Chance me!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Hi. I am currently an Asian-American male junior going to a pretty competitive public high school in Virginia. Going to apply to Wharton and apply ED next year. Do I have any chance?</p>

<p>Objective:
* SAT I: Math 800, CR 690, CW 760 Total: 2250-one sitting *retake in September
* SAT II: 800 (Math II); 760 (Chemistry); 800 (Chinese)
* PSAT: 239 (National Merit Finalist)
* Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.78 (Yes very low, I’m well aware)
* Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.40
* Rank: Top 25%
* AP (place score in parenthesis):
European History: 4
Calculus AB: 5
U.S. History: 4
Chemistry: 4
Psychology: 5</p>

<p>Subjective:
* Extracurricular (place leadership in parenthesis):
-National Honor Society, National English Honor Society, History Honor Society, Math Honors Society
-Math Club, Invisible Children Club, World Culture Club
-Varsity Indoor Track
-Varsity Basketball
-Varsity Scholastic Bowl Team
-Varsity Football
-Leadership Class (Sophomore-Senior Year)
-Piano (10 Years)
* Awards:
-Honor Roll all years
-Piedmont Virginia Regional Science Fair Winner (Math Category 2010)
-National Merit Finalist
* Volunteer/Community service:
Habitat for Humanity (100 Hours)
Local Library (50 Hours)
Projection Work (100 Hours)
Hospital (150 Hours)
TOTAL: 400 Hours
* Summer Activities:
Summer Internship at Pathology Department assisting in Lab experiments (2009)
Junior Tennis Team (2009)
* Teacher Recommendation: One from English teacher (11th) and AP Chemistry teacher (11th)
* Counselor Rec: Loves me
* Additional Rec: N/A</p>

<p>Other
* State (if domestic applicant): Virginia
* School Type: Public
* Ethnicity: Asian
* Gender: M
* Income Bracket: >250,000
* Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation</p>

<p>COURSES TAKEN: (TOUGHEST COURSE LOAD POSSIBLE TO MANKIND.)</p>

<p>7th Grade:
Honors Algebra I: A/A
8th Grade:
Honors Geometry: A/A</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
Honors English 9: A/A
Honors World History I: A/A
Honors Algebra II: A/A
Honors Biology I: B/A
Spanish I: A/A
Info Tech Fundamentals: A/A
PE/Health: A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
Gym/Health: A/A
Honors English 10: B/A
AP European History: B/B
Honors Math Analysis: A/A
Honors Chemistry I: A/A
Spanish II: A/A
Computer Science I: A/A
Leadership I: A/A</p>

<p>Junior Year:
Honors English 11: B/A
AP U.S. History: C/A
AP Calculus AB: B/A
AP Chemistry II: C/A
Honors Physics: A/A
AP Psychology: B/A
Spanish III: A/A
Leadership: A/A</p>

<p>Senior Year Course-load:
AP English 12
AP Government
AP Calculus BC
AP Biology
AP Statistics
Astronomy
Honors Spanish IV
Leadership III</p>

<p>How do these stats look? I might have forgotten something, so if there are any questions, feel free to ask. Also if there's anything I need to improve on, please say. THANKS!</p>

2

<p>your sat is fine, better than mine. but it would help to bump it up. your unweighted gpa and rank is really really going to hurt you, sorry for being blunt. your ap grades are fine in my opinion. all those honor societies and varsity sports are all well and good, but too common. you need a hook. do something that not many people do. and then you’ll have to express that in your essay. otherwise, you’re just going to blend in with the rest of the crowd and get thrown out. volunteer hours look good, try doing some business related stuff though, to show why youre interested in the field. seems like youre doing more science and lab related stuff than business. youre rich, so thats a huge plus. get a teacher recommendation from a math teacher.</p>

3

<p>Your stats are pretty similar to mine… I’m a (white) girl at a pretty competitive public HS in NY… Wharton is definitely my dream but I feel that my chances are pretty low. I’m not sure about you, but I’m always looking for ways to increase my chances before next year lol. I probably won’t apply ED but possibly RD if I don’t apply ED somewhere else. What other schools are you looking at? And have you visited? Interest always helps.</p>

4

<p>@IAmABeast thanks for the input. I will make sure to do some business-related internship over the summer</p>

<p>@mksh107 I am also looking at Duke, Cornell, Columbia, Stanford. I’ve visited all of them except Stanford which I plan on doing this coming summer.</p>

<p>Also, general question, is U-Penn located in a bad part of Philly and is it unsafe there?</p>

5

<p>Penn is a safe campus. My son attended Penn 2006-10 and my second son applied RD this year. When my son was there, he lived off-campus during junior and senior years and hence invloved lot of walking to from campus. He didn’t have any problems.</p>

<p>The following CC thread has additional comments from others.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1080709-area-around-campus.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1080709-area-around-campus.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;