Chance a Jew!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Stats:
currently ranked 2/580
freshman year-4.0 unweighted, 4.68 weighted
sophomore year-3.9 unweighted, 4.52 weighted
junior year-3.95 unweighted, 4.68 weighted</p>

<p>SATS: 800math, 780reading, 760writing=2340 total
SAT IIs: MathIIC 780, US History 760, Chemistry 740</p>

<p>Projected IB diploma score of 41 (eek! going for at least a 43)</p>

<p>EC's seperated by focus areas:
Language:
- 7 years of Spanish
- 4 years of Hebrew taken through U of M College-in-the-Schools, total of 24 credits
- 3 years flvs.net online Latin class
- Member of Language Club freshman-senior years
- National Latin Exam -- top 10 in state </p>

<p>Leadership:
- Student council treasurer this year
- Student school board representative this year
- President of synagogue youth organization
- Founded a school Ping-Pong club in 10th grade
- Debate team member 9, 10, 11 -- good chance of being President in 12th</p>

<p>Volunteering/business initiative:
- Over 1,000 documented C.S. hours at a hospital
- Tutors elementary schools kids in Hebrew for 15/hr. twice weekly
- Started a business selling reusable flashcards that has made thousands of dollars over the last couple years
- Started a community vegetable garden, I deliver vegetables to residents the area for a nominal fee, 3 years now
- Took a 1 month community service trip to Jamaica between sophomore/junior years</p>

<p>Awards:
- Various regional/state writing contests
- Attended National History Day in 10th, placed 18th in country
- Won best handwriting in school 2 years in a row </p>

<p>Other:
- Essays: should be good
- Race: White
- Gender: Female
- Income: .. uh, not applying for finaid</p>

<p>I don't have much of a "focus area", but my business takes up a lot of my time. I'm trying to go non-profit and donate the proceeds to a poor community in Jamaica (the same one I visited last summer). Hopefully that can happen before college admissions time, but I'm not sure.</p>

<p>.. well that about sums up the past three years of my life. one more question: would starting a stock market portfolio now help?</p>

<p>Will I get into Wharton at JewPenn?</p>

<p>thanks for any responses</p>

2

<p>I don't get the "jewpenn" reference. What's it mean?</p>

3

<p>Penn is disproportionately Jewish, so some people call it JewPenn, which is a play on UPenn.</p>

4

<p>Hard to say. You definitely have a good chance. Numbers look good, EC's look good, but not particularly business oriented. </p>

<p>I wouldn't start the stock market portfolio now just to help your app, but if you want to do it for other reasons go ahead. I would focus on your other EC's, you have enough. For your flash card business, I would put on your app some very specific figures, even if they look small, instead of 'thousands of dollars'. 'Thousands of dollars' looks like you're trying to blow smoke and inflate your achievements.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
Penn is disproportionately Jewish, so some people call it JewPenn, which is a play on UPenn.

[/quote]

Disproportionately meaning, in this case, 31% of the undergrads.</p>

<p>Incidentally, 30% of Harvard undergrads, 25% of Brown undergrads, and 25% of Columbia undergrads are also Jewish, so the "disproportionality" is not that great. :)</p>

6

<p>Where do they have IB that they rank in this area? I didn't think International academy ranked, and I'm pretty sure Troy and GP don't rank either. I'm curious where you. Those are the areas I know of with a big jewish population...</p>

<p>ANyways. you'll probably not get into wharton (<10% chance), but SEAS is pretty much a lock.</p>

7

<p>Well, the US as a whole is about 2% Jewish, and the world as a whole is about .2% Jewish, so... disproportionately.</p>

8

<p>^ True, but the question was regarding the "JewPenn" reference. Nobody refers to "HarvardJew", so I guess that extra 1% makes a big difference. ;)</p>

9

<p>It seems rather self-deprecating to buy into the JewPenn nomenclature. . .</p>

10

<p>Where do those stats come from? The percentage of Jewish students at certain schools?</p>

11

<p>In terms of the Ivies (percentages of Jewish undergrads):</p>

<p>Penn 31% </p>

<p>Harvard 30% </p>

<p>Brown 25% </p>

<p>Columbia 25% </p>

<p>Yale 23% </p>

<p>Cornell 22% </p>

<p>Princeton 14% </p>

<p>Dartmouth 11% </p>

<p><a href="http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Search.aspx%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Search.aspx&lt;/a> (plus a calculator :))</p>

12

<p>Thanks for the tip, PhatAlbert--that's a great point.</p>

<p>45Percenter: Nobody says "HarvardJew" because it doesn't sound clever. Jewniversity of Pennsylvania, on the other hand, does, plus, it's 1% more Jewish than Harvard is. I agree that all of the Ivy League universities, and for that matter, most top colleges, are disproportionately Jewish--but Penn stands out because it has a stronger sense of Jewish culture and community.</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
Won best handwriting in school 2 years in a row

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Do NOT put that on your college app!!!</p>

14

<p>Why is there a higher proportion of Jews in the Ivies? What is the explanation?</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
Penn stands out because it has a stronger sense of Jewish culture and community.

[/quote]

If you haven't already done so, check out the links I posted in this thread (posts #12 and #13):</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=376929%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=376929&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

16

<p>
[quote]
Why is there a higher proportion of Jews in the Ivies? What is the explanation?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I suppose it depends where you live in the US, but Jews are generally stereotyped as wealthy, and wealthy people tend to send their children to top colleges.</p>

17

<p>^ I would say it's not a funcition of wealth, but rather a traditional cultural emphasis on education and academic achievement, similar to what is found in various Asian communities.</p>

18

<p>"I would say it's not a funcition of wealth, but rather a traditional cultural emphasis on education and academic achievement, similar to what is found in various Asian communities."</p>

<p>That's exactly it, except Jewish parents I believe aren't as hard on their kids as Asian parents are.</p>

19

<p>Penn's historically had a Jewish identity. Even if only ~30% of the campus is actually Jewish, the newspapers and campus culture act as if it's 90% jewish (and 80% asian). Hence my location :-)</p>

20

<p>I'm Jewish. I know one, maybe two Jewish families who makes less than $100,000 per year. All of the extremely rich I know (save maybe one) are Jewish. Thus, there are a higher percentage of Jewish developmental candidates. Moreover, Jewish stay-at-home moms (which there are a disproportionate amount of) tend to guide their kids toward college-prep activities--debate, sports, hebrew classes, etc .. </p>

<p>It may not be like this everywhere in the US, but in MN (and maybe IL) Jewish people tend to be wealthier, on average, than people of other religions.</p>

<p>I'm not denying that the cultural emphasis on hard work plays a role, but I have to say, most the Jewish kids I know aren't <em>exceptionally</em> hard working.</p>