Philadelphia, PA
Applicant sentiment — from 150 anonymous posts, 2016–2027
7.0 / 10
What anonymous posters said
Anonymous posters frequently grouped this program among a small set of highly regarded dermatology programs, citing strong research output and academic focus. Several commenters described procedural/reconstructive training positively and characterized the culture as supportive with happy residents, while some posts suggested connections or away rotations may help with interview chances.
AI-generated summary of opinions expressed in anonymous, unverified posts. It describes what posters wrote, not verified facts about this program. Based on these 150 posts · Updated Aug 2026 · Contest or respond to this entry · Takedown & right of reply
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Penn actually has a fair number of non-Ivy < Penn is not in the top tier because of this< penn is top tier because if you took the 5 most famous/well funded derms and they took their talents elsewhere the dept would still be a top dept. if you did the same to utsw, yale, hopkins, northwestern etc those dept rankings would take a huge dip
What mentors at UPenn do you think are exceptional?
did upenn tracks hear back?
anyone get ucsf + upenn?
Anyone got interviews at Harvard Stanford ucsf and UPenn? < I got 3/4 of these
So kinda random but in my Penn invite it said for a position as a resident physician of dermatology and medicine beginning July 2024…this doesn't mean med/derm right? I def didn't apply to that. Anyone else have that wording?
So I saw on the UPenn website they have an additional supplemental application. If I forgot to fill it out will they throw out my app?
quick question for the programs that have a community engagement track like UPenn or Duke -- are interviews offered for either reg track vs special tracks or a standard interview for program in general? <Duke said if you apply for multiple tracts, you will be considered for all of them during the time of your interview. There isnt a seperate interview IIRC from the DEI zoom session
Hi everyone. M3 here and thinking about aways. Is it worth doing aways at the top programs? < The advice I received is to focus more on doing aways at programs that may be interested in taking you, and that you would be happy training at. It may not be your first choice, but a good fit nonetheless. Top programs are unlikely to interview you based on away rotation performance alone. The rest of your application should be among the top derm applicants as well. << Agreed on this. Depending on the tier of your particular medical school, don't do audition Derm rotations at top-tier Derm places like Harvard, UCSF, Penn, NYU, Stanford, etc. thinking that you're somehow just going to so "wow" derm attendings w/your med student derm knowledge & hard work that you'll either get an interview or that you'll get a stellar letter to be able to use to get interviews at other places (keep in mind that these places have their own home med students going for Derm whom they have worked with for years). That's just not how it works, unfortunately, even w/stratospheric board scores. Wouldn't matter even if you read & memorized all of Andrews. Choose the location and institution of your audition derm elective carefully (talk w/your home derm program faculty mentors, w/previous graduating Derm alumni from your institution, etc.). It can sometimes mean the difference between matching vs. not matching. < what if you have strong connections at top programs and then do an away there, ie stanford/upenn mentor for 2 years and then do an away? << If you have strong connections (I'm assuming you did research w/that Stanford/UPenn Derm mentor for 2 years and were relatively productive) then yes, it could very much help. This is where showing your academic record and CV to that Stanford/UPenn mentor would help.
Do y'all think it's worth it to signal top tier places (UCSF, Penn, etc)?
Can we all just respect each other as future colleagues? The biased attacks on groups of people (both URM and ORM) goes to show how much medicine needs to change. < Just a hunch, maybe stop treating Asian Americans below as the "new white people." < why? they attached themselves to white people when it was cool lol now that it is no longer working, they now want to be urms LOL < You need real mental therapy for your racism and bigotry. You truly do. I'll pray for you. < It's amazing how some URMs are unable to see the nuisances of other minority groups situations while vocally tauting their own. < They're the perpetual victim. They now feel comfortable attacking Asians because they never feel good enough. < "they attached themselves to white people" wtf does that even mean < They're saying Asian Americans are "white adjacent." Meaning they try to act and conform and uphold white people's societal standards. It's so laughable on its face how blatantly racist it is. < idk about everyone else but i've heard the "ching chong" bullshit too many times to feel close to white people < That doesn't count for them. You also assume URMs won't do that to Asian people too. I've seen it as well. See the violence against Asians in places like NYC. It ain't white people.
