A shot at Penn?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Hi, </p>

<p>I’m applying to penn and it really looks great. I was just wondering how I stand. Its an Ivy league school and i dont know if I have the GPA to get in. It seems like everyone here applying is a valedictorian and class president. Also i dont really have any leadership positions. I am applying to the collge, if that makes a difference. </p>

<p>Also I haven’t met with the admissions guy and i couldn’t go to the meeting they had in my area on Sunday, so I havent been in too much contact with the folks at Penn. Does that make a difference?</p>

<p>Here are my stats: </p>

<p>White male from Seattle, WA</p>

<p>Senior - Applying Regular Decision </p>

<p>SAT - 1520 (800M, 720V)
SAT II’s (havent taken them yet but hopefully i’ll get close)
Math 2C - 800 ish
Writing - 730ish
US History - 720ish
ACT - 31 Avg (will use SAT’s instead) </p>

<p>3.88 High school GPA UW at a VERY tough private prep school
Hopefully I’ll have the GPA to a 3.9 something by the end of the 1st term this year
Taking 2 out of the 3 Ap’s the school offers
AP BC Calculus
AP History
Top 10% of class </p>

<p>Sports
Freshman Football 9
Varsity Football 10-12
JV Tennis 9-10
Varsity Tennis 11-12 (State Champs)
Intramural Basketball 9,10,12
Ski Bus 9-12 </p>

<p>Extra Curriculars
Community Service - Skiforall - (organization teaching developmentally disabled kids how to ski) 11-12
National Honor Society 10-12
Junior State – 9, 12</p>

<p>National Merit Commended Scholar
Who’s Who of High School Students in America Award
Award for excellence3 at the 39th Mission support squadron (work award)
President’s List 7 out of 9 Times (3.85 or above)</p>

<p>Job Experience (working since 14)
Military Summer hire for Air Force in Turkey - Summer of 9th and 10th grade. (Pretty unique experience) This is huge for the military stuff described.
Ski Instructor - 10th
Tennis Instructor - 11th </p>

<p>I might be forgetting a few things . . . </p>

<p>Anyways, thanks for the help. I appreciate it. Be honest I’d like some realistic evaluations. A lot of people i know seem too confident. Thanks</p>

2

<p>i think you have a good shot, but of course nothing's guaranteed. </p>

<p>i'm not saying your EC's are mediocre, but in general it's better to have good grades and test scores with mediocre EC's than good EC's and mediocre grades or test scores. the only exception is if you were a gold medal winner or something.</p>

<p>if you need a leadership position or two, just create a new club and name yourself founder and president.</p>

<p>are you from lakeside? i think half the people from WA that go to penn are from there. if so check your competition. i'm from federal way btw.</p>

3

<p>I am actually from Seattle Prep, lakesides rival . . .</p>

<p>Is the college easier to get into that the engineering school? Im pretty sure its easier than Wharton. </p>

<p>One last question: If I'm going to visit Penn in November, should i call and schedule an on campus interview or something? Thanks</p>

4

<p>i'm sure seas is slightly less competitive, but i don't think the disparity in admissions difficulty is big enough to merit to choosing a different school.</p>

<p>if you want to stay a night with a student call the office. also make sure you put your name on every sign in sheet, especially since you're applying regular decision.</p>

5

<p>skier13_
unless you are a legacy penn doesn't interview.</p>

6

<p>That's not actually true, alum interviews are offered in many areas. I'm from an area with lots of applicants and alums - practically everyone gets an interview</p>

7

<p>Yeah, i found out that we do get interviewed here in Seattle. I think that'll help me out. How do you think my chances at Penn are?</p>

<p>Also, how big is the greek scene at Penn. Im definetly interested in that, and want to know how it works, when rush is, etc.</p>

8

<p>Your school only offers three APs? That sounds odd for a top prep school.</p>

9

<p>If you think about it because we have only 130 kids in the senior class (about 50 go to college early) its really not that odd to only offer three. The faculty is pretty small and the curriculum is already hard. Also not enough kids would sign up to take all the AP's to make it cost effective. </p>

<p>I'm sure were not a "top prep school" in comparison with those boarding schools from New England and the East coast. Its just were about as good as it gets in Washington State, next to Lakeside maybe.</p>

10

<p>you get interviewed by local alumni. i think that's in february. i don't think it really counts for anything though. jsut check the e-mail account you put down on that 1A form.</p>

<p>at penn freshmen are first allowed to rush in the spring. a third of penn is greek, and i think there are more guys than girls, so i'd guess 40% of guys are in fraternities? that's where penn gets any drinking or "social ivy" reputation.</p>

<p>also as a sidenote the penn washington admits are overwhelmingly from private schools. i saw a list of the admits. i didn't really look over it that carefully, but i remember not finding anyone from my area code admitted from a public school.</p>

11

<p>I just found out my SAT II's, will this negatively affect me?</p>

<p>Math IIC 770
Writing 710</p>

<p>(am retaking in November)</p>

12

<p>The SAT IIs seem okay. They are consistent with your SAT Is. You look pretty solid overall. </p>

<p>How is your competition for Penn from your own school? Lots of applicants? ED I would give you really good odds - Penn really gives credit for that. RD - you still have a better than average shot.</p>

13

<p>I think there is a good amount of competition from my school - probably about 5 - 7 other people. I know of 3 for sure. But we're also a really competitive and selective private school, with a lot of smart kids. Does that really play a big factor?</p>

14

<p>it's a tradeoff....you get some ground in some places, less in others.</p>

<p>they give you slack on your GPA. for instance, if you come from an "unknown" school you really need to be at the top rank-wise.</p>

<p>you get less slack on your SAT, because they pretty much expect you to have tutors and prep for it sooner or whatever. my guess is you need 1500's if you're at a "good" school, 1400's from mediocre no-name publics.</p>

<p>but they expect you to be more familiar with the admissions process too. i would think with private schools they're much more likely to take ED people. with average/bad public schools, they can understand the kids aren't really informed about ED and still take them RD. other things like college visitations are much more important (unless you're on a scholarship or something).</p>

15

<p>You can't really call Prep a top prep school in WA Lakeside is so much better than we are (yes i go there...and i totally beat you today on the way to school!) and so is overlake in many ways. I disagree that you compete with the people in your class in your school. I do no think they will only take teh best candidate from a school, if all teh candidates are competitive they will take all of them. By the way i closed my file for USNA so there's one less competition if you wnat to think of it that way. Are you applying early any where? and why duke? have you visited there you need to come talk to me about it because i visited!</p>

16

<p>ummm . . . anybody else want to comment on my chances? </p>

<p>Thanks -</p>

17

<p>We only have 120 students a grade and my prep school offers 21 APs....</p>

18

<p>Yeah, we're from Washington State though, and our "prep schools" probably arent nearly as rigourous or comptetive as the East Coasts. Its still really hard work though. The school offers three, but only 2 or 3 people take all three. I took 2. </p>

<p>Does being from the Northwest (Seattle) give me a better chance? Apparently Penn doesnt get a lot of applicants from there. . .</p>

19

<p>Oh, and if you want to comment about how my school doesnt offer that many AP's, thats cool, just throw in my chances too please. Thanks. ;)</p>

20

<p>sup skier13</p>

<p>im at bellevue high with similar stats and have been told i have a good chance</p>

<p>im sure u do too</p>

<p>lol btw do u know della</p>