Chance me? College of Arts and Sciences

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Thanks for reading! I’ll chance back if you want, just send a link.

Objective:

ACT- 35 composite, 36 English, 36 Reading, 33 math, 34 science, 8/12 writing (bad, I know. I’m hoping my AP Eng score will balance it)
SAT II- Math 2 (740), US History (800), Physics (800)
APs- World History (5), US History (5), English Lang and Comp (5), Physics 2 (3)
GPA- 3.93 unweighted, 4.29 weighted (not sure what out of) mostly As with a couple A- and one B+ (89 in AP Calc 0.2% away from getting a 90 R. I. P. )
Rank- 1st decile
Course rigor- 9 APs, 9 accelerated courses, 2 online/summer courses in addition.
Senior Courses- AP Chemistry, Drawing and Painting, AP Government, Gym, Orchestra, AP Calculus BC, Accelerated English, Intro to Computer Science, AP Psychology (currently have 99% in AP Gov, 95% in Chem, and 100s in gym, art, and orchestra 4 the mid year report)
Intended major- Physics with a concentration on astrophysics

Subjective:

Extracurriculars-


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Cross Country (varsity, #2 runner on team, and made it to state qualifiers) quit after sophomore yr tho
Track and Field (varsity, school record, made it to state qualifiers) 200m, 4by1, 4by4, long jump
Alpine ski racing (not school affiliated, 14th in state)
Book Club (co-president)
Student Government (homeroom representative, class caucus)
Homecoming committee (chair)
Orchestra
Editor for school literary magazine
Knitting club
National Honor Society

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Job/volunteer Experience- 2 summers as a dining room assistant at a local golf club (will be returning as a server this year), regularly volunteer with my city’s clean team & AIDS taskforce

Awards-


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AP Scholar with Honor
National Merit Commended Scholar
PHEAA Certificate of Merit (ACT score among top 5000 in state)
3 Cumulative Highest Honors (a school award)
3 Scholar-Athlete Awards (again, a school award)
2 varsity letters

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Essays-


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Common App- 8.5/10 pretty solid, I think, but not exceptional. Both my gc and my ap english teacher liked it.
Penn- not finished yet, but it’s been much easier to write than the others. I think it will be around a 7-8/10

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Recommendations- History teacher 9/10- really good but generic. Physics teacher/ xc/ track coach- haven’t read it, but I am definitely one of his favorite students, and he’s known me since freshman year. I also got a 100% in the last quarter of his (AP!) class, so there’s that. Guidance- i have no clue. She seems to like me well enough, but we weren’t super familiar when she wrote it so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Weakness-

  • my penn essay probably won’t be super strong
  • act writing score and physics ap score
  • I have some crazy competition at my school. like “planet named after me” and “got on CNN & in science magazine bc of government fonts” over the top. (tho planet dude already got into stanford so i guess i don’t have to worry about him anymore haha)

MISC-
I will be submitting an art supplement :slight_smile:

Other:
State- PA
Gender- female
Ethnicity- white
School: Public
Class size: 361
Hooks- My mom is an alumna (idk if it matters, but she’s interviewed for them before. they asked her to this year, but she said no bc I was applying & it wouldn’t be fair)

Thanks again for reading/commenting!

2

Looks strong to me:) compared to those shown on the ED results page. I regret I did not ED Penn. I ED another school(got rejected:( ) but I found out later that Penn is more suitable for me. T^T. I want to get into Penn so much!!! I am an international student from China, and there was only one student from our school went to Penn ever, in 2013. My intended major is exactly the same as you, I love Physics and Astronomy, I want to major in Physics with a concentration on astrophysics too.
I don’t know what went wrong with my ED, the material seemed well overall, maybe it was the essay, my personal statement is a little weak. I just hope I won’t make that mistake again because I really want to get into Penn.

3

My file looks something like:
New SAT: 1510 ( 710 CR, 800 Math) one sitting
No ACT taken
SAT subject test: Math II (800), Physics (800), Chemistry (780)
AP: Physics 1 (5), Physics 2 (5), Physics C: Mechanics (5), Calculus BC (5), Human Geography (5), Computer Science(4)
GPA: there is only the weighted on my transcript, confused. Weighted: 4.27 (highest in my school: 4.30)
I only got one course - Human Geography - a 88% on the second semester of G11 year. All my other subjects are above 90%
Rank: my school don’t rank, in the 5 percentile
G12 courses: Psychology, Chemistry, Physics C(because I haven’t taken EM yet), Computer Science(I self studied the AP exam but only scored a 4, hope to learn better:), but won’t take the exam again), English Lang and Comp, Statistics
Intended major: Physics with a concentration on astrophysics

Extracurricular Activities:


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I did a research about the light pollution in my hometown with several club members, and the result got published in a national magazine.
Astronomy Club (president)
Chinese National Astronomy Olympiad (3rd prize)
student government (president of one of the division)
organize annual astronomy outreach activities to local primary schools
environment protecting club
stargazing camp to a lot of places in China

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Volunteer:


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subway station volunteer
translator for a Denmark-teacher visitor group to our school
volunteer in City library (help record audio books for the blind)

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Awards:


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AP Scholar with distinction
District outstanding student leader
3rd Prize on Chinese National Astronomy Olympiad
Merit student every semester(school reward)
academician at school science academy

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Essays:


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PS a little weak as mentioned above, I will modify it before applying (around 7/10 now, want to change it to at least 8)
Penn essay I think I wrote it in a nice way (about 8.5/10)

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Recommendation:
Calculus teacher: he likes me, around 9/10, conservatively
Physics teacher: he likes me, around 9/10, conservatively
They, I guess, write about how I did well on the course, how I am good at Maths and Physics, how I am constructive in classroom and help the students around me, something like that…

Weakness:
My personal essay is not strong
I lack some interesting activities as a lot of you have

Other:
International student
Country: China
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian

4

@astroLyf Hi!!! Thanks for chancing me :slight_smile:
We have pretty similar stats so I’d say we probably have around the same chance of getting in.
I actually think your ECs are really cool, especially the research project! Its obvious that you love astronomy and i think if you can get that across in your application, you will do well. Schools want people enthusiastic about learning!

Good luck on your application and maybe we’ll see each other there!! :~)

5

Yes we have very similar stats and I think we don’t have to worry about the objectives. Well, you get a much bigger chance of getting in than I do because I am an international student after all. But it’s still hopeful :slight_smile: .
My ECs about Astronomy do look nice, but they lack some variety I think.
Yeah, I do try my best to show my enthusiasm about Astronomy in the application.
It’s nice to meet someone who wants to study the same area as me here; after all, not many people care about Astronomy and Physics lol.

Good luck on your application, you have a really nice profile there! It will be nice if we can see each other there next year!!! :wink: