Am I on track for UPenn? (HS Class of 2019)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Note to Moderators: The past two times I’ve tried to post this, the discussion disappeared after I attempted to edit it. I apologize if this is causing any issues on your end.

I’m a current high school Junior from Texas. My school has never sent a student to an Ivy League (Or equivalent) school; the majority stay in-state and attend public colleges. I’d like to know if I’m currently on the right track to being a solid candidate for Penn. The Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology interests me the most, with Wharton Undergrad as a second choice.

I’m aware that I lack awards that a lot of other competitive applicants have in abundance. Should I be zoning in more on my current ambitions or shift some focus to pursuing these types of awards?

I’d also like to find out if it’s worth hiring a private college counselor locally (My parents have received some recommendations from others). My hope is they would help me build out my extracurricular profile (I feel as though it’s currently a little lacking; not all of my extracurriculars compliment what I’d like my application to look like) and guide me through the application process.

Thanks in advance!

GPA

For weighted GPA, my school weights only core classes (Math, English, Science, History/Social Studies) at 5.0, assuming they exhibit a higher level of rigor. The maximum number of courses they’ll weight at 5.0 is four. Core classes at an academic level are still weighted at 4.0.

  • Weighted: 4.5
  • Unweighted: 4.0
  • Class Rank: 1

CLASSES

My school doesn’t allow Freshman to take AP classes. I’ve taken every AP class available to me thus far.

  • AP World History (Sophomore, Score: 5)
  • AP Statistics (Sophomore, Score: 3)
    I’m thinking about potentially self-studying the AP US History exam this year.

Beginning this year, I’ve started as an IB Diploma student. For those that don’t know, IB is a program considered equally with AP. As a Junior, I’m only allowed to take SL classes. I’m planning to switch into Mathematics HL, Physics HL, and English HL next year.

  • IB Pre Calculus SL
  • IB Physics SL
  • IB Chemistry SL
  • IB English SL
  • IB History of the Americas SL
  • IB German SL
  • Computer Science III

By the time I graduate, I plan to have the following credits:

  • Four Math credits
  • Four Science credits (All of which are considered lab classes)
  • Four English credits
  • Three History credits
  • Two Social Studies credits
  • Four Foreign Language credits
  • Four Computer Science credits
  • Two Visual/Performing Arts credits
  • Two Academic Elective credits

EXAMS

I’ve currently taken the following:

  • PSAT/NMSQT 9th Grade: 1210 (EBRW 640, Math 570)
  • PSAT/NMSQT 10th Grade: 1360 (EBRW 670, Math 690)
  • PSAT/NMSQT 11th Grade: Took the exam on Wednesday

I’m also planning to take the following exams:

  • SAT in December 2017, January 2018, and March 2018
  • ACT in February 2018 and April 2018
  • Math II Subject Test in May 2018 and possibly June 2018
  • Physics Subject Test in May 2018 and possibly June 2018
  • World History Subject Test in June 2018

EXTRACURRICULARS

Internal Activities: (My school only allows you to be president of one club)

  • Mu Alpha Theta (Third year, planning for four)
    — Currently hold elected leadership position: Historian
    — Planning to run for elected leadership position: Vice President
  • National Honor Society (Second year, planning for three)
    — Currently hold elected leadership position: Secretary
    — Planning to run for elected leadership position: Vice President
  • Student Council (Second year, planning for three)
  • IB Grade-Level Ambassador (Second year, planning for three)
    — Nominated by school faculty
  • Future Business Leaders of America (First year, planning for two)
    — Currently hold elected leadership position: Co-Founder & President
    — Planning to run for elected leadership position: President
  • Science National Honor society (First year, planning for two)
    — Planning to run for elected leadership position: Secretary
  • Rho Kappa (First year, planning for two)
  • Delta Epsilon Phi (First year, planning for two)

External Activities:

  • Operating my own business since mid-2015, incorporated in 2016 (2015-Present)
    — I started this business because I wanted to experience what it’s like to run a company
    — I also wanted to tie in programming, an interest of mine, to push myself to broaden my knowledge
    — My parents do not interfere in how my company operates
    — Have anywhere from two and ten contractors working for me on any given project
    — Made a sizable amount in 2016 (Won’t divulge further for privacy reasons)
    — On track to make double what we made last year in 2017 alone
    — Regularly donating large portions of profits to charitable organizations I’m passionate about
  • Volunteered for a political campaign on a national level (2015-2016)
    — Part of a small team handling targeted social media outreach
    — Coordinated and helped manage over 20,000 volunteers during this period
  • Volunteer for a political party in my county (2017-Present)
    — Digital outreach coordinator
    — Organize and manage elaborate social media campaigns over extended periods of time
  • Starting a nonprofit organization sometime this year (Present)
    — Goal: To encourage and teach kids of varying ages to get involved with Computer Science
    — Would provide free, open classes to all that are interested, available several days a week
  • Boy Scouts of America (2013-Present)
    — Current Life Scout, expected to reach Eagle Scout by January
    — Held leadership positions both on troop and district levels
  • Volunteer photographer for several non-profit institutions (2015-Present)
    — Accumulated over 200 hours since starting in 2015
  • Duke TIP Summer Studies Program (2014-2017)
  • Attended various national leadership training/conferences for NHS and Student Council (2016-Present)

