<p>Hi, can you guys just roughly chance me? I've been getting more and more nervous as school is about to start...I'm applying Early Decision to Wharton (Penn), early action to MIT, and early action to the University of Chicago. Thanks =)</p>
<p>ACADEMICS</p>
<p>Profile: Asian Male at a competitive all-male private school in NJ. Each class is generally 130-140 students, and usually 10-20 Ivy/Stanford/MIT admits each year INCLUDING athletic recruits. The top of the class generally attend such schools, the above average class attends schools like Duke, Georgetown, UChicago, Middlebury, Notre Dame, Boston College, etc. In the 50-75% section of the senior class, students generally attend schools like Villanova, Penn State, etc. In my class, I am top 10% GPA-wise. There are no other rankings provided. (Yes I know some of these are very good schools, and no I am not exaggerating when I say that about 50% of every class can say they were accepted into Georgetown or Notre Dame or Villanova. The school is quite a well-known Catholic school, and has great connections with Catholic Universities.) Anyways:</p>
<p>GPA Weighted (out of 12.0):
1) 9th Grade: 11.238
2) 10th Grade: 11.513
3) 11th Grade: 11.750
4) 12th Grade: (Tentative)
5) Cumulative: 11.496 </p>
<p>*Getting an A in a normal course is weighted as an 11.0 in your GPA. An A+ is a 12.0. AP Courses get bumped grades, meaning if you get an A- in an AP, it factors into your GPA as an 11.0. If you get an A+ in an AP course, it factors as a 13.0. My Cum GPA is therefore right between getting an A and A+ in every course from freshman to junior year, although as you can see from the individual GPAs, it wasn't that consistent.</p>
<p>Course Placement:
1) 10th Grade: AP European History (5), AP Calculus AB (5)
2) 11th Grade: AP American History (5), AP Calculus BC (5), AP English Language (5), AP Physics B (5)
3) 12th Grade: AP Macroeconomics, Linear Algebra (Post-AP), AP English Literature, AP Vergil, AP Art History
a. Self-study: AP Statistics </p>
<p>*Linear Algebra is not technically an AP course, but our school tells us that colleges know that it's well beyond an AP here at our school. Linear Algebra can only be taken after every other math course has been passed - AP Calc ab, bc, and multivariable.</p>
<p>Standardized Testing:
1) PSAT: 227
a. Critical Reading: 76
b. Mathematics: 80
c. Writing: 71
2) SAT: 2310
a. Critical Reading: 740
b. Mathematics: 780
c. Writing: 790 (11 Essay)
3) SAT Subject Tests:
a. Mathematics Level II: 800
b. American History: 780
c. Physics: 780</p>
<p>*The NJ PSAT National Merit cut off line was 221 in 2010, so I will most likely be a semi-finalist/finalist. If anyone can offer clarification - should I put this on my Common App even though technically I have not been officially named as a Semi-finalist yet, and won't be until after applications are due?</p>
<p>EXTRA-CURRICULARS/ACTIVITIES</p>
<ol>
<li>State-ranked swimmer - club swimmer since I was 5. 20 hours of practice every week, all year round (51 weeks out of 54 considering every break between summer/winter seasons). Captain of my club team, Elite Swim Club. Captain of my school team.</li>
</ol>
<p>*I am a "preferred" recruit at DIII schools I am applying to such as MIT, but unlikely to be a committing recruit of Ivy Leagues, although the Penn coach has called me and forwarded my academic info to the admissions. Either way, please chance as if I were not getting a likely letter for swimming, and it was just one of my main ECs.</p>
<ol>
<li>Including next summer, it will be my 3rd year as the Cromwell Hills Summer League Swim Team coach. It is has been my first and so far only paid work-experience. The job lasts for about 5 weeks, and each week I spend 20-24 hours on it depending on whether or not there is 1 or 2 meets that week. Besides being a very socially-oriented job (coaching kids, talking with parents), it is management (business?)-oriented too. </li>
</ol>
<p>*My more business-like responsibilities included: creating spreadsheets for every swimmer organized by age group, times, events, participation, disqualification records. Entering databases into the program Hy-Tek, which created my line-ups before meets. Organizing fundraiser and creating a prize system to maximize participation. Gathering parent volunteers for two pasta parties. Ordering end-of-season awards. An innovation I made that made the team more efficiently run - a "mandatory meet sheet" for all swimmers to sign up for upcoming meets. This way I could be certain which swimmers were and were not coming and I could ensure that every swimmer there would be entered in at least one event.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Debate Team - placed in the top 32 in JV Lincoln Douglas debate at various national tournaments as a freshman/sophomore (Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Villiger, Scranton) and a bunch of local NJ state tournaments. Placed in the top 16 in open Public Forum debate as a junior (Villiger). I spend about 10-15 hours a week researching/practicing for debate.</p></li>
<li><p>Social Justice Committee - society of juniors and seniors that design two annual workshops that raise awareness about prejudice. Issues we tackled this year were racism and poverty. The group has about 15 total members, and both workshops lead the entire 130-140 freshman class for an entire day. 5 hours a week.</p></li>
<li><p>Math Club - involved in taking the weekly test since freshman year. As a junior, began leading the club and tutoring underclassmen on weekly test problems. 2 hours a week.</p></li>
<li><p>Economics Club - very very small school club with about 10-15 students. Involved since freshman year. Most recent action was holding a school-wide fundraiser for the club, then using the money to make a micro loan to a vehicle repair shop in Appalachia.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>APPLICATION INFORMATION (OTHER)</p>
<ol>
<li>Need-based financial aid: Yes</li>
<li>Teacher recommendations: Both teachers liked me, I did very well in both courses (A in both AP courses and a 5 on both exams)</li>
<li>Counselor recommendation: Will be very thorough - I'm on a friendly basis with the guidance counselor. Also, the recommendation is based on a brag sheet, which I completed very very thoroughly and thoughtfully (about 30 pages double spaced, covered everything from my personality, to my greatest strengths/weaknesses, passions, etc.)</li>
<li>Additional recommendation: I am choosing between my debate coach, who has worked with me since freshman year and was the valedictorian of a graduating class at Penn (not Wharton), or my swim coach, who has worked with me since I was 9 and is like family to me. Basically it's weighing credibility (Penn valedictorian) with someone who will definitely have a lot lot more to say about me. Any thoughts?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~</li>
</ol>
<p>I've seen people say that not having business-oriented ECs will severely hurt anyone's chances at Wharton. The problem I had is that there are basically no such clubs at our school, besides the very very small economics club. I really have nothing else to show about my business-aptitude besides my job, and maybe my love for math. There's no problem writing a good essay about why I chose business/economics, since that is what I am really interested in pursuing, but the problem is that my ECs as you can tell don't really back that up. Also, a lot of colleges all say that students should do what they love. That's exactly what I did - I didn't sign up for any of my ECs based on what I thought would look impressive on my application. Thus, I really remained dedicated in all my activities ever since freshman year (and for swimming - basically since I was a little kid). With that being said, I've really had no extra time, balancing out my course load (I chose the most rigorous possible schedule every year), for outside activities that show how I am good for business. Will this really hurt me that badly for Wharton?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>