Chance Me!- UPenn Wharton ED or Columbia SEAS ED? CHANCE BACK

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm pretty much on the fence about whether to apply to wharton or columbia seas ed. Wharton would set me up for a great investment banking career, whereas at columbia, I'd do industrial engineering/ operations research, and maybe do an MBA later. but I love nyc and Philadelphia is just okay. </p>

<p>Thankfully, my parents can afford to apply ed to one of these schools, so based on my stats, which one would I have a better chance at ED? (I'LL CHANCE BACK)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.28 (weighted), 3.8 (unweighted, I know this is a bit low, I had some B's freshman year, but i'm improved to all A's.)
school doesn't rank for college apps, but they said I'm in top 9%
SAT: 2320: 800 writing, 770 cr, 750 math
SAT II: Math 800, taking chem & french in october. (prob 750ish in Bio, hopefully same in French)</p>

<p>course load: most rigorous offered at school, my counselor said so herself</p>

<p>junior year courses (all IB classes, IB diploma candidate)
-hl bio
-hl history
-sl chemistry
-sl math (will this hurt me? i'm getting transferred to hl for senior year)
-sl french b
-hl english a</p>

<p>potential senior year schedule:
-hl bio
-hl economics
-sl physics
-hl math
-sl french b
-hl english a</p>

<p>no predicted scores yet, but so far i had STRAIGHT A's in IB all of junior year. </p>

<p>APs: Euro (3), Human Geo (4). only 2 since i'm doing IB diploma now. </p>

<p>EC'S
-president of model united nations club- won multiple awards (best delegate, research, etc)
-president of desi club (indian club)
-founder/ president of DECA chapter at school (business club thing)
-vp of french honor society
- historian of Amensty International Club
-in national honor society for this year and next
-200 + hours at local hospital
-volleyball (2 years on team, junior and senior year just recreational, since it wouldn't fit in my IB schedule)
-french tutor at school
-played soccer for 4 years
-piano for 8 years
-karnataka cultural association (indian cultural group) youth committee- won 3rd place in youth award competition, may be pres or vp if elections go well next week </p>

<p>-prob. the biggest thing: cofounded a nonprofit which donates quilts to cancer patients (i think this may be what i focus on in essays as well) lots of community service hrs, and on board of directors for it, since I couldn't be CEO as <18 year old. And this means a lot to me since one of my parents is recovering from cancer. </p>

<p>This summer:
-Research at a UCLA bioengineering lab
-Social Media Marketing intern at a local nonprofit that helps cancer patients </p>

<p>recs should be pretty good, i know my teachers on a personal level too</p>

<p>hopefully essays are good as well, starting them soon. </p>

<p>family income: $180k-$200k
ethnicity: Indian
gender: female
location/school type: California public charter school (largest charter in nation)</p>

<p>THANK YOU!</p>

2

<p>Bump 10char</p>

3

<p>Wow. Great scores. Great ECs. Experienced background. And a good topic for your essays. The only thing in my mind that’s holding you back is your gpa and, to be totally honest, that’s all I can find that’s even slightly below average for both schools. </p>

<p>I’d call UPenn Wharton and Columbia both a low reach and, considering their respective selectivities, I would rarely (if ever) call either of them anything but a reach/high reach. Just really focus on your essays and try to have some consistency in your classes and ECs that would demonstrate experience in your intended major. Otherwise, all I can say is good luck. There’s really nothing more to it than that by this point haha</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1500936-chance-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1500936-chance-me.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Well you’re certainly on top! Definitely a better chance than most people! They will kinda be reaches since almost no one gets in, but either way, good job and good luck!</p>

5

<p>Wharton and Columbia are NOT low reaches for any student. They are reaches for every applicant. Apply to the one you MOST want to attend. That is the purpose of ED, for schools and the qualified students MOST interested in them to commit to each other early in the admission season. Since ED should be used for the school that YOU most want to attend, no one here can advise you on how to use the ED option. That should be YOUR decision, based upon which one is your first choice school. Apply to your first choice ED, and your second choice RD. What’s hard about that?</p>

6

<p>You’re a very, very solid applicant. Focus on the cancer aspect, and I think you can get into either school. I’d recommend Wharton ED, just because I think you can get in, and it is Wharton’s. But, if you’re on the fence, and would prefer some security, I’d say Columbia SEAS. The thing is, Wharton’s is always a reach on the level of HYPSM, but I do think it’s a low reach for you if you apply ED - Columbia would be a High Match/Low Reach as well, but I’m pretty sure you could get in.</p>

<p>Chance me?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1511265-chance-me-penn-cas-ed-ucla-cornell-georgetown-usc-will-chance-back.html#post16009011[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1511265-chance-me-penn-cas-ed-ucla-cornell-georgetown-usc-will-chance-back.html#post16009011&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>I think your resume is very good and the only thing that would be holding you back is because you’re considered Asian and your GPA. Wharton and Columbia are reaches for EVERYONE but I think you have a pretty good shot. </p>

<p>Please chance me back!
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1514587-chance-me-please-will-chance-back-upenn-nyu-uchicago-etc.html#post16042732[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1514587-chance-me-please-will-chance-back-upenn-nyu-uchicago-etc.html#post16042732&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>I think that your chances are great for both schools. But, keep in mind that they are, in some respects, crapshoots. The GPA is fine i think, so are your ECs. I think your community service and founding a non profit is exceptional and is a great thing to write about in your essays. Chance me back:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/1524541-chance-thread-columbia-university-2018-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/1524541-chance-thread-columbia-university-2018-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>I would recomend you applying to Columbia because based on what you said, I think you have a very decent chance at UPenn but at the same time you are kinda in the threshold limbo of acceptance/rejection for Columbia so it would be better for you to increase your chances in that application , I am a strong supporter that Early Action increases your chances of admission and I am sure that even in regular admisision you will be accepted to UPenn, but I am not so sure about Columbia, just improve your essays, read a lot, and check the Columbia supplement way before you apply to be prepared.</p>

10

<p>^You’re “sure that in regular admissions she will be accepted to UPenn”? Is that a joke?</p>

<p>Anyways, to answer your question OP, it depends on what you want to do. Investment banking and consulting are very different career paths than industrial engineering or operations research. </p>

<p>You can get an MBA, but if your goal is to work in business/finance, why take such a difficult, circuitous route? By the time you decide you want to do business rather than industrial engineering, you’ll be well behind your peers, since your wharton classmates will have already had 2 years of investment banking and 2 years of private equity or hedge fund experience by the time they start their MBA, making much more competitively positioned for related post-MBA finance positions.</p>

<p>I have a lot of respect for engineers, so if you want to do engineering and if you think you’ll be happy doing that the rest of your life, then stick with engineering. It doesn’t make sense to “plan on” switching career paths.</p>

<p>If you have no idea what you want to do and if you think you’re smart enough (seems like you are), apply for the M&T dual degree program at Penn.</p>