Chance me for UPenn LSM ED

Chance Me / Match Me!
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For reference, LSM is a program that accepts about 25 people out of all the applicants. It is a dual degree program between Wharton and the college of arts and sciences. It has its own admission comittee in that I don’t have to get into both Wharton and CAS to be admitted I believe.

Demographics: Male, Indian, Midwest(low population state), Public School, only hook is possibly geographical, but idk if Penn considers this

Intended Major(s): Math and Chem, but this would change for lsm obviously

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 36 composite and superscore, I’m just submitting this

UW/W GPA and Rank: highschool has no rank, UW: 3.96, W: ~4.5

Coursework:

APHG: 5

AP Physics 1: 5

AP Physics 2: 5

AP Physics C mech(exam only): 5
AP Physics C elec and mag(exam only): 4

AP Biology: 4

AP Chemistry(Exam only): 5

AP Spanish: 4

AP World history: 4

AP Calc BC and AB subscore(exam only): 5

AP statistics: 5

IB courses: math analysis HL, english HL, chem HL, psych sl(scored 6), music sl(scored 5), spanish sl

Awards:

1] United States National Chemistry Olympiad honors(top 1% or top 175/16000)

2] 1st individual in state wide math contest taken by ~1000 competitors

3] 2x AIME qualifier(top 5% on national math exam)

4] National-level physics competition 4th place (200 competitors)

5] National Merit Semi-finalist or I might write gold in national spanish exam level 4 idk yet

Extracurriculars:

1] paid research intern at local college where I did original research in math. Published paper as first author. Professor was there for guidance; all work was done on my own.

2] Debate - Policy captain - teach novices and lower level varsity about policy and assist overall debate coach in meetings, state runner up individually, district champion, 2x NSDA National qualifier in 2 different debate events; helped judge middle school rounds

3] Orchestra/Violin

Orchestra - concertmaster at school, *** area youth orchestra, first violin section leader in school orchestra, part of private studio, played each year at christmas celebration as act on large performance by city’s actual symphony, all state orchestra first violinist senior year

4] Tennis

varsity 10th-12th grade, top 8 at state 12th grade, team captain 12th grade, volunteer teaching disabled kids tennis through city program

5]

Mu alpha theta math club - co-president, help train team at weekly meetings for math competitions, my team of 3 placed first in the state competition

6]

Took college class at local university in algebraic number theory and received over a 100%; also was top finisher in college’s problem of the week

7]

spanish honors society director of education - we help teach elementary schoolers spanish each week and set up day of the dead celebrations and assist in reading spanish books at the local library, got gold on national spanish exam

8]

Chemistry club - president and spent several hours training the students for the USNCO and state chem contest

9] science bowl - president, team captain of my team, state semifinalists, I run all training practices at school and did summer practices

Essays: assume relatively strong, for LSM supplement I’m going to write about how policy debate(topic was about water pollution) combines with my passion for chem and elaborate in better way. For common app, I was going to do something less academic and more fun to show who I am, but idk what exactly yet.

LORs:

English Teacher: 7/10, He likes me and thinks I’m capable, but he also gives LORs to many people in my grade, but we have many personal experiences so I think that the LOR will probably be pretty decent

Chem teacher: 10/10 I’m probably the best student he’s ever had and he knows it. we work together in several clubs as well. Should I ask her something like “The LSM program is really competitive, if you could mention something like INSERT STUFF HERE, that would be really helpful.”

Colleges:

ED: UPenn LSM first preference/college of arts and sciences as second preference

RD: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Duke, MIT, Vanderbilt, Rice, etc. I have safeties but not including for sake of chanceme

2

Congratulations on your many achievements. I can’t chance you, but the LSM is a highly selective program which you know.

Why this program? Spend some time reflecting on that question, and then consider how you will answer their supplement question:

LSM: The Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management

The LSM program aims to provide students with a fundamental understanding of the life sciences and their management with an eye to identifying, advancing and implementing innovations. What issues would you want to address using the understanding gained from such a program? Note that this essay should be distinct from your single degree essay. (400-650 words)

Both of your LoR teachers may have ‘brag’ sheets for you to fill out. If not, it is appropriate for you to suggest key points to include…points that illustrate what type of student you are in terms of academics, participatory, socially, etc. Obviously, there is a fine line when communicating these things…for example, asking your teacher to say you are the best student they ever had is probably not a great idea.

Is there another teacher that would give you a better LoR than your projected 7/10 from your English teacher?

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You have the stats for LSM. But its one of the hardest programs to get into. Probably even harder than getting into Harvard College. But your profile seems to be competitive.

One of the common themes I’ve seen from the Vagelos scholars is that many of them are involved in creation of biotech/stem companies. So if you can somehow weave that into your narrative, it would probably make things more obvious why you are a good fit for the program.

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do you mean regarding the supplement or in real life before entering the program? I was thinking about talking about creating companies regarding innovation that addresses water pollution and connecting it to the policy topic in debate(literally about businesses and water pollution/other health issues), so I think I could create a strong narrative in the supplement essay.

Obviously in real life, I haven’t created any biotech/companies, but do you think there’s anything I could do to improve my chances in the fall or late summer? I was worried that I don’t have enough in the “life sciences” since most of my application is about math or chem, but I was hoping that they would view math as a “science”.

Sorry to pester you, but LSM sounds like a dream/perfect fit for me, and I want to make it clear on the application. Also, I should mention that my sibling, class of 2026, will be attending Penn in the fall in CAS. Her roommate actually is in LSM.

6

Sorry I didn’t mean to say that you need to create a biotech company while in high school. That would be insane. But you have to put the pieces together in their minds – so that by graduation from LSM you could do it.

There are some students at Wharton who I’ve heard have created profitable companies with 6 figure profits during high school.

I think the Math aspect helps you stand out a bit more. Most of the other applicants will be focused on biomed/med school or some variant. I like the water angle, it could work.

Good luck and post here with your final outcome. Rooting for you!

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also do you know anything about the admit rates for LSM? I know 25 are accepted and UPenn ED is about 8,000 applicants(rounding up), but I think a majority of that figure is wharton, then CAS is probably second, so what do you think the competition is for LSM?

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Honestly I don’t know. One way to find out would be to contact past LSM scholars. Most of them you can find on LinkedIn quite easily. And ask them. You could also ask the admissions office, but I highly doubt they’ll divulge anything.

If you don’t get accepted into LSM during ED, do they automatically consider you for CAS/Wharton during ED as well? Or do they kick your app to the RD round?

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For the Penn dual degree programs, the applicant specifies the school where s/he would like to be considered if s/he doesn’t get into the program. For LSM, the applicant has the choice to specify either CAS or Wharton, only one. But none of this precludes deferral in ED.

LSM is limited to 24 students per year, though that means they probably accept more to arrive at 24.

Given the OP’s strong science profile above, CAS would probably be the best choice ED.

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