Am I UPENN material?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I am currently a junior in high school! Can you tell me if you think I'm on the right track for an Ivy/whether I have a chance of getting into one? My DREAAAM school is UPenn or Columbia, but I also really love Princeton, Brown and of course Harvard. Other than Ivies I would love to go to a top private college on the east coast, such as UChicago, Duke, Georgetown, etc. I'm from California and think I have a pretty good chance of getting into top UCs but I really do not want to go to a UC or stay in CA for college...an east coast private school is my dream! I go to a very good public school in a pretty wealthy suburb in the Bay Area.</p>

<p>Grades: All A's so far with a few A-'s here and there (one frosh year, two soph year). The classes I took:</p>

<p>Frosh year-Band, PE, Biology, Health, Spanish 2, Honors English, Honors Global Studies, Honors Algebra 2</p>

<p><em>Took Honors Chemistry over the summer</em></p>

<p>Soph year-Band, Spanish 3, Honors english, Honors Precalc, AP World, AP Biology</p>

<p>Junior year-Band, AP Spanish, AP English Lang, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry, AP US History</p>

<p>Senior year (what I plan to take)-Band, AP English Lit, AP Statistics, AP Gov/Econ, AP Psychology, AP Physics</p>

<p>GPA: UW 4.0, Weighted no idea but I have straight A's so it can't be anything bad...</p>

<p>Test Scores: SAT I: 2330 (One sitting, Oct 2011) Ughh wanted a 2350 :'(
SAT II: Biology-760 Math II-800, going to take Chem (hopefully better than 760 so I'll replace the Bio one) and Spanish
PSAT-237, probably going to be NMS
ACT-Going to take in June, pretty confident I can get a 35-36</p>

<p>ECS: Marching band all 4 years, first chair flute soph year, got into the highest band at our school this year, trying to get first chair again next year in the highest band, also trying out to be a section leader next year (I think I will get it)</p>

<p>Volunteer work-I have 50+ hours at the local soup kitchen, also I volunteer at our hospital every week and will probably have 100+ hours when I apply.
I really want to take a trip to somewhere in Latin America this spring break and volunteer there, helping out the people in a small town. (Also hopefully it will help improve my spanish for the AP test hehe). In the process of planning the trip.</p>

<p>My BIG EC and main focus in high school was DECA-I joined the club frosh year and have regularly qualified for the International conference, and have won many awards (1st, 2nd, 3rd) in numerous events and district and state level every year. It would be long and boring for me to list out every award so I am not going to. Also, soph year I tried out to be a state officer and got the position, so I have been state officer of CA DECA (Northern California VP) this past year. My term is almost up, not sure if I am going to re-run because of how busy I am + how much it conflicts with other activities. </p>

<p>Part of other small clubs in my school like UNICEF (do a lot of volunteer work with them too), Linguistics, and helped start an MUN club at my school (was VP of it last year)</p>

<p>Soon going to start Interning for my city's local Newspaper, shadowing, writing articles, etc</p>

<p>Last thing whoo! Currently applying for summer internships such as SIMR (Stanford), BLIPS (US Berkeley), COSMOS (UC Davis), one at UPenn, etc, so hopefully I'll get into at least one of those. (Will doing the UPenn summer program give me any advantage to getting in? I know two people who did it, both not AMAZING but still above-average students, and they both got into Penn..)</p>

<p>My main interests are Business/Media communications, and Biology. My absolute dream job is to work in media (be a sportscaster for ESPN, hehe I love sports) but I know that's not very realistic...since I also love biology, I'll probably end up going to Bio research or Biotech or something.</p>

<p>Sorry this is so long...what do you think? Where do I have a chance?</p>

2

<p>You have to make up your mind on what your major is, because you either apply straight to Wharton, or you apply to the CAS. Wharton, the B School at Penn is more difficult to get into. </p>

<p>Now, your summer programs with Penn won’t help, so don’t do them for that reason. One trap you may fall into is that you don’t seem very enthusiastic/passionate about what you do. Not rerunning for DECA will illustrate this, especially since that’s your big EC. </p>

<p>Your stats are strong (albeit you seeming like a grade grubber. A 760 is fine, a 2330 is fine, and getting A-s is fine also). </p>

<p>Volunteer work seems pretty average. Your trip can be a great experience, but do it because you want to (not for college). Issue with this is that for essays, that topic is extremely overdone and lots of people do it. Still a great experience and worth having though. Keep in mind, passion, or the lack thereof, does come through, and if you don’t have it, it won’t help your case.</p>

