Chance me?

<p>Gender: Male
Location: Iowa
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.8
GPA - Weighted: I'm never told.
Class Rank: top 10%
Will be applying to college of letters and science for Biology/molecular biology major.</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>ACT: 30</p>

<p>Leadership positions: </p>

<p>Four years of track (from middle school)
Student Council
National Forensics for Speech and Debate
Won the Silvercord Award for 400 hours of volunteer service
National Honor Society
Junior and Senior Class Cabinet</p>

<p>By the way, my school only offers six AP classes. By the time I will have graduated, I will have taken three to four of those AP classes.</p>

<p>Bump…</p>

<p>3 or 4 total?? Why didn’t you take more? Where all your other classes honors at least? but it looks like you haven’t challenged yourself all that much.</p>

<p>What kind of APs were they? were they academic or more like “AP art” or “AP computer science”? how many years of track without middle school? I’d say you have a somewhat small chance. Your ECs are just ok… what position did you have in student council and how many years did you do it?</p>

<p>They are AP US History, AP English Literature, AP Psychology, and AP Chemistry. I have taken several other honor courses besides those, which includes Honors Organic Chemistry, Honors English, Honors World Studies, and Honors Algebra 2. I have taken two extra years of track in high school.</p>

<p>PS. I have tried to take as many advanced classes as possible, but when I was a freshman, my previous counsular would not let me take any. After she got sent to a different school, I was advised to take all the honor courses I wanted. Otherwise, I would have done more. Plus, the only two other AP courses my school offers is AP Spanish and AP Calculus. Obiviously, I can’t take AP Calculus while I’m still in Algebra, but I am taking the hardest math class I can find.</p>

<p>To be honest, your objective stats make any Penn school a high reach. Your extracurriculars are also very dull (they might not be, but from how you describe them here they seem that way). With schools like Penn, you never know, but I’d agree that unless you’re an URM your chances are relatively low.</p>

<p>If you’re already a rising senior, the best things to do now are:</p>

<ol>
<li>Take the hardest senior schedule you can</li>
<li>Improve the ACT score (have you tried the SAT)</li>
<li>Take at least some SAT IIs (I’m pretty sure Penn wants 2 at least)</li>
<li>Make sure you choose your teacher recs very very wisely</li>
<li>If you have to prepare any sort of brag sheet/interview form to give your counselor like I did, make sure you work on that extra hard. An excellent guidance counselor rec can only help</li>
<li>Nail the essays. Make every single one of them count, because they can become your saving grace. I’d suggest maybe emphasizing your service work. 400 hours seems pretty impressive to me.</li>
<li>Cast your net widely. Have a bunch of schools you will feel comfortable going to if Penn doesn’t work out. Other high reaches, mid-reaches, matches, and safeties - if you can apply to about 8-10 total that’ll make you feel a lot better when December comes around!</li>
</ol>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>no one cares about you doing track in middle school. they look at high school grades and extracurricular activities.</p>

<p>Well, I think my 400 volunteer hours would help a lot if I mentioned them in the essays. My intended major is Biology, and I have volunteered at my local hospitol, worked as a TA for several Biology courses, and I have tutored students who need help with science. I am a “historian” for my debate team, and I am an officer for the Student Council. Plus, how much do my chances increase if I apply ED?</p>

<p>Hi there,</p>

<p>I’m a current Penn senior doing honors work in political science, and I’m from Iowa.</p>

<p>ED definitely increases the chances that you will be accepted, but it’s not a guarantee. As I remember it, the admit rate for ED is usually around 30%, which is a lot higher than RD, which is usually about half that. I don’t have the exact numbers, but it’s a big difference. Also try to do an interview, it’s an advantage that is easy to get and can be a lot of fun.</p>

<p>I think your high school extracurricular activities look pretty good, and you should definitely work those volunteer hours into your application if you have an interesting story to go with them. </p>

<p>I’d also keep in mind that only a couple Iowa applicants get in every year, and are usually from the Des Moines area or Cedar Rapids. Don’t forget to look into other schools.</p>

<p>I hope that’s all helpful :)</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply, Penn!</p>