Am I heading in the right direction for Upenn?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>As of right now, I am a sophomore in high school. I did not take any AP's or honors during my freshman and sophomore year. However, I will be taking 3 AP's junior year along with 2 intro courses as well as 7 AP's senior year along with 2 more intro courses. So, based on what you see, is it a waste of my time to apply to Upenn? </p>

<p>Present PSAT score: 67 math, 65 reading, 65 writing (I plan to improve these score to at least a 750 in math and reading)</p>

<p>Volunteer hours:around 4-500 hours</p>

<p>GPA: My overall average (including all my classes during high school and middle school) is 92. I obviously plan to improve this, and my GPA for my sophomore year is around 96 (unweighted)</p>

<p>ethnicity:Asian male</p>

<p>Income: <$60,000</p>

<p>summer program: Tech entrepreneurship program that teaches you HTML, CSS, and Javascript </p>

<p>Clubs: Math team (I plan to be in this club from sophomore to senior), NHS (again, I plan to be in this for 3 years), software engineering (2 yrs), and science olympiad(2 yrs)</p>

<p>I want to major in software and take pre-med courses at the same time b/c I am not sure what I like better. Also, AP java is the only AP CS course offered, so I can't focus my application around cs, especially since I am in math major in my high school.</p>

<p>So, assuming I get really good recommendations, and 800's on my SAT II's , will I be able to get into Upenn, or am I wasting my time? (I kinda feel like all of the other intelligent people with high stats that are applying to ivies, so how do I set myself apart?)</p>

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<p>Anyone???</p>

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<p>I’ve posted in other threads- no one can tell you your chances of getting into Penn or highly competitive schools unless they are admissions counselors. The group of the 30000 or so students applying each year to highly competitive schools are changes every year, so what gets you in this year may not get you in next year, depending on what the school is looking for. The admissions game is so haphazard at times that here are many highly qualified students who get rejected at great schools every year. I will let you know that some colleges do not count freshman year grades when looking at GPA. </p>

<p>My advice as a parent whose son just finished the whole process- try to figure out what you want to do, visit schools, and see where you fit in. Don’t be obsessed with name brand status- be obsessed with finding what is best for you.</p>

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<p>raika </p>

<p>PsychoDad gives excellent advice.</p>

<p>BTW – below is the link for Penn’s common data set, it may be helpful in comparing your stats with those of the incoming class. I’m going to be very honest – the best anyone can do in a ‘chance’ thread is compare your #s with those in the CDS. … or you can do so yourself.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202011-12.pdf[/url]”>http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202011-12.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;