<p>To current students at penn, I am applying as a transfer and I have a question. I work very hard, but I am the first person to admit I am not that smart....I worked very hard in highschool and I do get good grades, but it was simply because in highschool... if you work and study the material hard you sure to do well...because a third of the class simply didnt care and so doing well wasnt hard... but coming to standardized tests... i failed epically...2's on all my ap's...low 600s on sat 2's.. although A's in all of the classes.. it wasnt grade inflation i knew the material cold... I just am terrible with standardized tests... so my question is... if i am accepted to penn-hypothetically... i would study sociology or anthropology...how hard would it be to maintain a 3.7 gpa there... with working my butt off... is it if i more or less study hard il do well.. or are the tests more standardized... GPA is very impt for me for law school.. i just dont want to go there... screw up my gpa.. and then screw myself over for no reason.... thanks guys</p>
<p>Terrible with standardized tests? Eh, might not want to go to law school given the primacy of the LSAT in admissions.</p>
<p>In any case, maintaining a 3.7 can be as easy or hard as you want. It depends on your major and what other courses/majors/minors/extracurriculars you undertake in addition.</p>
<p>ya its a problem… my main goal is to get a jd/mba… im very involved outside school with business so I hope they overlook maybe some low scores but idk… thanks though… and how are the tests at penn for humanities and social sciences… is it more papers than multiple choice tests?</p>
<p>It really depends on the course/prof. As a CAS student, you’ll have to do at least one biological science course, one physical science course, one math/natural science course, and one quantitative reasoning course. Some are very loosey goosey and some are substantially more involved, and unfortunately, it can be very difficult to tell which are which - it really depends on the teacher. In those courses (at least the ones I took), there were no papers, only objective exams. </p>
<p>I’ll be honest, I’m weak in math/science, so it was no picnic for me, but if you choose the courses wisely and prepare well, you’ll be fine. The exams are standardized in that they are uniform throughout the given department (in most cases) and executional/objective.</p>
<p>Regarding the humanities/social sciences tests, it’s even less clear. The history courses I took were almost all paper/essay test heavy, but the social science courses can be less forgiving and more executional (in the cases of say linguistics and physical anthropology). Don’t sweat it! Sincerely - if you’re admitted to a program, the presumption is that you will be able to do the work and well.</p>
<p>I don’t like to be harsh, but here I go. sorry in advance.</p>
<p>there’s no doubt that will have a very hard time at Penn–of course it depends on what classes and what teachers you have, but most people here were the top kids in their class… once they get to penn, they realize that they’re at a school full of really, really smart kids and are disheartened a ton.
I would say that I’m smart and I work hard, but when I came to Penn, I realized that now I’m kind of on the average-high side… definitely not like high school. at all.</p>
<p>but the thing is, you have to realize that Penn’s really tough… I’m sure this is pretty obvious, but surprisingly, there are a lot of students who are COMPLETELY taken aback by this… I always hear, “I was valedictorian at my high school, but now I feel so dumb!” but I think you have an advantage… since you say you’re a hard worker, that really pays off. a lot of kids who get lost in the race are usually the ones who didn’t really study but still got good grades in high school… so when they get to penn, they’re not used to ACTUALLY doing the homework, reading the textbook, studying for the tests, etc. </p>
<p>so basically: you have a good chance of doing well at penn, but seeing from your standardized scores (even if you’re not a good test-taker), you’ll have a pretty hard time. if you’re 100% set on going to a top law school or something, I would recommend going somewhere where it’s a bit easier to get a higher GPA… a lot of my good friends have gone to state schools, or even schools that are still really good but not ivy (like usc, tufts, bc…) and for grad school, they get into really good universities because they were at the TOP for their undergrad education. </p>
<p>so it’s really your choice. good luck, and either way, I’m sure you’ll do well 
you can always just apply first and decide once you get your letters</p>