Hi, I’m a junior in high school right now. I know it might be painfully early to be worrying about colleges, but can somebody please chance me for Wharton?
SAT I (breakdown): 2140 total, 730CR/680M/730W [Just a note, I normally do significantly better in math (760-800), except I had the flu, so I’ll prob be able to bring that score up]
ACT (breakdown): Taking in April
SAT II: 730 Bio, taking Math II and Chem/Physics in June
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.76
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank, top school in NYC and one of the best in the nation (well-known)
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World History (5); currently taking APUSH, AP English Lang, AP Chemistry
IB (place score in parenthesis): Not offered
Senior Year Course Load: Expected: AP Calculus BC, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP CompSci, maybe AP English Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing academic, I won 2nd Place on Jeopardy was I was younger…
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): ARISTA National Honor Society, Student Government, Theater, etc. I have quite a few leadership positions so I’m not too worried about EC’s
Job/Work Experience: I have a pretty solid job at a science museum
Volunteer/Community service: I volunteer through my school
Summer Activities: Job and internship possibly
Teacher Recommendation: I can probably get 2 very good teacher recs
Counselor Rec: 10/10, very good
Additional Rec: 10/10, very good
State (if domestic applicant): New York
School Type: Public, Selective Admissions Process, roughly a 2.8% acceptance rate
Ethnicity: Indian (Asian)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $100k-$150k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation college student
Thanks,
Aaron
So far, the weaknesses I spot are your GPA and SAT scores. Your GPA already puts you in a bit of the lower spectrum of applicants, so try to raise that in senior year although I do understand you attend a strenuous high school. Math 2 as an Asian is crucial that you get an extremely high score, and maybe throw a few business related ECs into the mix as well next year. Your first-generation status might not help as much, but it’d definitely not a downside. All in all, if you improve those test scores, get some business related stuff in there, and rock those essays, you’ll have a pretty good chance.
Rather than attempting to “chance” you the question I’ll try to answer is “what can I do between now and next September/October” to improve my chances. There are two things that might be possible.
First is there a single area (perhaps among your student government, theater, honor society roles) that you can focus on this semester and on through first semester senior year, and in which you take on a significant leadership role. Leadership roles are often ones in which fewer roles is better than more. With one role you have the time to stand out, to make a difference. It’s not always easy to create such a role, because inherently leadership requires acceptance by your peers that you’re the "one’. Examples of such a role include the lead part in a play or two, a major charity drive, a “new” school initiative that leads to a community wide and art show, or a conference to deal with complex school or community issues, etc.
Second, can you find or create a significant role for the summer? This can be an internship, a volunteer opportunity, a self-driven charity drive, work with a highly respected environmental group, etc. This requires not only finding/creating such a role, but also doing something meaningful with that role.