School: Emory University
Year: Freshman
1st semester GPA: 3.82
High school GPA: 3.81 UW 4.56 W
Major: Econ
SATs: 2200 superscore (1470 CR+M); 2180 composite
Hooks: first gen
ECs: Volunteering, newspaper, etc (nothing extraordinary)
Applying to CAS for econ, did not apply as a high schooler
Thanks for any and all replies!
bump
pretty good! your GPA and SAT are definitely within range
good chance. Penn likes transfers from other good schools because it shows you can deal with a rigorous curriculum. your emory GPA is great. Your high school gap and SAT scores a bit below the Penn averages but I don’t think this is gonna hurt you, they are still very good.
thanks for both of your responses! hope all pans out
what do you think my chances are for wharton?
Youe chance would be lower than CAS. You choice depends how much you want to come to Penn. Applying to Wharton would be a bit riskier. Since your stats are not super exceptional but still good maybe you wanna play it safe. You ll get practically all the recruiting opportunities and access as a CAS student that would get at Wharton, things are open to everybody. Applying to Wharton means a lower chance of you being accepted to Penn than if your apply to CAS. Wharton takes very few transfer and many of them are top students with near-perfect stats even from other ivies like Columbia and Dartmouth.
One Penn graduate from CAS (English Major) got into McKinsey & Company.
Wharton is unique. The competition for transfer is much more intense. Many applicants are from other Ivies
@f2000sa Do you think an econ major at CAS would have good chance at S&T at a BB?
@johnpfc3 As Indicated by Pen 95 "You ll get practically all the recruiting opportunities and access as a CAS student that would get at Wharton, things are open to everybody.
Your stats are meh, if I’m being honest. Sorry if this makes you depressed, just trying to give you a realistic picture here. Do you at least have leadership in something? How are you going to stand out? Do you do anything more interesting than the school newspaper? Your GPA could use work.
And no offense, but you basically have zero chance for wharton. Everyone tries to transfer into wharton. And transferring in is even harder than getting in regular, which is also notoriously difficult. Moreover, people who transfer into wharton are the type who know the stock market back and forth, who are entrenched in all the finance-related clubs their current school has to offer. They are entrepreneurial and can show they’ve clearly taken initiative. Even if you are first generation, it’s a stretch for you.
Also, the reality of the situation is, even though they say this isn’t true, all universities like to take rich people in as transfers–aka people who can pay full tuition. There are a bunch of fantastic people trying to transfer in, but they can only take so many, you know? So when it comes down to it, they’ll decide over money. It’s just a reality.
If you’re really set, then I suggest you do two things. First, really understand what sets you apart from everyone else in the applicant pool. Why you? What can you bring to the school? (and don’t give some bullshit answer like “my passion”, everyone does that. You need something more personal that can link to the school. Find a way to write this story) Why should they chose you over everyone else? If you don’t have anything, make it. Penn’s all about making your own opportunities. Second, I would talk to some of the professors. Reach out to them, cold-email them. I had a friend who cold emailed about a hundred professors at UPenn as a high schooler to do research with them over the summer. One prof accepted, wrote a stellar rec for this kid later, and he swears that that’s what got him into penn.
I really do wish you the best of luck. Hope you find the right fit for you. If you haven’t already, really ask yourself “why penn”? Do your research, and by that I don’t mean through their website, I mean through current students there. Culture is everything in college, and UPenn has a very distinctive social, work hard play hard culture. If that’s not 1000% you, I don’t think penn is the right choice.
@heywhatisdown Thank you for your honesty and the long response. It is really helpful. However I do have several objections that I believe you are selling me short on.
- I’m not applying to Wharton, I am applying CAS for econ. BIG difference. I was just wondering the chances if I did apply, but I know it is naturally VERY low. I hear the CAS acceptance rate is ~16-18% for transfers which is significantly higher than regular admissions.
- I am grateful that I would be able to pay full tuition. I am paying full at Emory and even if I was low-income, UPenn does have a strong financial aid program and is actually need-blind so my financial situation does not play a role in admissions as you say it does.
- I understand that my essay is crucial and will put everything into it as I always have.
- My resume and involvement at Emory is solid. I did not feel like disclosing all my club involvements as I would prefer to remain anonymous.
- Cold-emailing hundreds of professors is a really bad idea haha. It may work in networking for a job, but the last thing I want to do is piss off a professor on the admissions board because who would help one of hundreds of potential transfers that they don’t even know or care about when they have a full-time job?
- Emory is a very competitive school and is of similar academic caliber to UPenn. I took five classes my first semester in hard classes and I think that proves my ability to succeed in an intense academic setting.
I would also advise you to peruse through the threads of previous UPenn transfers who were admitted. There are those with similar and even lower stats than mine that were admitted. I am not saying that will guarantee admissions and in fact your probably right in that I have less than a 50-50 chance in getting in, but ultimately I think you’re selling me way short when you really don’t know anything about me.
@johnpfc3 I highly doubt that the CAS transfer acceptance rate is 16-18%. Last year the overall transfer admission rate was about 8%. A CAS transfer rate of 10-11% makes more sense to me. I would say Wharton being around 3-5% and SEAS somewhere in between Wharton and CAS, around 6-7%.
@penn95 source?
http://www.upenn.edu/ir/commondataset.html
http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202015-16.pdf
the source is for the overall acceptance rate. The individual school rates were just my guesstimates.
The transfer acceptance rate was 8.4% and the transfer yield rate was 70.5%
Also the acceptance rate for males was lower than females. (7% vs 10%)
@johnpfc3 I respect your opinions, and I never meant any offense on your character. You’re right, I only know as much about you as you chose to provide in your post; I do not presume to know you. You asked for honest opinions, and I gave mine; however, your points (3)(4)(6) make me confused as to why you’re asking for people to chance you when you already seem completely confident in your chances. And I do hope you reconsider the note on professors; I think you really underestimate them, from my experience professors, as long as they have the time (as many turn out to have), are very happy to explore their research topics with others and help broaden the depths of the research community. It shows genuine interest in the university on your end. Obviously, don’t be crass about it, but no professor is going to look at your email and be like “wow look at this aggressive try hard”. And if you’re worried about gossip, that’s unnecessary–professors at penn get these kinds of emails all the time…Penn is a research university after all…
Hello All!
Can you please chance me?. I know it is a reach, but it is still worth a try.
Transferring from a California Community College
Applying to UPenn(Arts & Sciences)
Major: Economics
College GPA: 4.00
ECs: 2 finance internships, 1 supply-chain externship, investment club co-founder & president, tutor, and volunteer work. Also just submitted an application for a provisional patent.
Essays: 9/10. Unique and plausible reasons for transfer.
Total Transferrable Units: ~65+ Semester Units
HS stats were on the weaker side.
Other:
Ethnic Minority
Not applying for FA