Chance me for Yale SCEA or UPenn ED + more

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m not sure which I will pick because I know that Penn ED provides a lot of benefit, but by personal preference Yale has a tiny edge over Penn. I’m a current junior.

Stats:
SAT: registered for March; last practice test was 1570
SAT II: Bio M 800, Math II 800, USH 780
Unweighted GPA 4.0/4.0,
Weighted GPA 4.74/5.0 (expected to rise to 4.81)
Rank: school does not rank
AP:
Frosh: US History (5);
Soph: Biology (5), Computer Science (5), Spanish Language (5), Government (4);
Jun: Chemistry, Spanish Literature, Physics 1, Calculus BC, English Lang;
Sen: Physics E+M, English Lit, Macroecon, Microecon
IB: n/a
Major Awards: National Merit Semi (1510 psat guarantees), and should have Nat. AP Scholar by end of this year (currently at w/ Distinction)

Extracurriculars:

  • Founder + Pres of Model Congress (11-12)
  • Captain of Math Team (9-12, capt 11-12)
  • Captain of Varsity Tennis Team (9-12, capt 11-12)
  • Key Club District LTG (and Sec of club) (9-12, ltg 11-12)
  • Pres of Biology Club (9-12, pres 12)
  • Pres of Smart Sacks Club (community service) (9-12, pres 11-12)
  • NIH SIP Internship (paid, this coming summer) (11)
  • Internship at local biotech company (unpaid but was offered to return paid) (10)
  • Tutor for newly immigrated Chinese in local community for English (11)
    rest is junk that I prob won’t put on app b/c lack of leadership positions

Essays: unwritten :slight_smile:

Recommendations:
Teacher Rec #1:
English teacher from 10th grade, speech/debate teacher for 12th. She is my Model Congress sponsor and we communicate very regularly to organize all sorts of things. We’ve spent a lot of time out of school together because of the club and it’s required mutual understanding to achieve a lot of the goals we’ve both set. She’s my most trusted role model and I’m one of her favorites. We have a very strong out-of-classroom relationship and chat weekly during lunches. The speech/debate class is new this year, so she is allowing me input into the curriculum. I have a lot of faith in her recommendation. 10/10
Teacher Rec #2:
AP Chemistry teacher from 11th grade. She knows who I am as a person and a student. We talk and joke around a lot, and I do very well in her class so she favors me. She is known for writing very strong recommendations for her students; the few she agreed to write for this year’s graduating class have a ridiculous success rate at their earlys. However, I don’t share the same closeness with her as I do with my English teacher. conservative 8-9/10.
Backups :slight_smile:
AP Spanish Literature 11th, Spanish 4/5 9th, Spanish 7 12th. We’re on pretty neutral terms and she sponsors the Spanish Honor Society, which I’m in. I think 6 semesters could be a really great draw, and I’m ahead of my peers in terms of the level of Spanish for which I’m tracked. She knows plenty about me and I’m also working on getting closer so that she can be a second option. She is also a core class teacher. However, I do think my English teacher will ultimately be a much stronger rec.
Counselor Rec:
Public school so tbh she really barely knows me. Unfortunate. She does know I have a good work ethic and that I take challenging courses. I fill out a packet that has things she knows to include, so that’s a good mitigating factor. Probably a lack of anecdotes. I’m working on this one by going in for advice frequently on class choices. 7-8/10.

Other:
Applied for financial aid: Yes
Intended Major: Biochem (pre-med) or computer science (b/c more school is no bueno)

  • my internships cross into both these fields b/c of work with modeling software and bioinformatics
    State: MD
    School type: Public (~2000 students)
    Ethnicity: East Asian
    Gender: Female
    Income Bracket: >200k
    Hooks: ig female in STEM, but Asian wrecks that. sibling legacy isn’t a thing @ penn right?

Reflection:
Strengths: leadership, recs, well-rounded
Weaknesses: essays (i hate writing)

Schools applying to:
Penn, Yale (one of these will be my early app)
UMD, CMU, UCLA, Columbia, Emory, Stanford, JHU, USC, (Princeton, Cornell)

I’m definitely also looking for suggestions on how to improve and which colleges may be good fits. I’m generally looking for more urban environments, with medium size schools. For weather, I’m just avoiding humidity. Hot/Cold is all good. However, job/internship placement trumps many of these requirements lol.