< I see you still have that large chip on your shoulder, sweetie. Might want to get your derm SOC mentor at Penn to write for a consult for Mohs surgery removal [it might be a white man though] since it seems to be a chronic condition for you and quite deep especially with your hatred of white women. Stay pressed. I didn't need Ilana Rosman's help. I had the grades, board scores, and the derm research already to get plenty of interviews. We all totally laugh at her at our home derm program. Real life isn't Derm Twitter. < i am easy to doxx because as it has been pointed out many times in the past 24 hours, i matched at a program you are probably also mad about and there are so few of us so I will leave you to your misery. I can understand why despite being privilege, you are still so salty you might as well be the atlantic ocean. See you in conferences, if your programs covers it, because I know I won't be seeing you at my program. Stay blessed :) < I think post Derm match you should invest in some therapy after your Mohs surgery chip on the shoulder removal. Maybe request it on your Amazon #MedGradWishList so people can donate to it. This is an anon spreadsheet. Nobody has any idea who you are because you're not that important. That's why you're still so angry and pressed. Your (false) assumption that I matched to a lower tier program is exactly what I'm talking about. Good luck. Derm boards is unforgiving at that pass/fail mark and you'll need all the help you can get. (hair flip)
umm i don't get the connection between urms and derm twitter? how did derm twitter get into the conversation lol
What worries me is how some of you harbor these feelings but will be treating patients from ALL backgrounds. Those of you with the biased comments below idk how you made it this far without being made out and I am disappointed to call you guys colleagues. DO BETTER. If you matched go and celebrate! Another person’s win doesn’t dull your shine. We all got into this field to help people and you guys have already lost sight of that. Take all this energy and put it into Bolognia. But seriously, take a look in the mirror and see if you like all this hatred you’re spewing.
i don't get why people are mad. just wait one cycle and things will go back to normal. look at emory. we actually had a bet they won't match a black resident this time given how many they did last time lol they said too many negros lol
right!! they def overcorrected lol
ok right SO disappointing
...there is literally a black guy lol < There is no black guy, just a black girl < who is the black guy? https://twitter.com/EmoryDerm/status/1504948910271434765/photo/1 <hes not black lol < he is for sure black. What a stupid take < its still a diverse class half are not white
but this happened last cycle too lol < because derm was really white. now it isn't or at least it is less so. i wonder if derm is still the second least diverse specialty after the last two cycles. < 0 chance of that lol urms have taken over... < you are so dramatic
fr. im sure there is a conversation going in in harvard now about when it will be politically correct to go back to taking no black people. Hahahahaha < the funny part is many urms don't even apply to these programs because for a host of reasons we are just not tryna go to places like this so reading all this, i can't help laughing because people are really fighting with imaginary competition from urms >literally imaginary. & ppl are conceding to the fact that they saw the same URMs at these top interviews but somehow its a slew of URMs with unfair advantages. I am sure top programs recycled the same ORM applicants as well < that is another funny part. there is a reason why if nyu and ucsf match black residents, then penn and harvard don't and vice versa. its because they same people applied to them all...all 10 of them of which 6 got interviews. so if some get, others are sorry out of luck because that is it but sure y'all should keep going. < this is actually important because it gets at the point people here are missing because they are so focused on being mad. your competition is mid tier programs. for one, there is more of them and can really affect the orm match rate but also these are the programs urms are applying to but no, lets focus on harvard < just look at stanford
why is this sheet still so chaotic lmfao i just came to peep that match list> why do people see this discourse as a bad thing? It's better to let people get this stuff out, challenge each other, and learn from each other than hold these thoughts in?? People are thinking this stuff, I'd rather know it than not
and with that one has to be prepared for responses from all sides> yeah! we shouldn't just shut stuff down because it's an argument. Arguments are like core to understanding the world and ourselves, this is a sheet you can exit out of if you want
agreed but we should be able to have respectful discourse and this tends to turn into ppl just talking about how URMs are getting undeserved opportunities. If thats what ppl want to express fine, but when ppl push back, that should not be shut down or invalidated either. Ppl make it seem like URMs are sitting around twiddling their thumbs and not also working their assess off
I agree completely. I think we can agree that the average derm applicant is a badass
becauase people are mad lol < so y'all think top programs interviewed the same 10 students our of the 50 or so that applied by luck? you don't think those 10 students wiped the floor with your white asses by working harder since they tend to also come from no name schools. you think this is all charity? LOOOOL< no they don't think that. I think very few people wipe the floor at all, we're all pretty competitive. > people are misunderstanding this as an attack on URMs. Literally it's a call to monitor the institutions making admissions decisions and make sure these proportions aren't insanely shifted. I'm sorry but there were talented URMs in previous cycles I'm sure and these programs didn't match 33%. In fact they were biased against URNs prob. But this app it seems shifts starkly the other way. I understand the forces that led to this but if it were to continue it would be weird for everyone >> lol ....what??
