Hosted at the nation's first university, PennApps is the original college hackathon. Come join us to learn something new, build an app, or start a company.

Let's continue to make history together.

Learn PennApps is built upon the idea that everyone should be able to participate, from individuals who have never written a line of code to experts who have been developing for years. To help facilitate the learning experience, we've compiled a number of resources to help during the weekend. Our mentoring website has a number of tutorials on tools to get you started. In addition, we'll be offering a series of tech talks throughout the event. Routes This Fall, PennApps is introducing Routes. Think of Routes as a series of forks you can take, each adjusting your final destination by a bit. The right combination will help make your hack that much better, and each one you choose to take could lead to a very special payoff. There will be 6 routes you can choose to take this fall: EdTech, VR/AR, Design, Social & Civic Hacking, Sports & Entertainment, and Humor. Routes will give you special access to resources, fun side events, workshops and should you choose to incorporate one or more into your hack, prizes. We're really excited to show you what we've got planned! Keep an eye out for more specifics on individual routes. Hardware Once again, PennApps is partnering with The Architechs to show everyone the beauty of hardware by providing resources and support to visiting hardware hackers at PennApps. If you're interested in sponsoring our hardware section of PennApps, checkout our hardware sponsorship document. Many past PennApps hacks have included hardware and our goal is to give hardware and software equal importance at PennApps. If you want to hack on it, we will have it for you. For those of you that want to get more physical with your hacks, we will be providing access to laser cutters and 3D printers. In the past we have supplied hackers with the most exciting technologies including Microsoft Kinects, Parrot Drones, Estimote Beacons, Thalmic Myos, Occulus Rifts, and an assortment of other sensors and supplies. Check out the full list of hardware we have here. We're likely to bring back many of these awesome things and more this Fall. Health We are each affected by the shortcomings of a healthcare system overwhelmed with outdated technology, whether through our own experiences or those of our friends and family. We will be bringing together top clinicians, engineers, designers, and industry sponsors to take on the biggest challenges in health. We invite you to join us as we hack our health for a better, faster, more accessible, and more equitable health experience. The PennApps Health symposium will include keynotes on the power of technology to improve healthcare. Stay tuned for more details, but previous symposiums also hosted interactive panel discussions featuring entrepreneurs and engineers who are using technology to innovate in healthcare, and a reception for hackers to discuss their ideas with the speakers, as well as clinical and industry mentors. Aside from the mentors coming from our corporate sponsors, clinical mentors representing the fields of Radiology, Cardiology, Pulmonology and Psychology as well as mentors with backgrounds in medical and diagnostic imaging, bioinformatics, and clinical informatics will be present during the hackathon. We will also have graduate student mentors from the fields of design, biomedical engineering, and medicine.

Apply Applications have closed. Non-Penn Students can no longer apply

Penn Students may still register here The Application Process Thousands of qualified candidates apply to participate in PennApps every year, however our space can only support a limited number of participants and as much as we'd like to take everyone, it just isn't possible. We think that the fairest way to decide who we invite is by asking everyone to tell us a little bit about themselves, so that we can invite people who have demonstrated interest and skill. We don't expect everyone to have been to a hackathon before, in fact, we love first-time hackers having been there ourselves when we started! We're just trying to bring those who most want to really build something awesome and learn something new, and while we can't invite everyone, we're striving to continue building a community of diverse and amazing hackers at PennApps. Just show us what you've made, tell us about why you want to be at PennApps, and we'll do our best to get you here! By growing to become the largest hackathon in the nation, we hope to double the number of people we can invite to PennApps, so get ready for a life-changing experience! Universities 147 States 24 Countries 11 *PennApps Spring 2015 Statistics.