2

You have impressive stats, but you need some safety schools!!

3

also, work on your essays as soon as the official prompts come out this summer (in addition to sat/act studying). you can do it!!!

4

also your gpa is really freaking impressive

5

@StressedRaccoon Penn ED definitely provides quite higher chances than Yale SCEA so it comes down to how much more you prefer Yale over Penn. Is the feeling of “what if” gonna be gnawing at you if you get into Penn ED? If so then Penn ED might not be worth it for you. On the other hand, Yale SCEA is quite harder than Penn ED. Both Yale and Penn RD rounds are crapshoots. So going with Yale SCEA increases the chance of being left out of both of your top choices. But it also leaves open the possibility of making it to Yale, which is your absolute first choice. It is a hard decision to make. You just have to be honest with yourself about how much more you value Yale over Penn and whether this is worth the added risk. You sure could afford to take the extra risk because your profile is very strong but you never know with schools at this level unless you are a prodigy with major awards or sth. Yale and Penn and other top schools reject tons of “normal” valedictorians with perfect scores and great ECs every year.

6

You have the numbers for sure. Applying ED at Penn will definitely increase your chances because they know you would go if accepted which protects yield, so I would say if it is your absolute top that you can pay for, go ahead and do that.
Really get to know your counselor if it’s such an issue! Stop by their office and say hello if you see them in the hall. Maybe come to them for advice on something- sit down and have a chat.
Make sure that you also have schools that you love that are matches/safeties. You should consider Northeastern, it seems to fit your description perfectly- ~10k kids, New England, right in Boston, wonderful school with a fabulous co-op program. If you want to do CS maybe consider RPI or WPI too. You look like an awesome applicant but I wouldn’t get too hung up on all of those ivies- they are reaches even for people like you. Best of luck!

7

you have such amazing stats and ecs. if you have good essays, you will probably have a high chance of getting into those schools. :slight_smile:

8

ED at Penn gives you a much greater edge that EA at Yale. But you have to really nice Penn enough to not regret not having tried for (or perhaps gotten into) Yale or any of your other reaches. I wouldn’t exactly call Stanford and “urban environment” (at least not like Columbia, Penn, or Yale).

9

@IvyPlaywright I was going to use UMD as a safety because I’m in-state. I will try to find another safety before apps :slight_smile:

@anxiouswreck Thank you very much for the recommendation. Do you have any experience with the culture at Northeastern? It sounds like a great fit.

@Penn95 @LoveTheBard Sounds like I should go for Penn. I think they are close enough in my mind currently that I would be happy, and I would definitely prefer the lesser of the two over neither. I really appreciate the info and perspective. Cheers.

10

I don’t, but I hope I will :wink: I just applied there recently, but from what I’ve gathered there’s endless things to do in Boston and Greek life/parties are there if you want to be a part of that. It’s also a big enough school where it’s easy to avoid it. The dorms (not honors college though) were one of the tiniest I had ever seen… But they have some solid sports like hockey and basketball that are a big deal if you’re into that too.
Also, I wouldn’t say Penn is “lesser of the two.” Don’t apply anywhere ED unless you are absolutely sure it is your top choice (and NOT prestige-wise). Otherwise, if accepted, your 4 years will not be as enjoyable and just a massive “what if.”

11

Re Northeastern culture, I’m a current CS student, would strongly second that it sounds like a good fit for you. Boston is also a huge medical / tech hub, so perfect for the bio/chem/CS mix :slight_smile:

12

Your stats are fantastic. Even though you don’t have a defined “spike” with national recognition, your ECs are amazing too. Penn ED I think you are super competitive for if you apply to to CAS, but Wharton and SEAS are definitely more difficult. You are a very competitive applicant and there isn’t much else you can do to improve your application other than write some good essays. If you much prefer Yale over Penn, apply to Yale. But if there is only a minimal difference, I’d suggest finding reasons to like Penn and apply there instead. ED definitely helps admission

13

You have a strong application, but nothing that particularly stands out. Everything is good, but nothing is wow. Here’s a strong Asian female in STEM, but without state or national-level recognition or a compelling narrative. Odds for Yale SCEA aren’t zero, but don’t seem high to me.

I’d do Penn ED and harp on the sibling connection in the Why Penn Essay as a reason why you want to go there–that you’re familiar with the school and resources and love it so much.