<p>Hey does this sound like a good topic: </p>
<p>I'm writing about how my father abandoned me when i was little; the first time i met him when i was 7 years old, he promised a lot and never kept any of his promises. Then i wrote about how the conversation that I had with him affects me now.</p>
<p>This isn't too personal is it? Too common? is it risque?</p>
<p>robertson: I'm not sure. It depends how you present it. If you can think of reasonable effects from this event in your life, go for it. But if the effects are not unique, it could become cliche. I would definately use it though if this somehow effect your grades because this could be a mitigating circumstance...again be specific, be personal, show yourself</p>
<p>myopia: I really think that people over play the Bs on your transcript. I didn't have any Bs until Junior year but then about half of my classes had B averages. Penn isn't going to kick you out because of a B. There's more to a person than the grade they get in a class. I highly doubt that Penn would ever reject someone just because of a few Bs. And if it's the only B on your transcript, I don't see why it would ever matter.</p>
<p>theres no way they will kick you out for getting a B..haha..thats rediculous..youd probablybe safe getting all Bs...or one C...oooo nooo..haha...all i know is I had a 2 day hamlet test on thurs and fri..and i definitely didnt study...at least i knew the stuff pretty well and the test wasnt as hard as i expected</p>
<p>I don't think there was one thing that got me in. Now that I think back on it, altogether I had a great well rounded app with a lot of great things taht added up. My SATs were strong (800M, 720V, 720W, 800 Physics, 800 Math 1, 790 Math 2)...my grades were pretty good...rank was decent. ECs were decent with a couple varsity sports about 250 hours volunteering. I loove my essays. I spent months on those. My Why Penn essay is veerrry personal...you can tell I really love the school and its perfect for me. Good reccs with an extra recc from an alum..good interview. And the kicker...i had a supplementary project that represented different aspects of my life and gave them a good personal view of me. So I guess it all just added up.</p>
<p>You know..its funny. I was never this optimistic BEFORE I got in.</p>
<p>Wild Child was a recruit, and had a very favorable pre-read for CAS, but there have been cases where recruits were not accepted. He is also a legacy through two grandparents. His academic stats were OK, but not anything like what many of you have. He goes to an excellent prep boarding school, but he has attended a few other schools before this one. He had a suspension and expulsion to report (from March 2003), and did an excellent job of showing how he learned from the experience. His recs were excellent- the counselor and teachers spent extra time on his to try to overcome his checkered past. He is regarded at his school as a true scholar-athlete, but he also believes many rules don't apply to him. I thought his Why Penn essay was incredible and unique.<br>
The bottom line on Wild Child is: you don't have to be a perfect candidate to be accepted. They really do look at the whole package.</p>
<p>honestly, i'm not exactly sure what tipped the scales for me, so i'll just summarize everything.</p>
<p>Scores:
weighted gpa-103.45% (no 4.0 scale, sorry)
class rank: 4/570
sats: 2220
sat II: chem(700), lit(750)
aps: chem(5), english language(5), microecon(5)</p>
<p>Classes:
-progressively increased #of honors/ap classes from 9th-12th grade (total of 17 by graduation)
-concentration from the beginning in the area i wanted to pursue (science)
-independent research project this year</p>
<p>EC's:
Clubs-key club(leader), model un(leader), other volunteer and political clubs, literary mag.
Sports-community and school (2 varsity letters)
Volunteer-animal shelter on own, others
Music-stage crew (manager, production assistant), orchestra, choir)
Travel-3 weeks in russia/china/mongolia in 2002, mexico</p>
<p>Awards:
National merit semifinalist, model un, writing award, key club officer awards, odyssey of the mind, chemistry olympiad</p>
<p>Essays:
-"Why I belong there"-I focused on my desire to pursue chemistry and made a cool little analogy between myself/penn and a chemical equation. I also added a lot of details specifically about penn (you don't want it to sound like you could substitute any college name into it)
-"First experience"-I talked about a third-grade experience where I first decided that I would rather learn for the sake of learning than just to be on top.
-Short answer questions: I won't say specifically what I wrote, but I will say that I was particularly creative/funny in these and I utilized the entire space (as in a wrote extremely small so as to fit in the maximum amount of info/opinion)
-In general, I believe it was my writing/style more than my actual ideas that swayed them in this area. It's so important to be passionate about everything (without being fake) and to express all your ideas to the best of your ability. You need to have a style that stands out.</p>
<p>Other:
-As mentioned, I'm going to major in chemistry and plan to go into research, which is a field lacking females. I expressed my PASSION (can you guess this is key yet?) for the subject, as well as my future career.
-Above all, I think it's necessary to find some way to make yourself an individual. If you think of yourself in this way already, then you're a step ahead...now you just need to find some way (probably in words) to show this individuality to the admissions officers.</p>
<p>good luck to everyone applying rd!!</p>
<p>Wow this is an excellent post. More please! Especially people from Pennsylvania who got into Wharton!</p>
<p>obviously not. that would just be ridiculous.</p>
<p>Well, I think I also had a little bit of everything going for me. I have strong SATs and decent SAT IIs, strong GPA, not ranked, but up there if we were, and excellent recs as it now turns out (teachers told me after the acceptance). The essays were something I slaved on for months. I did p. 217 about an obstacle I have overcome. It was just like they say, a part of what makes me who I am that they wouldn't have known from the other parts of the app. Tied it in nicely with one of my ECs, too. My Why Penn essay was very personalized - related everything I liked about Penn back to what I have already done in HS and stressed how I would continue these interests at Penn. Was very specific and I think it really showed my love and knowledge about the school. My ECs were mainly focused on three or four activities over the four years, including some real leadership roles in several very different types of activities. Nothing world class here but definitely showed the passion. I had what I thought at the time was a pretty weak legacy connection, but I'm sure that helped. I had an on campus interview that went very well. Still, was the only one of thirteen, including numerous other legacy and faculty kids to get into the college - one other person also got into Wharton. BTW, these numbers were a fraction of those that got in from my school last year -and there are deferrals from my class that I hope will still come through for some people. </p>
<p>I agree with lishnik21, in hindsight all this is much easier.</p>