Chance Me for Wharton?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Currently I’m a junior attending a school in Texas with around 750 students in my grade.
So far, I’ve taken 9 AP courses and have gotten 5s on all AP exams, but I’m taking 9 more senior year, so I will finish with 18 AP courses.
I’m also ranked in the top 1.25% (top 10 students) of my school and on the January 2015 SAT, I received a score of 2360.
800 - Math
800 - Writing
760 - Reading

SAT Subject Tests:
I’ve taken two SAT IIs as a sophomore. I have yet to take my junior SAT IIs as I plan to take those in June after AP exams.
World History - 800
Chemistry - 760

So far, these are my extracurricular and curricular achievements and deeds:

National Spanish Exam Gold Medal
National Merit Finalist
National AP Scholar
1st Place at Junior World Affairs Council (JWAC) World Quest Nationals
UIL Accounting - 3rd Place
UIL Current Events - 1st Place
NAQT Quiz Bowl State Qualifier
Business Professionals of America (BPA) Nationals Qualifier in Banking and Finance
BPA Ambassador Award
BPA Statesman Award
Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership School Finalist
Pan American Student Forum (PASF) (Spanish Competition) awards
National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists Award of Excellence
School District Trustee Award of Excellence
Texas PTA Reflections Award
Member of the Congressional Youth Advisory Council for Congressman Sam Johnson
Local Teen Court Juror
Texas Junior Historian at-large

Now, the following is a list of leadership positions that I have held or currently hold in school and in the community:

President of Key Club
Founder and President of Investment Club
Captain of the Quiz Bowl Team
Vice-President of Junior World Affairs Council
Treasurer of Dancing for a Cause
Treasurer of Environmental Club
Next year, I will be Vice-President of NHS and Economics Club as those require senior leadership.

Finally, my volunteer work and professional work experience is listed below.

President’s Volunteer Service Award - Bronze
Prudential Spirit of Community Award State Finalist
200+ hours of volunteer work since entering high school
Certified volunteer at two private food pantries
Organizer of monthly Parks Cleanup and Recycling Program at my school
Summer volunteer at Baylor Hospital Services
Summer intern at local IT company

Also, some information about myself:

I’m a naturalized Indian American (not Native American but brown Indian) and was born out of country.
I don’t have legacy at Penn or any other Ivy for that matter.

Now, what are my chances for admission into Wharton if I continue on the same trajectory? Lastly, I plan to take the SAT once again in order to improve my score.

2

Honestly I wouldn’t take the SAT again in hopes of a perfect score (but your call). You have the objective grades/scores that you need for your application to Wharton to stand out. It’s not like another 40 points will guarantee admission and your current score will hold you back – if that makes sense. Though if you need to try one more time, I see where you’re coming from.

What’s going to matter most now is how you package your application. I would strongly strongly encourage you to apply ED as Penn looks very favorably on that and takes 25% of its class in the ED round where there are far fewer apps to compete with. In terms of packaging – you can’t give them a laundry list of ECs and awards; you have to use your essays to show them 1-2 activities where you really contributed and that were meaningful to you. You also need to start thinking about “why Penn” and “why Wharton,” as that will really matter as well. Happy to answer any specific questions. You are in the best possible position that an junior can be in though.

3

@Ravkit You probably have a very good shot at Wharton. Make sure to spend a lot of time on your essays as they are extremely important to the admission process. Start early and don’t wait until the last minute!

I would not recommend taking the SAT again, it is going to be hard to get that extra 40 points and even if you get it, it won’t matter at all when the admissions officers look at it. A 2360 is probably 2 questions off a 2400 and the admissions officers know it. The difference is minimal.

You can take the ACT if you want, but even then I wouldn’t recommend it. I think you’re set for test scores. Just keep the grades up, and one piece of advice: Go to the teachers now (sometime after the AP test) and ask them if they can do your recs. This way you’ll avoid being seen as a procrastinator and you’ll save time just in case they don’t have enough time to write recs (Your grade seems to have a lot of people so I imagine the teachers have a lot of recs to write).

4

Agree with last two- don’t retake the SAT. Definitely arrange to have a meeting with our teachers/GC so that they can get a more in-depth view of you as a person (something that often cannot be gleaned from a classroom setting). Also, could you list which APs you took and what grade you took them in?

5

I’ve listed below the AP courses that I’ve already taken and will take next year:

9 - Human Geography
10 - World History, European History
11 (current) - Psychology, Macroeconomics, Statistics, English III, Spanish IV, US History
12 - Microeconomics, BC Calculus, Environmental Science, Physics I, Physics II, English IV, Spanish V, Government and Politics, Art History