Chance Me? SAS ED 2024

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Hi! I’m applying to UPenn ED this year (SAS, maybe LSM?) and I wanted to see how my stats and extracurriculars would stack up in both areas? I know that LSM is extremely competitive so I’m really hesitant about applying! Please feel free to leave any advice you guys have for applying, I would really love to hear some tips :))

Demographics: Asian female from a public school
SAT: 1590 (R/W 790, M 800)
ACT: 36
SAT II Math Level 2: 800
SAT II Chemistry: 770
SAT II Chinese: 800
U/W GPA: 4.00 (my school doesn’t do weighted or ranks)

Coursework: I’ve taken AP Chinese, Chemistry, US History, US Government and Politics, Microeconomics, English Lang, Calc BC, Physics C Mechanics, and Biology; this year I’m taking Spanish Lang, Statistics, Physics C E&M, English Lit and Calc 3 at a community college

Extracurriculars:

  • I’ve worked as a server at a cafe since my junior year
  • I tutor for a group of younger kids from China in English through video calls
  • I’m the secretary of my school’s chapter of NHS
  • I volunteer as a student teacher at a local math/science organization
  • I’ve played clarinet in my school’s Symphony band and marching band for 4 years
  • I’m on board for a local research organization for high schoolers? (We learn some computational biology stuff and we fundraise for disease research)
  • I interned at a university neurology lab this summer and I did the LEAD SBI summer program at Northwestern?
  • I do some other business immersion/ competition stuff and I’ve gotten some recognition but it’s nothing major?

Essays/LORs: I’m not that good at writing so I really hope my essays ok? They’re not looking so hot right now (tips/help would be really greatly appreciated :wink: ) but I think they are average? My LORs should be averageish as well (I’m sending 2 teacher ones)?

Any tips & stuff would be really appreciated! Also if anyone has any opinions/insight on LSM I’d really like to learn a little more about that as well. (Also, I wanted to know how much do LORs matter in this process?) Thank you guys for your helpp <3

2

So, as you stated Penn is very competitive to get into, but your stats look very strong. I would suggest that you really work hard on your essays so you can distinguish yourself from everybody else who also have strong stats. Your esssays will definitely need to be better than averagish :slight_smile: When writing your essays make sure you convey specific examples about Penn that excite you. Maybe it is a certain class or a certain club or a certain research project and then tie it back to the extracurriculars you have done at your high school. You need to make sure your essays are unique for the Penn campus and what you can do there that you wouldn’t be able to do at any other college. They want to see that you have a passion for Penn and a real desire to be there. They don’t want to read a generic essay that could be used for any of your other college applications. Also, you should have someone read over your essays before you submit them. Maybe an English teacher at your school? Also, LORs are pretty important. Do yu have someone who could write you a strong LOR? Are you sure the other ones are just averagish?

Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about the LSM program. My son is a current freshman in the Wharton M&T program and loves Penn. I wish you the best of luck with your college applications and senior year!

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If possible, could you please share your son’s stats (profile). I’ve heard that even you are top 3 in a decent high school, you may not even have the chance to get into Wharton.

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@JonnyF Sure, here are some: (also my son applied to Penn RD because he wasn’t 100% sure that was where he wanted to go)

SAT (one sitting) Math 800, Verbal 770

SAT subject tests: Math2 800, Physics 800

UW GPA: 4.0 (school does not rank but attend one of the top public schools in Maryland. He was in a magnet program for Math, Science and Computer Science. Took 8 classes every year. His school had an 8 period day. He also had one of the most rigorous schedules one could take at his HS)

12 AP exams: scored 5 on all
-Sophomore year: Calc BC (AB subscore 5), Comp Sci, US Govt

-Junior year: Physics C (Mechs and EM) World History, EngLang, Stats
-Senior Year: Macro, Micro, Chem, EngLit
He also took Linear Algebra and Differential Equations and a few other higher level classes.

National Merit Finalist
Source America Design Challenge National Competition 1st place
National Honor Society, Math Honor Society, Science Honor Society

Classical Piano (14 years). Jazz Piano (7 years), Saxophone (8 years), Guitar (3 years)-started a teenage classic rock band in high school

Varsity wrestling (4years, 3 years captain, State Champion senior year)- wrestled for 10 years and has many accolades from that. Is not wrestling at Penn, but is in the judo club
Varsity cross country (4 years, 1 year captain) ran cross country for 8 years

Summer Intership at George Washington University for 2 summers in a robotics lab. Worked on assistive robots that interacted with children with autism.

Over 500 service hours as a math tutor and piano instructor to children at Title 1 schools.

He wrote very strong essays for his application and had several teachers read them over before submitting. He also had very strong LORs from his counselor, Physics teacher and History teacher.

That is the bulk of his accomplishments. He was in a few other random clubs all 4 years of high school which mostly highlighted his strong interest in music and engineering.