
6. Official transcripts from each post-secondary school attended. Transcripts should be sent to the LPS address (at the end of this webpage). If you are a current Penn student and you check off the box in the application to allow us to access your transcript directly, then you are not required to submit your Penn transcript.

Note: The online application is a standard LPS admissions application and may give you the option of submitting additional materials (such as SAT scores) with your application. Only the items listed here are required for the Penn Summer Abroad application.

Application Essay

Respond to each of the following questions. If you are submitting your essays online, you may upload them together in one document.

1. Why are you interested in attending this program?
2. Do you have any experience abroad? If so, please explain.
3. What to you hope to gain or achieve by participating in this program?  

Responses should not exceed four pages in length for all the questions combined.

Letters of Recommendation

One letter of recommendation is required for application to any Penn Summer Abroad program. List the name and title of the individual whom you have asked to submit a letter in support of your application. This may be an individual with whom you have had a close professional or academic association and who knows of your desire to enroll in the Penn Summer Abroad program. If you are applying to a language course, a language instructor is preferred. Recommendations may be submitted online or by mail. For online recommendations, please follow the instructions in the Recommendations section of the online application. For paper recommendations, please print a copy of the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies Official Recommendation Form and give it to your recommender. You can download the form here.

Courses

Course selections must be made in the application. Students are required to sign up for a total of 2 course units (CU). This can be either as one 2 CU course or two 1 CU courses. The exception to this is the Cannes program where student may only sign up for one CU course.

Standardized Test Scores

Applicants who have completed post-secondary work in an institution where the instruction was in English do not have to submit TOEFL scores. International applicants whose first language is not English AND have not completed post-secondary work in an institution where the instruction was in English must submit TOEFL scores. Use ETS code 2986 when requesting TOEFL scores.

Selecting alternate programs

You will have the opportunity in the application to select an alternative Penn Summer Abroad programs. Your application will first be reviewed for consideration to the original program you have selected as your first choice. If you select an alternate program, your application would only be forwarded to this alternative if the first program you applied to is unavailable.

Applying to more than one program

If you wish to be considered for more than one summer abroad program simultaneously, you need to submit a separate completed application for each program.