Application

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.

All students, including current Penn undergraduates as well as visiting students, must complete the online application to be considered for a Penn Summer Abroad program.

Application Deadlines

• Early Admission Deadline: January 22, 2010

Completed applications submitted by this date will receive an admission decision by February 15, 2010. 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 particular program are encouraged to submit their application for this deadline. 

• Rolling admissions until the program is filled

After the January 22 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 two to three weeks after 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 19, 2010. 

Application

Applications may only be submitted through our online application system. Note that this is the standard LPS admissions application. Only the items listed below are required for the Penn Summer Abroad application.

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

1. Completed application
2. Application essay
3. One letter of recommendation
4. Official undergraduate transcripts from each 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.
5. Non-refundable application fee of $50.00. Payable online by credit card or by check. (Make checks payable to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.)

Application Essay

Address the following questions within one word document and upload to your online application. Responses should not exceed four pages in length for all the questions combined.

1) What are your academic and personal reasons for wanting to study abroad in this program?
2) If you will be taking advanced language courses, discuss any relevant coursework you have completed or will complete prior to the program
3) Do you have any experience living or traveling abroad? If so, please explain.
4) What do you hope to gain or achieve by participating in this program?  

Letters of Recommendation

One academic 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. It should be from a faculty member who has recently taught you 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.

Selecting an alternate program

You will have the opportunity in the application to select an alternative Penn Summer Abroad program. Your application would only be forwarded to this alternate 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.