Chance Me for UPenn Early Decision Class of 2020/Other Top Schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everybody. I’m just about to finish up junior year and was looking to gain some insight into my chances for admittance to Penn’s Class of 2020. I will likely apply early decision to this school unless I change my mind over the summer. I have legacy at both Penn and John’s Hopkins.

SAT I: 2350 (800M, 750CR, 800W, 9 Essay) on second attempt (2210 first try)
SAT II: Math 2: 800, Chemistry: 770, U.S. History: 740
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 3.96/4.8 as of now
Rank: None, highest grouping (not sure what the percentile is)
AP: European History, 4
(Calculus BC, US History, Chemistry) all this year, hopefully mostly 5’s and maybe one 4
Senior Course Load: Physics C AP, Advanced Calculus, AP Gov/Econ, Spanish 4 AP, AP Literature
Major Awards: Probable National Merit Semifinalist (227 PSAT), possible National Merit Finalist (unlikely, heard it’s very hard to get), National Honor Society

Extracurriculars: Junior Varsity Tennis (2 years), California YMCA Youth & Government (Delegation Vice President, Lead Justice of the Appellate Court junior year, Forum Committee Chair freshman year, Spring Conference committee chair)
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteer at Toberman Neighborhood Center (underprivileged kids summer program)
Serving the homeless food at local church (Walteria Methodist)
Assistant at local elementary school math club (Cornerstone Elementary School)
Activity supervisor and tutor at Boys and Girls Club (Harbor City)
Summer Activities: John’s Hopkins CTY Summer Program (2-3 years), Quaker Peace Action Camp

Applying for Financial Aid: No
Intended Major: Political Science (hope Penn sees my extracurriculars are focused on politics and leadership and not scattered)
State: CA
School Type: Public, 3,000+ kids, ranked #165 in the nation
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: High enough that I can’t apply for financial aid, probably around $200,000+
Hooks: Legacy
Rec Letters: Should all be pretty strong, at least 7 or 8 out of 10 from both counselor and teachers. One teacher has had me two years, and the other really got to know me during junior year. My counselor knows my family very well (I have an older brother), and I’ve been talking to her more and more as the year progressed.

Hopefully I get in early decision to Penn, but if I don’t here are a list of schools that maybe any of you could chance me for. I am worried that I don’t have very strong extracurriculars despite my strong GPA and test scores, but I was passionate mainly about one thing, Youth & Government, which I’ve done for my entire high school career and held several leadership positions in. Also, it goes along with my intended major of political science. Obviously, some schools are pretty much reaches for everybody, but I would still appreciate some insight.

Other Schools:
Harvard
Yale
Columbia
Dartmouth
Brown
John’s Hopkins
UC Berkeley
UCLA
USC
Pomona College
Swarthmore
Williams
Amherst

2

NMF is not hard 90 percentage of NMSF get it I think.
You should be fine for list from jHU to the bottom but others on the top are, you know, reach for everyone.

Reciprocate? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1772777-what-range-of-schools-could-i-get-into-next-year-p1.html

3

@jhgong What about Brown and Dartmouth in particular? They are great schools, and they seem more reasonable to get into than HYP of course. Do you think I’d have a decent shot at those?

4

Oh yes with your score/GPA. But it’s not a guarantee. Are u particularly interested in HYPS only or any of that list. If you don’t mind any school there just go for ED and your chance goes up by a lot at least for JHU as far as I know.

5

@jhgong I’m not that interested in Stanford or Princeton at the moment, but maybe my mind will change as I am visiting a lot of schools this summer. I’m definitely interested in Harvard and possibly Yale (Yale has a great PoliSci program). I have legacy at both JHU and Penn. Right now I’m thinking ED to Penn. They are big on legacy and take half their freshman class in the ED round. Then again, if it comes down to RD, with the way admissions is, do you think I could get into a few of the top schools if I apply to a ton? I hear a lot of stories of people getting rejected/accepted at a variety of places because different colleges look for different types of students, and also a lot of the acceptances are random due to the huge numbers of applications.

6

I really think you should ED to Penn. I can never say I’m 100% sure but I really think you have a good chance. I got into Penn ED last year and at ED Quaker Day, the admissions team kept making jokes about legacy because a ton of the kids there were legacy. Penn really, really takes legacy into consideration during ED (but not RD). I wouldn’t suggest wasting the opportunity. Plus, we have a great PoliSci program too. :slight_smile:
But now for the regular chancing. I think your ECs are weak and good scores/grades are almost never enough to get you into HYP. You really have to stand out through ECs or essays and right now you just aren’t doing that. HYP are all high reaches. You should be fine with any of the UCs because you’re local so they’re low reaches/matches. Penn ED is a low reach/match too. Hopefully I see you around on Locust Walk in about a year. Good luck! :slight_smile: