Chance me For Wharton CO2017?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey CC members, this is my first post so let me know if I am going about something in the wrong manner. My sophomore year of high school is coming to an end, and I was curious to see what my chances were for Wharton as well as what steps I should take to improve my chances.

School: Private/Residential
Sex: Male

SAT- Have not taken yet

High School GPA: 94%
Freshman Year 92% ( 1 honors class taken/ 1 offered)
Sophomore year: 96% ( 2 honors classes taken/ 4 offered)
Junior year (Predictions) : I am shooting for a 98% average on my Junior year and am taking 3 honors courses and the 2 AP courses offered.

Extra Curricular:

Student Government Association member (9-Present)
I will be serving on the Executive cabinet next school year as Secretary of Student Safety
I hope to be President my Senior year

Mock Trial team member (10-Present)

Soccer Team (9-Present):
Will have 3 years of varsity when I graduate
Hopefully Captain Senior year

Member of the Junior Advisory board for the PA food bank (11)

Tennis Club ( 10- Present)

I am also working to create a FBLA club at my school, but it looks unlikely

Work Experience:

Summer after 9th Grade: Internship in the communications department of a small non-profit where I helped them create a intranet page, and improve/update their communication plan.

Summer After 10th Grade: This summer I will be working at the Federal Courthouse, not quite sure what I will be doing yet
I will also be traveling on an education trip with my school to Eastern Europe

Community Service:

Working at a organization that helps mentally handicap people- 200 hours

Volunteer Middle School Soccer Coach- 25 hours

Tutoring Students Sophomore year- 20 hours

Along with 2 other students I introduced a charity that our school raised $80,000 for this year, and will do the same next year

Other:

The summer after my Junior Year I will be applying to be apart of the LBW summer program at Wharton.

I know it is early, but what are my chances? What can I do to improve my chances?
If I have no chance at Wharton what about Georgetown, Stern, or Viallaovia?
Thanks!

2

You can’t know anything without standardized tests. Also, I’d say your high school isn’t very rigorous if it only provides such few AP and Honors courses. I’d say you have to become very involved in sports clubs and other ECs to have a shot at Wharton.

3

Thank you. If I were to score about a 1450 what would my chances be like?

4

Wharton is extremely elite. A 1450 would most likely not get accepted without another major redeeming factor. And are you gpas weighted or unweighted?

5

@a20171 What SAT would I need to be competitive? GPA’s are weighted and I hope that the upward trend would improve my chances. If it helps I’ll be first-gen college.

6

I’m in basically the same boat as you, gpa started on the low side but I’ve got it up and I’m hoping that will help me as well. I also really want to go to upenn. In order to balance out my less than stellar grades I’m trying to get a really good SAT score (over 2100). Starting a club is great but I would recommend a LOT of sat prep. you need to get that as high as you possibly can. Lack of honors and ap classes is a problem at my school as well. A high sat score is important because it will show wharton how you measure up against applicants from more rigorous programs. Have you considered applying ed? There is a higher acceptance rate applying that way.

7

@a20171 Yes, definitely applying ED. When I said 1450 I meant 1450/1600. Because I am class of 17’ my SAT’s will be out of 1600 I believe. I am working on getting a fbla club as I said, and I have began to prep for the sat. Good luck on getting in.

8

oh yes did not even realize. I’m class of 2017 too. I really dont understand the changes fully.

9

It’s hard to give an accurate prediction without standardized tests. I think you should aim for a 34 on the ACT or a 2250 on the SAT to be competitive. And 770+ on the SAT subject tests would be optimum. Your school academics are great, however. I think your main weakness is your extracurricular activities. They’re really generic and won’t stand out from the thousands of other applicants. I think you have a decent, but not great, shot at Wharton.

10

@outlooker What are some EC’s that would stand out? Not that I’d do anything I don’t have interest in, but just curious as to what type of EC’s stand out? Thank you.

11

Some examples would be starting a company, starting your own non profit, teaching yourself how to code and making a successful app, etc.