<p>You have a shot, of course, at every school, so apply where your heart desires. With your objective stats, I would apply everywhere. Ivies are very random, and lots of details you did not provide (your race, your essays, your recs, hooks, etc.) play a large role. If you do apply to Wharton, really demonstrate your passion in business (don’t be so apologetic about pursuing your dream job. That “unrealistic” approach is bad).</p>

<p>I didn’t mean to lecture. Just some advice.</p>

3

<p>Well my goal was to portray both of my passions (business and science) and apply to UPenn’s dual program between Wharton and CAS. I am very passionate about everything I do! Trust me. The only reason i wouldn’t be rerunning for DECA is because my band teacher threatened to drop me from the program since my DECA responsibilities conflicted so much…I was pretty heartbroken for a while, because I love both band and being a state officer. I’m still deciding what to do.</p>

<p>So yeah, my goal would be the joint program (I know it is VERY competitive and only 25 people get selected, but I am really going to try to show them my passion for both science and business through everything I have done).</p>

<p>My race is Indian (so Asian)…I wouldn’t be able to tell you essays and recs yet since I’m not in the application process. Pretty sure I have no hooks.</p>

<p>Thanks for your thoughts though, any other advice?</p>

4

<p>As for the grade grubber thing-lol sorry, don’t mean to come off that way. It’s just that when you’re raised in an environment full of people obsessing over perfect scores, perfect grades, perfect everythings, you just get into this mindset that anything even slightly lower than “perfection” is unacceptable and detrimental…thanks for the reality check though.</p>

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<p>I would love to go to a top private college on the east coast, such as UChicago, Duke, Georgetown, etc.</p>

<p>You should know that UChicago is located in Chicago. I didn’t read the rest.</p>

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<p>I know that UChicago is located in Chicago…I’m not limiting myself to the east coast, that was just a generalization. Uchicago still falls under “top private, in a big city”, which is also what I want…</p>

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<p>Your #s meet the threshold, but if you want to get into that dual degree program they are looking for a PASSION in business+science. You need to sell yourself and create a pesronality. Doing a bunch of volunteer work is great and all, but most of it is secondary to your MAIN ECs. Having a passion/focus is vital, while being well-rounded is sort of a background check (to show you have other interests and do other things). Good luck. You’re a competitive applicant, and if you really want the dual degree in CAS+Wharton apply ED!</p>

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<p>Is all of my DECA (business club) involvement (awards, statewide leadership) as well as science interest (summer internship + research, hospital volunteering, good sciences scores and grades, etc) not enough to show my passion?</p>

9

<p>Yes, though I wouldn’t sacrifice DECA for your band thing as was mentioned before. Your credentials do show passion, but the thing about passion is that more is always welcome… :)</p>

<p>Also, the essay is very important. It is your only chance to VOICE your passion in science+business - so write a damn good essay.</p>

10

<p>Yeah, I plan on writing a damn good essay! Haha. Thanks for your advice!</p>

<p>And you wouldn’t sacrifice DECA for band? Because I’ve really wanted a leadership position in band for a while and I love playing the flute…and I do have a year of being a state officer already and there’s no guarantee that if I re-run, I’ll get elected again. I’ll of course still be a part of DECA and compete next year, regardless.</p>

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<p>Are you interested in Vagelos Life Science and Management (LSM) (the dual-degree between the college and Wharton—basically, biology/biochem and business)? If so, stick with DECA. Not sure if this is an anomaly or not…but there were 12-13 people accepted ED into the LSM program this fall (me being one of them). Out of the 12-13, at least 3 so far are involved with DECA, two of the three are State Officers, and all 3 of us have went to and placed top 10 or better at ICDC. I personally am a State Officer and have won 1st and 3rd at Nationals. PM me if you want more details, but I guarantee you that DECA holds a lot of weight and is something that is valued if you are devoted to it!</p>

12

<p>I went to SIMR at Stanford last year as a junior and this year I was admitted to Stanford’s class of 2016 :smiley: you’ll be ok.</p>

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<p>i would say the only think holding you back is extracurriculars, since it seems like you don’t have too much variety. but i’ve heard that colleges also like one thing if you’re really passionate about it, which it sounds like you are. obviously you’ve got FANTASTIC academic stats. but what do i know, i’m definitely not in the ivy league range :slight_smile: good luck!</p>