Logistics Traveling To PennApps We will pay for your travel to PennApps. You won't have to pay a dime. In fact, while you're here, we'll even throw in free food and tons of awesome swag all weekend long. If you're not from the USA, we will pay for your travel up to $500, and can help you find sponsors to cover any difference (this has happened frequently in the past). We think that the best hackers in the world shouldn't have to pay their way here. Schedule All Weekend Smash Game Room - Sponsored by Qualtrics 11th Street Bistro Friday 12 PM Registration Opens Check-In 2 PM - 2:45 PM Nerd's Guide to Disrupting Healthcare with Cofounder and CTO of 1DocWay, Danish Munir Cadillac Grille 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM Health Keynote Address with Principal Architect from athenahealth Cadillac Grille 3:30 - 4:30 PM Health Symposium Mentor/Sponsor Fair Cadillac Grille 4 PM Apple Workshop: What to Expect at Your First Hackthon Hall of Fame 4 PM Philly Pretzels Factory - Sponsored by Linode Cure Club 4:30 PM Microsoft: Intro to Azure Cadillac Grille 6PM - 8PM Opening Ceremony Main Stands 8 PM Hacking Starts 8 PM Dinner Cure Club 8 PM - 1 AM fatCoffee Cure Club 8 PM Team Formation Hall of Fame 8:30 PM HTML Workshop Cadillac Grille 8:30 PM Design Workshop Hall of Fame 9 PM Civic Hacking Workshop Cadillac Grille 9:30 PM Android Workshop Hall of Fame 10:00 PM Hardware Workshop Cadillac Grille Saturday 12 AM Pizza - Sponsored by Bloomberg Cure Club 3 AM Rita's Italian Ice Cure Club 7:30 AM - 10 AM Breakfast Cure Club 12 PM Lunch Cure Club 2 PM Women Hackers Meetup Hall of Fame 3:30 PM Popsicles from Lil Pop Shop Cure Club 5 PM From PennApps to Series A: How WayUp (Campus Job) went from a hack to a $9.1MM company Cadillac Grille 6 PM Dinner Cure Club 7 PM High School Hackers Meetup Cadillac Grille 8 PM - 1 AM fatCoffee Cure Club 9 PM Quizzo - Sponsored by Linode Cadillac Grille Sunday 12 AM Federal Donuts Cure Club 3 AM Insomnia Cookies and Milk - Sponsored by Apple Cure Club 7:30 AM - 10 AM Breakfast Cure Club 8 AM - 11 AM fatCoffee Cure Club 9 AM Hacking Ends Cure Club, Lexus Room 10 AM - 1 PM Expo Main Floor 2 PM - 4 PM Closing Ceremony Main Stage and Stands Frequently Asked Questions We know you have a lot of questions, so check below for some of the most common answers or drop us a line at [email protected]. Travel

Hacking

Other

Applying How much will PennApps cost me? Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. We'll provide you with a weekend's worth of swag, meals, drinks, and snacks and a place to crash when you need a break from coding. In fact, we'll even fully reimburse your travel (see Travel section). Will there be buses to the Wells Fargo Center? Yes! Buses will be provided. For more information please see here. Once I am accepted, what do I need to bring? Need: Laptop and charger, cellphone and charger, sleeping bag, pillow, toiletries, a couple changes of clothes (nerdy shirts are particularly appreciated). Don't need: a pre-determined team, an idea for an app, food or drink. Please don't bring: Firearms or other weapons, alcohol, illegal drugs, soldering or similar equipment, animals (no matter how adorable). How do reimbursements work? When you're accepted, we'll have a page where you can submit your required travel reimbursement forms and receipts. For each location hackers will be coming from, we determine the cheapest reasonable option and set a reimbursement cap at a bit more than the cost of that option. We will reimburse all travel costs up to this cap—if you go over, we'll still reimburse the amount of the cap, but no more. You can find more information here. When/Where can I hack? PennApps will start in the evening of Friday, September 4th with the kick-off ceremony. There will be events planned throughout the day for those who arrive early. A detailed schedule of events and locations will be posted later. All work eligible for prizes must be completed between Friday night after the kick-off and Sunday morning at the hacking location (TBA). What can I win? It's not about winning—it's about learning and making friends that last for a lifetime (so everyone's a winner!). If you're thinking, "that's adorable...but really," then we've got you covered too. A panel of professional judges will select the best three hacks based on the following criteria: creativity, technical difficulty, polish, and usefulness. Top prizes are TBA, but usually involve thousands of dollars and insane perks from company sponsors. Most sponsors offer their own prizes too for specific categories, which they judge and fund themselves. We had well over $40k worth of prizes up for grabs last time if you like numbers. I'm interested in using hardware for my hack? You're in luck! We have a whole team of organizers devoted to hardware. Check out the hardware tab to see what they have planned. I'm not a student, so how can I get involved? Unfortunately, we can't allow you to participate in the event or be on site during hacking. If you're looking to mentor (i.e. someone with technical skills who'd be willing to help out participants during the weekend), you should reach out to us at [email protected] Otherwise, you can see the finished products at the demos on Sunday (time and location TBA). How is PennApps run? PennApps is planned almost entirely by (sleep-deprived) University of Pennsylvania students, with some advice and assistance from our friends at Penn Engineering. One hundred percent of the funding for PennApps comes from corporate sponsor donations. You can find more information about sponsoring at our sponsor section. What should I do if I have additional questions or want to express my limitless gratitude? Aw shucks. Well, if you really must thank us, or you have questions about anything, shoot us an email at [email protected] What's the application process like? We're looking for creative and innovative people with a set of skills that can contribute to a project - mobile, web, hardware, design, or anything else really cool. We generally prefer people that have proven their abilities in previous projects, evident through links, project descriptions, Github profiles, video demos or participation/awards in other hackathons. We don't require that you've participated in a hackathon ever before, but show us what makes you special in whatever way is most natural. When will applications close? The application will close June 5th at 11:59pm EDT. Who can apply? Any college, university, or high school student 15 years old or older on September 1st, 2015 is eligible to apply. Should Penn students fill out the application too? Nope! We'll have a separate registration process for Penn students only later in the summer. Every Penn student who wants to participate is free to, as long as they register in advance. No application process. If you're new to programming, we'll be running workshops for Penn students in the weeks leading up to the event (look out for Code Weekend!), and Friday evening of PennApps.