Chance at Wharton ED (and other questions!)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I'm applying early decision to Wharton and I was just considering what my chances are of getting in. I'm an indian male of 16 years age in 12th grade (sending my apps in within a few days or so..it's not too late is it? it won't look bad I hope)...I live in San Diego, Cali and attend a normal, very huge, public school.</p>

<p>SAT: 1500
SAT2mathIIC: 800
SAT2ushistory: 720
SAT2writing: taking in november...shooting for 700-750+</p>

<p>Class Rank: 18 out of 720 (top 3%)
AP weighted ONLY GPA 10-11 grade: 4.5
AP weighted ONLY GPA 9-11 grade: 4.2 (I messed up freshman year sort of but sophomore and junior year I got 1 b first semester both years)
Most Rigorous Courses Available</p>

<p>2 APs sophomore year (Bio: 5, Euro History: 4)
4 APs junior year (Phys Mech: 4, US History: 5, Calc AB: 5, Enviro Sci: N/A)
5 APs currently (Gov, Phys: E&M, Calc BC, Statistics, English)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Speech and Debate (varsity, I have a letter in it, attended USD debate camp summer 2002, SDI (michigan) debate camp summer 2004): 4 years
-MGX Video Club (video productions club we started which has grown from 20 members last year to over 120 this year, we won club rush at our school, have our own television program on community television, purchased a $4000 XL1 camera and a $3000 GL2 camera): 2 years, treasurer, web manager
-Indian classical music (can play two indian instruments professionally as well as sing, perform all over Southern California and at places like California Performing Arts Center): 8 years</p>

<p>Community Service:
-Leo Club: 1 year, 9th grade, 40 hours of community service
-Key Club: 2 years, 11th and 12th, 110 hours approx total
-Elementary School Tutoring: 2 years, 11th and 12th, 1 hour every week during school year</p>

<p>Awards:
-Governer's scholarship
-National Merit Commendation/Qualifier
-Senior Homecoming Prince (does this count for anything??)
-Silver Star (4.0+) Award numerous times
-Fraternity of Academic and Civic Excellence award
-Letter in debate (is this an award?)
-Honor Roll</p>

<p>What do you guys think? It's been my dream for ever so long to go to Penn...it would be SO INSANELY awesome. But of coures this doesn't really matter for anything...although, any suggestions on how to eloquently convey this in my essay (the one for why you want to go to penn...i'm saying things like blah blah normal academic stuf, penn is sweet etc., and then i'm saying cuz of my debate background want to be on penn parly debate team, because of my video productions background i want to join the UTV13 penn student-run television, beacuse of my music background i want to be part of the penn a capella indian music groups, etc...any more ideas?)</p>

<p>Oh and, last question..on the teacher recommendations it says "last TWO years"...now if you calculate specifically, last two years means 10th too...so is it alright if i use 10th grade teachers? since those are the ones i've known the longest and have the best realtionships with...and a lot of my junior teachers retired (massive cuts)...like nearly half of them.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I guess the term is...bump.</p>

<p>Any ideas? any help at all would be appreciated.</p>

3

<p>ur pretty much in. wharton is odd cuz its ED acceptance rate is HUGE. lotsa people with MUCH worse stats than you get in wharton ED</p>

4

<p>Really? that's so sweet! I know my ECs are minimal, but I'm going to try to emphasize how I did quality over quantity and all.</p>

<p>You don't think they'll mind me turning in the apps so late will you? It's not really a factor is it?</p>

5

<p>bump... ne other opinions?</p>

6

<p>your EC's are weak, those will hurt you, stat wise, you're fine, but EC's/awards/honors are not great</p>

7

<p>regaurding your recs questions with last two years DO NOT USE SOPHMORE TEACHERS, NOW ISN'T THE TIME TO GET CAUGHT UP IN TECHNIQUCALITIES, IT COULD HURT YOU!!!!</p>

8

<p>yes sophomore teachers are fine. sophomore and junior teachers are the best. i dont understand why people would use senior teachers especially since at this point u have only known them for less than 2 months. but a lotta people use sophomore teachers. i am using one also...except he is also the sponsor of a club that i am very active in</p>

9

<p>hrmm..what are some other awards? I probably got some .. I just can't remeber, haha... should i list specific tourneys and stuf i got trophy's/placed at? like 1rst place CSUF Invitational blah blah?</p>

<p>as far as recs go...should i use 2 soph teachers and 1 junior teacher or something? cuz..i already talked to two of my soph teachers</p>

10

<p>no sophomore teachers unless they're a supplemental rec or you had them for a junior/senior class, i agree don't get stuck in the technicalities, stick with what you know is safe or call the school</p>

11

<p>Well yeah, I e-mailed them..if they say soph is not ok i'll use some junior teachers and ****...but if they say soph is ok..or something like soph is ok but we prefer junior</p>

<p>what do u think i should do?</p>

<p>ALSO...is senior homecoming king an achievement?</p>

12

<p>in top school admissions, recommendations (we recommend 3 SAT 2's) and preferences (we prefer junior or senior year teacher) should be taken as requirements</p>

13

<p>Your best bet with the recs is using junior teachers and sophomore teachers that taught you junior classes. And as for Homecoming... sure it's an achievement, but I highly doubt that any prestigious colleges are going to care about it. And also, put extremely high emphasis on celebrian's point. If a college prefers something, you should always do it, don't question it. The more you can do that they like, the better off you are bound to be.</p>

14

<p>you guys really think hes going to get in? I thought u needed much higher scores and much more extra curriculars....thats what I got out of the message boards last year atleast </p>

<p>I was going to do Wharton but i decided Sterns would be a lil' easier.</p>

15

<p>I said earlier I thought he was a bit weak in EC's, but he has a bigger issue if he uses sophomore teachers when they prefer junior senior year teachers, how I see it, lack of Ec's is a lot better than not following instructions</p>

16

<p>Hrm...Well they dont say the do or do not prefer, they just say last two years. And i've e-mailed them asking what that precisely means..so whichever they say, I'll do. Both of my soph rec teachers taught me not-soph classes, like ap euro history is a senior class, and the other one is honors humanities which is a junior class. </p>

<p>I know my ECs sound weak, but i've done 2 indian instruments and singing for like the last 8 years and i'm totally emphasizing a lot about those..maybe if you split it up it'd sound like more, i just sort of grouped everything. it's really voice lessons for last 8 years, harmonium for last 8 years, tubla for 9 years. and the video club also grew into a company last year and im CFO of that..we've made about $5-10k which all went into buying more professional cameras(we have 4k one and 3k one..., then few smaller ones), and we have our own television program.</p>

<p>and my oct9 sat scores hopefully are higher.</p>

17

<p>well if sophomore teachers taught you in junior/senior classes, than that's fine, but using a teacher who ONLY taught you sophomore year probably isn't best</p>

18

<p>alright, i got penn's email back. they said they prefer junior/senior teachers. i guess i'm not going to apply ED ne more and then just apply normal and get some more recent teacher recs and all.</p>

19

<p>ehh I advise against that. The ED push factor is great enough so that your recs won't keep you out. What I would do is give out some recs now to junior year teachers, have them send those in, perhaps attach a few sentence note about this, and go for it ED. </p>

<p>If you get deferred, then you'll have a shot RD anyways. But if you want Wharton, then ED is without a doubt the way to go.</p>

20

<p>alright alright, i talked to my sister (who went to MIT) and she yelled at me for about half an hour for being irresponsible blah blah...soo, maybe i'll just get my ass in gear and go ED in any case.</p>