<p>Hi, I was wondering if I have any shot of getting accepted to UPenn, either early decision or regular decision. I will be a senior this coming fall. I am a white male. I live in New Jersey, and I believe i am within the top ~3% of my class of about 530 students (potentially in the top 10).<br>
GPA:
101.95 (my school doesn't use the 4.0 scale)
SAT:
combined score of 2220 (800 math, 770 writing, 650 reading)
ACT:
took once, 32 composite
SAT II:
800 on math II, 800 on chem, considering taking one of the bio ones
AP:
4 on chem (sadface), and 5 on statistics. will take bio and calc (probably BC) this school year
EC:
*interact club 9-12
*boys tennis 9-12 (jv 9th grade, will be captain this year)
*sportsmanship award and allstar award 11
*USTA team tennis for 3 years
*tennis lessons for over 7 years
*french honors society 10-12
*ESCAPE club (environmental club) 11-12
*english department award 10 (given to the students with the 2 highest averages in honors english)
*second place in chemistry olympiad test in my school (not sure if this means anything)
*volunteering at an assisted living place for the elderly (started recently, going 1-2 times a week for a couple hours at a time)
*summer job working as a cashier at a grocery store (between 10th and 11th grade)
*summer program at northwestern for medicine and leadership for 10 days (the program gave a letter of recommendation, and noted 73 hours of educational events. met with real doctors to experience the field of medicine).</p>
<p>On a side note, 6 people from my school were accepted to UPenn this past year and 12 the year before. What do you think of my chances? Thanks!</p>
<p>you definitely have a chance. no matter what it’s always a slim chance.</p>
<p>my sat score was a 2200, i took the act once and got a 32 as well, and i had sat subject scores of 540(spanish), 640(chem… got a 3 on the ap exam as well) and 690(math ii)
applied rd and was waitlisted but later in. no one from my school ever got in before either.</p>
<p>So your stuff definitely trumps mine but it all comes down to that essay. you have to really show penn you belong in their school. The essay is the most important part!</p>
<p>Congrats on getting in! It’s weird how UPenn has been accepting a lot of people from my school lately; hopefully this streak continues to my year too. Does applying ED affect the chances of getting in? If so, how much?</p>
<p>Yes, applying ED helps, but not as much as you’d expect. There was a chart somewhere on Penn’s site comparing admission rates for ED/RD for regular/legacy applicants, and a noticeable benefit to ED was /mostly/ seen in legacy apps, although there was a slight increase for regular applicants too.</p>
<p>In my opinion, to be safe, you may wish to retake the SAT and try to improve your Critical Reading score. I believe some Ivy League schools are slightly biased in favor of the CR sec of the SAT. </p>
<p>neorobie, how did you do on the Critical Reading section of the SAT?</p>
<p>I have already taken the SAT three times, and I heard taking it more than that looks suspicious. I’ve considered maybe taking the ACT again, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it.</p>
<p>perazziman: lol that might explain why they were ok with my sucky sat subject scores. I got an 800 on the CR, 710 on math and 690 on WR. This was my second SAT and i had jumped 100 points on CR by mainly studying the word lists from the Direct Hits books (highly recommended!!) and timing myself on CR reading sections from the big blue book.</p>
<p>At least at MIT, it seems to me, high SAT Critical Reading scores are a better predictor of acceptance than SAT Math or the SAT Composite:</p>
<p>[Admissions</a> Statistics | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats]Admissions”>Admissions statistics | MIT Admissions)</p>