<p>Hey everyone, long time browser first time poster aka XxXCalicoCatXxX here!</p>
<p>Everyone I talk to tells me that I would be such a great fit for Upenn cuz of my awesome grades and killer SAT scores and all my extracurriculars and my volunteer work, all of which I will now go over :)</p>
<p>SAT II - I rocked these huh?
800 Bio
800 US History</p>
<p>Grades
3.86 unweighted GPA, but its only not perfect because i slacked off freshman year SO much. Will they see this and reject me for it? :(</p>
<p>I didn't take any honors or AP classes because I wanted to make sure I had a killer GPA and if I took the easiest classes then it would be so easy to get straight A's. Wise decision? I think so :)</p>
<p>Extracurricular
Founded the Anime Club which now has over 75 members
Apart of the Cycling Club for 4 years
Captain of the lacrosse team
Captain of the cross country team</p>
<p>Volunteer Work
Over 500 hours over the 4 years of high school including working at the nearby hospital and also the nearby soup kitchen.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and my essay's rocked the house :P</p>
<p>I have one question as well, because I really messed up bad on my application. I think I may have marked my ethnicity as African-American, which was a mistake seeing as I am whiter than the sun :( What do I do? Will I have my acceptance revoked as a result? :'(</p>
<p>That was very foolish to not take any honors or AP’s actually. Ii can almost guarantee you won’t get in because of that. Even if you got 100% in every class all the time, they want you to challenge yourself… A LOT. Most kids, including myself, take over 5 AP?honors before graduation. I’ve taken 7 in one year.</p>
<p>Well that doesn’t make sense, why would they want someone who doesn’t do well in school? I think they would rather have someone who aced every class than someone who took AP classes and didn’t.</p>
<p>First off, your easy schedule logic is faulty. I understand what you are saying but you have to understand that there are a ton of kids with better test scores, EC’s, and a comparable GPA who took AP’s and Honors classes. Top notch colleges (such as Penn) will see this and your easy schedule will stand out. Doing “well” in school is also relative to the rigor of your schedule. They’ll see that. You have solid SAT’s to back up your intelligence but your easy schedule is going to come back to bite you in the ass. So I hope you get in, but know that this bit of arrogance/ignorance could come back to haunt you.</p>
<p>okay thanks guys I appreciate your input but honestly I think you guys should reconsider. I know I’m really smart and anything that makes me stand out is good, which is why I wanted to go down a different route. It makes me more likeable </p>
<p>Also I forgot to say in my original post, but I got two AMAZING recommendations and a killer essay! All of these combined make me think I have a better chance than not of getting in.</p>
<p>The rigor of your schedule is very important. My two high school classmates and I who are now freshmen here took the most rigorous schedules offered at our school and so did all of the other kids from my high school that I know here. It’s very important that you challenge yourself and do well so they will know you are prepared to come to Penn.</p>
<p>Ummm, you should contact Penn and rectify the error of marking yourself African-American, you could get in deep trouble for that. As for your chances, I’m going to have to agree with the others and say that your lack of honors and AP classes was a mistake. Rigorous courses are an important consideration for colleges like Penn.</p>
<p>No, no, no, no, no. It doesn’t mean you wanted to go take a different route, it means you didn’t have the drive to challenge yourself. And considering the fact that you didn’t much consider the wise words of other posters who agree with my point, I’m just going to tell you flat out that you’re going to be rejected.</p>
<p>I agree with Calvin. As much as you want to tell yourself it’s “smarter” to protect your GPA, you NEED AP’s. As I said, Even if you never received a grade below 100%, you have to shoe Ivy’s that you’ve challenged yourself. Not to be mean, but you kind of screwed yourself. Read the admissions pages for the colleges and they will tell you that it’s not the end of the world if you didn’t, but rather it puts you WELL below anyone who’s applying. Even taking only 2 AP classes isn’t that good. Now, unless you’ve cured Aids, cancer, brought wealth to Africa, then you probably won’t get in.</p>
<p>And, come on, not everyone who takes AP’s does poorly. You seem to assume that from your posts. In fact, most kids applying to Ivy’s have gotten A’s in like 3 a year. Also, they are weighted at most schools, so you can get a B in another class and still have a 4.0, given you received an A in the AP.</p>
<p>Wow I can’t really say that I expected this kind of response, it’s really disheartening
Okay, so maybe it might have been a bad idea not to take AP classes, but why would a college like UPenn want someone whos just like everyone else who applies? I bring a touch of unpredictability and I think that it shows UPenn that I would do really well there.</p>
<p>Penn wants people who challenge themselves and explore their interests in unique ways. For example, someone who has shown a lot of dedication to a certain activity like a music group, debate, creative writing, Ballet, for many years. But those extra things don’t come into play unless the basics are there, those being test scores but more importantly a high school record that shows that you’ve both challenged yourself and succeeded. Honestly, not having taken any honors classes would put you at a big disadvantage academically once you got to Penn. Even people who did take honors classes may not initially have the study skills it takes to succeed (this depends usually on where they went to high school), and they may struggle because of this.</p>
<p>I’m not sure you are being truthful here. Is this supposed to be a joke? It’s a good thing to be confident but it’s another thing to be cocky. You sound like someone they wouldn’t want to be part of their institution…</p>
<h1>1) wth is with the all the X’s? You seem like a 13 year old. I hope thats not your email address.</h1>
<h1>2) GPA is unimpressive considering your light workload. I maintained a 4.0 unweighted and took ~15 AP classes through HS. ‘slacking off’ is a BS answer…HS isn’t exactly hard…anywhere.</h1>
<h1>3) Frankly speaking, your SAT score is unimpressive. Tons of people applying to Penn have higher than a 2300. FYI, I had a 2340.</h1>
<p>When I was applying to colleges, my resume was much more impressive than yours and I didn’t nearly have the same level of arrogance and pompousness that you seem to be emanating.</p>
<p>I agree with the aforementioned comments. Taking standard classes does <em>not</em> make you “unpredictable,” “show that you would do well there,” or “make you attractive through variance.”</p>
<p>Contrary to your belief that perfect grades matter, a 4.0 is not all that important, especially when they were standard classes. Sorry, but all honors is expected (as a minimum) to get into an IVY with a 3.6+ GPA (UW) and at least 3+ APs throughout your high school curriculum. One note of consolation, however, is that you SAT is pretty decent (to the bias of affirmative action, its actually <em>exceptional</em> for minorities - I didn’t check when I read your post.)</p>
<p>Your story is actually ironically similar to that of a student in my school. He’s taken all standard classes throughout high school, but trots around proudly (and pompously, much like your apparent demeanor here) because of his so-called “4.0.” He applied to, I believe, every IVY league with the hope he’ll get into one. I have nothing against him, and if he gets in to one of them I’ll congratulate him for it, but I’d actually wager a fair sum of money that he won’t and that the $400+ he spent in application fees would have been better spent towards a selfless cause - like Invisible Children.</p>
<p>Either way, I wish you luck. But drop the arrogance, and don’t be disappointed to find the ivies out of reach - there are plenty of other schools that would be happy to have a 4.0 standard student.</p>
<p>But when they read your application they don’t see you. This is an Ivy League School. They do want different individuals, but a safe requirement to say is that you have GOT to be able to manage the course. If you can’t handle AP in a high school, how can you handle Ivy League college courses?</p>
<p>I hate to burst your bubble, but from what I see you look like everyone else. you volunteer, have some good grades, and great SATs.
What makes you stand out? What is your passion that will contribute to UPenn beside “unpredictability”</p>
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