Can I get in? (I have poor academics)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Hey guys, I am planning to apply as an ED1 applicant to UPenn. Here is my stats, please tell me if I have good chance of getting in or not?

Gender: Male
Prospective major: Dual major in Computer Science and Business.
Ethnicity: Asian (I am from Nepal)
GPA: 3.17/4 weighted
Rank: 17/180( One of the most prestigious schools in Nepal)
Course: A-levels

SAT: 1st time- 1700(530CR, 640M, 530W w/10 essay)
WILL BE RETAKING AGAIN
SAT II: Physics 600, Chemistry 600, Maths 600
AGAIN NOT UP TO THE MARK BUT WILL BE TAKING SAT SUBJECT TEST AGAIN
TOEFL: 88
AP: My high school didn’t have one

Essay: It’s about how earthquake affected me and I over came and started a business (though it is not running as smoothly as I wanted)

Reco: 2 from teachers ( one computer science teacher who was very close to me and has written good another from Chemistry teacher it’s about how I over came my fear of Chemistry and ended up doing good in board exams)

I will have taken 13 AP courses upon graduation, and I expect a 4+ on at least 10 of them. It’s technically 14 if you factor in AP Human Geography that I took freshman year for which I group studied for with the aid of an instructor, but I choose not to report it as I got a 3.

Extracurriculars:
Business:
CEO of tech company (well it is doing terrible now but still we are working on it)
Co-founer of tech startup

Internship
Paid internship at a IT company. (Basically I worked for taking SATs)

Sports:
Cricket: District level player (I was also training under Mashesh Chhettri and Rajesh Pulami )

Activities
Debate: Runnerup in Kathmandu Debates (karlpopper)
Ran debate classes, trained debaters, organized debate events and judged as well

Events: Organized coding contest in college (intercollege), annual events, won photography contest and winner of essay contest as well, donation at earthquake relief

Leadership: Captain of School Cricket team, college cricket team, president of environmental club, initiator of computer club, founding president of student club

Participation:2 Programming contest (Nepal wide), Imagine Cup, Photography contest (inter-school)

Summer Activities- Developed an adnriod game and visiting different place of nation and foreign

Income Bracket: Below 15K, around 12k-15k.

Volunteering: Over 400 hours

Suggest me if I can get into upenn or not?

2
  1. Your GPA is low
  2. Your SAT/SAT 2 scores are low.
  3. TOEFL score I don't know if it enough.
  4. Great EC's Based on your GPA and your courseload, it seems that you have bitten off more than you could chew. I suggest you think hard before taking that many AP courses. It's ok not taking 5 AP's every year if you can't handle them. If you're an international, it will be VERY tough given your grades.
3

Hey I’m also from Nepal but I live in the US. Based on most of your stats it is highly unlikely that you will be accepted even if you apply ED. I am assuming you are trying to get into Wharton which is one of the best business schools in the world. However it doesn’t hurt to try and maybe you will get lucky because of your essays and ECs. You should also try and apply to other less prestigious schools than Penn that have averages similar to yours. Good Luck!

4

I’m sorry but the answer is no… you are consistently not achieving into the 700s for the standardized tests. Also, your grades are too low (3.17 means you mostly got B’s). I hope I didn’t make you too sad, it may be that your school is tough but Ivy schools look at the hard statistics a lot. Please apply to a less competitive school and save yourself the effort.

5

You obviously need financial aid to attend Penn. Penn is not need-blind regarding international students. I am sorry to say your chances are low especially given your stats.

6

Referring to aid, I’m an international and I’m going for free, most of my fellow international batchmates from Class of 2019 have a very huge aid package, so don’t lose hope because of that, always apply first and worry about how to pay after you see your aid package. Having said that, I don’t see how you could get in without monumentally improving your SATs, your transcript is less than stellar and you don’t have a good SAT score to somehow make up for it. Youe extra curriculars are great, but it does seem sort of all over the place, and it doesn’t look like you’ve given academics your first priority, which you should. Good luck tho.

7

You already know the answer to this question. You can try to find less competitive schools in the U.S. if you want to study here, but you would need to have more money.