I’m also planning to do the following things this upcoming Spring/Summer:

  • Internship at a multi-national company
    — Want to get a feel for what my intended college major will be like in the real world
    — Person that will be writing my recommendation letter is a Penn alum and donor
  • Lead a team to compete in the State Leadership Conference for FBLA
    — If we qualify, also compete at the National Leadership Conference in June
  • Apply to UPenn M&T Summer Institute
  • Apply to UPenn LBW Program
  • Apply to MIT Launch Program

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

  • State: Texas
  • School Type: Public magnet
  • Ethnicity: Caucasian
  • Gender: Male
  • Income Bracket: >$250k
  • Hooks: None

I’m sorry for this post being so long! If you read through all of this, you deserve major props. Thanks again!

2

Yes you are, great job in highschool :), hope you get accepted and keep up the amazing work!

3

Your PSAT is low for PENN, but that literally doesn’t matter and no college will ever see it. I’m just pointing this our for SAT purposes. If you don’t find yourself scoring well on SAT, go for ACT! With your GPA, i’m sure you can make at least a 32 on the first try. I wouldn’t be surprised if higher:) - PREP

Your ECs are great!

As long as you keep up your grades, score well and keep ups the ECs/business, you’re a very competitive applicant and have a good shot. Just remember that there are also several other qualified applicants so just don’t get too confident like some people I know, haha.

Also for ECs, be careful. Can you really run a non-profit and a business simultaneously? I mean sure, anyone can run them, but how successfully? While it’s great to have ECs, make sure you’re not just doing it for the resume. By starting a business, Penn can see you’re capable of starting something and successfully running it. Will starting a non-profit take away time from your company? What’s the point of doing both?

Personally, I would do the service that you plan doing through your nonprofit, through your business instead. Get other people involved. Service makes businesses desirable. Businesses are then seen as not only paid benefit to society, but also voluntary benefit to society.

Talk to your counselor. See what he/she thinks:)

Final note: I think you’re a fantastic candidate for Penn. Pending rec letters and the remaining application, I would totally accept you:) I’ll be checking back in a year to see if you made it, haha. Maybe I’ll see you there one day!

4

Focus on your upcoming standardized tests. With those in hand, you’ll have a much better idea of your chances. Good luck!

5

Your profile is good and don’t worry if your school has never sent anyone to Penn before. Make sure you nail the SAT/ACT, but don’t send 5 scores to the school. I’m not sure you need to take it that many times—same goes for the subject tests. Also, the 3 on AP Statistics needs to be outweighed by a high math score on the SAT and the Math II test, especially since you’re applying M&T.

I don’t think you would benefit from a college counselor—you’re top of your class, with good extracurriculars, and a solid plan already in hand. You’re not going to hear anything from them that you don’t already know. If you’re looking to spend money, however, I would recommend SAT tutoring if your practice exam scores are close to your PSAT scores. If you had a 1520+ in hand, then you would have a very competitive profile.

Agreed with the above that you should focus your time on building out a few stellar ECs/activities versus trying to do everything. I can’t imagine realistically maintaining your rank, doing well on standardized tests, running two businesses, interning for the summer, working on a political campaign, leading FBLA, and doing summer programs. At some point the adcom will begin rolling their eyes.

6

@justliviglife - Thank you for the kind words! You made good points about me overextending myself through ECs, I’ve thought about what you said and will be looking into incorporating the service into my existing business rather than starting a nonprofit. I don’t want to overextend myself.

@ThinkOn - On it! Thank you!

@aoeuidhtns - Thank you for the response. I’m not proud of that 3; I’ll be focusing heavily on SAT Math section and Math II. I am also starting SAT prep classes next week to help raise my score there as well. I’ve noted your point about not taking the tests too many times, but do you know if it’d hurt me not to take it (The SAT) more than once if I get a score (Say, 1550+) that I don’t think I could improve on much? You make good points about my ECs as well. As I mentioned above, I’ll be dropping the nonprofit idea and instead possibly incorporating it into the business, time permitting. I’ve debated cutting my political involvement too as it doesn’t fit in well with the rest of my application. Would this be a good idea?

Thank you again, everyone, for your responses! Critiques like these are exactly why I came to College Confidential.

7

@johndoetx No it won’t hurt to stop at the first exam if you got a 1550 and felt there wasn’t much room to improve. Applying with one score is perfectly fine.

Also, I think that consolidating is a right move–you current resume is good as-is. Don’t need to pad it with further political volunteerism and a nonprofit