For reference: UPenn ED rate is 24% from last year
I will be applying to the College of Arts and Sciences for Biological Basis for Behavior (though Penn doesn’t admit by major)
Senior in Bay Area (CA) at a nationally recognized public school. School doesn’t rank individually but I’m top 10% out of 600 students. I’m the only one EDing to CAS from my school (there are like 6 people to Wharton)
SAT I: 800R 800M 770W (1 sitting)
SAT II: 780 Chem, 800 Math II, 800 US History, 800 Biology M
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.53 (4 honors, 4 APs)
I’ve gotten 5s on all 6 of my AP tests. Senior courses: 5 AP’s (Gov, Macroecon, Calc BC, Chem, Compsci) + Regular Brit Lit
Awards: AP scholar with distinction, National Merit Semifinalist, National Honor Society
Extracurriculars (as listed on common app): Independent Research past 3 years (Bay Area BioGENEius challenge Finalist), Stanford Research Intern junior year during fall semester (8h/week) + summer after (40h/week), 500 hours community service (Weekend Shift Leader at hospital) past 3 years, Green Society (school environmental club) president past 2 years, NHS projects manager past 3 years, Research Club Director of Biological Sciences past 3 years, State flute awards for 9th/10th grade, FBLA 9th/10th grade (3rd in State for Economics), tutoring all 4 years
I’ve also sent transcript for 4 classes at my local community college (4.0 there too)
Essays: Common App 8.5+/10 (I chose the failure prompt), Penn 9+/10. Both very unique and well written. I also attached a doc with 3 research abstracts in the supplementary materials section.
Recommendations: AP Bio and APUSH teachers both 9+/10 (both offered to write me one and know me extremely well), Counselor 7+/10 (she’s new but we’re pretty close), Stanford supervisor 8.5/10
Interview: 9.5/10 (rambled a bit at the beginning but guy was super interested and it lasted 2 hours)
No hooks or legacy, one parent working but upper middle class, Asian but Canadian citizen (not permanent resident yet)
What do you guys think?