it was unfair this cycle, just facts
how is that weird? Just as you were right to say 0 to 10% URM is fucked it's also weird to have 0-10% ORM, when there are far more applicants from that pool at top places
it is easier to be competitive from northwestern compared to say howard. and btw most come from no name schools because harvard/penn etc until a black man was killed two years ago did not know that black people needed to be in med school too.
It's so reductionist to attribute a URMs success to the color of their skin.
surprise surprise - if you talk to enough URMs there are those with lower stats who match or match better than URMs with higher stats. derm is derm and its a tough match all around < imagine how shitty it must feel as a URM reading this spreadsheet and realizing these people who think you're not as capable as them are going to be your co-residents
looking @ Penn match list it really is an uppity and provincial program. Still don't know what makes it stand out at all tbh even after interviewing there
nothing lol < like truly no spark lol or enthusiasm about the program and it's rich that it has a 'good name' when it's literally confused with penn state all the time < also their pd SUCKS lol < really? their PD seems like an incredible person < thought so too
I hope this is allowed but can anyone pls comment on how jules lipoff is as a mentor?? < In what way? Doing research? Match advice? etc. < doing research < You're better off doing research with Victoria Werth. She actually has a track record of matching her fellows. < how is he for match advice etc? < he is great for match advice. i revamped my PS on his feedback and it was very well received. idk how he is for research as we didn't do any < would you have any advice on ps's you would feel comfortable sharing? it's the aspect of the application I have been most dreading D: << what if i just want to do a paper or so?
Does Penn prefer not to match their own? < they usually take 2-3 from Penn, but it varies from year to year based on people's preferences (e.g. students at penn who want to go elsewhere)
jules is the absolute best. i couldn't ask for a better mentor. < do you think i could reach out to do a paper with him? should i have an idea already about the paper or can i just ask to be on a project? < helps if you have an idea or at least a general topic you are interested in exploring - he is very open to supporting student interests and helping them turn a question into a project. keep in mind that programs prefer more traditional research though, so projects with him (which tend to focus more on the social aspects of medicine rather than the clinical) should be viewed as a supplement to other research, not necessarily as a primary component of one's research portfolio, but i think reaching out would be a great idea. he is seriously super awesome, down to earth, accessible, and supportive. < not the person who asked you the question, but this makes me want to cry!!! he sounds incredible.
< these types of mentors are underrated but i wanted to add it is s SO true that these new genres of pubs get looked down by the derm faculty with power (ie social media analyses things). SAD because the TikTok pubs are my fav new genre
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idk i kinda like seeing urms laugh about all this instead of being bitter. < the level of petty below is aspirational Haha < Really? I mean I see quite a few URM belows that have a LOT of racial grievance below w/a chip on the shoulder (and that's assuming they even matched) <we matched...and i mean it is annoying but it is also kinda fun now that we have matched and most of you haven't < Sweetie, I matched. Don't get too far ahead of yourself just because Ilana Rosman is blowing smoke up your URM ass on Derm Twitter to think you're somehow better than whites and Asians (Emory Derm clearly learned their lesson the hard way hence the change in racial composition of their matched list this year). People like yourself make this board toxic. Try graduating from middle school. < you're the one with a hard on for ilana. i don't need her to match. in fact with how pissed you are, you probably needed her help more than I did, and it is not "sweetie" it is COLLEAGUE OR DR. "I MATCHED DESPITE HAVING PRESSED WHITE WOMEN IN MY WAY EVERY STEP OF THE WAY" you decide