12

Actually, you 17ers get a choice of which SAT to take: either the new one or old one. If I were you, I’d choose to take the old one, just so you can study it in advance (I doubt many review books or courses will be able to adequately prepare you for a test that’s never been administered). Another thing you should consider is self-studying an AP. I’m normally against this idea because it’s time consuming and AP scores don’t matter (so they say) for admissions, unless you go to a school that does not offer many APs. This seems to be your case, and taking an AP or two that you learned entirely on your own will be a plus, especially given your school’s lack of AP classes. Since you’re interested in business, I’d recommend self-studying macro and micro economics. Definitely start early in preparing, but these two exams have a lot of overlap between them, so they are a perfect pair to take on the same year. Just so you know, I took a full year course for macro, and self studied micro in 4 days via crash course book (I’m not joking), and I think I got a 5 on both. Albeit, I am on an economics research team and am really invested in economics (though I knew very little about the ap microeconomics curriculum, and I don’t think my economics research helped too much). My point: it’s possible to do well, especially if you give yourself several months to prepare. Finally, if you’re certain you want to do business, I’d look at the Notre Dame Mendoza School as well. But just so you know, if you’re looking for a career on wall St and such, most firms hire a lot (the majority) of students from all sorts of liberal arts backgrounds; you don’t have to lock yourself down to undergrad business study, and I would in fact discourage it (unless you get into Wharton or maybe stern/gtown/Notre) bc many amazing schools, like the rest of the ivies, are heavily recruited by top banks and firms, yet most good schools don’t offer a business program for undergrads. Essentially, being from an elite undergrad business program gives you barely (if any) of an advantage against a liberal arts student from a great school. Shoutout to you if you read all this, and plz chance back

13

@whiterwalt7 thank you! My school has 2 AP’s junior year and 3 Senior. Is this a low number? So if I do well on the sat (2250) what do you think my chances would be? Can you post your link so I can chance back?

14

I don’t think it matters how rigorous the school is so much as how much you take advantage of it! A 98% would definitely help your chances, as would a varsity captainship! I think you can really make up for anything lost in an essay about being first gen, as well as positive recommendations. I read that (at least at Amherst, although they say it applies everywhere, I think it sounds right given UPenn’s culture) readers tend to look more favorably on applications that excite them, even if the stats aren’t there. So, if you seem like a genuinely interesting person, you can get away with a much much lower SAT score.

15

So let me get this straight: your school limits how many APs you can take? This is the same case at my school, though only for Freshman and Sophomore year. Make sure that your guidance counselor mentions that there is this limit: oftentimes a school sends out a mini “brochure” to all colleges along with transcripts that includes a little summary of the school’s policies and weighting system, so check with your counselor if the school sends out this report and if it mentions the limit on APs. That being said, as @happyfriday said, what matters is if you can take advantage of what’s available to you. Even though taking 2 AP courses is pretty good, remember that you are going up against applicants who have National AP awards (8 or more scores by application time). Furthermore, by self-studying an extra 2 APs (which I assume won’t be awful since you are interested in business, I actually had fun learning these courses), you can show adcoms that you are able to go above and beyond what everyone around you is doing. Seriously, I usually am very against self-studying APs since I feel it is tough to actually learn all the content on your own from a review book, but your interests and circumstances tell me it’s a good idea.

As for chances, you got a pretty good one assuming you get 2250+. Of course, you have to walk the walk. Make sure you prep sufficiently, and keep practicing for SATs/ACTs. You will also need (I believe, please look it up) at least 2 SAT subject test scores, and for Wharton I think the Math Level 2 is required. Aim for a 750+ on these, and really try for an 800 on the math 2 for Wharton. Again, you have a good chance, but you gotta get those test scores in the bag. Those extra self-study APs should help, and I would strongly stress making sure your essay is good.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1752114-predict-me-game.html#latest

16

Qualification, people in the class of 2017 can take either the new or old test, but the deadline to take the old one is January 2016 I believe. Can someone verify this to be 100% sure?

17

@whiterwalt7 Yes January is the current cut off date, but it could possibly be postponed. Thank you so much. Anything else you reccomend to give me a better chance? Thanks for your help!

18

Since your GPA is weighted you currently have around a 3.8ish Weighted which really is just not high enough for Wharton. I would try both the new and old SAT. I hate the writing section of the sat though so I would probably prefer the new (even though most schools don’t even consider writing). Its up to your preference. What is the average GPA at your school? Is a 3.8 W high? At my school that is below average for the top students.

19

@SternBusiness Thank you. If I have around a 98 junior year what would my chances be? Also what SAT score would give me a realistic chance? Thanks

20

If it were at my school your chances would be nonexistant. Wharton is significantly harder than UPenn CAS. If I were shooting for wharton I would realisticly try to get a minimum 2300 or a 1550 out of 1600.