Chance? UPenn ED Wharton?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Rising junior at a very rigorous coed, day/boarding, college prep school.
3.85 unweighted GPA. Approx. top 10% of class. Planning to take PSATs this fall, currently taking a 2 week SAT prep course that has been extremely helpful.</p>

<p>Freshman year
-at a top, "A" public school. only took 1 honors class, :( how I REGRET not taking more!! Got straight A's SUPER, super easily. Won the Spanish II Outstanding Academic Award.
-Weekly dance classes, intermediate. (had been dancing 2.5 years)
-Weekly horseback riding lessons, Hunter Jumper, 2'3"(had been riding 3.5 years). Won the 3rd place North Florida Hunter Jumper Association Local Shows High Point Award.
-3 weeks volunteering at a kids' camp at a science and history museum. (~100 hours)
-5 hours (I know, I know) volunteering at a hippotherapy center (physical and mental therapy using horses for disabled or handicapped kids and young adults)</p>

<p>Sophomore year
-moved to the prep school. Took 2 honors classes. B+'s in those. A's in my regulars. Though I really want to point out that my regular classes here were wayyy harder than the public school's HONORS. The honors classes at the prep school are more like AP; we use college books, and A's aren't common.
-continue riding, lessons 1-2x a week, now 4.5-5 years off experience. Jumping 2'6"-2'9" courses on an OFF THE TRACK thoroughbred. Only the owner and I ride him. He's a high-spirited, DIFFICULT ride. Took him to 2 local shows (his first). Flat and 2' classes. Placed 2nd or 3rd in most classes (with ~10 riders)
-Take dance 5 days a week at school, ballet (pre pointe) and contemporary. Level 4 of 6.
... this summer, took a 2 week, audition-only, workshop at an intense ballet theatre studio.
-Continue volunteering at museum (~20 hours). Won Outstanding Volunteer Award.
-Volunteering on 1 week Orphanage Outreach trip with a school group to the Dominican Republic. (~60 hours)
-started petsitting business. Walk 2 dogs 5 days a week, several other regular (but not weekly, jobs). In summer, I was working for 4 different families at the same time for about a week. Make $200+ a month.
-Creative Writing Club.
-Humane Society Club, volunteering ~3 hours (I'm working on it!)
-Starting back at the hippotherapy center. Volunteer orientation is next week.</p>

<p>Planned Junior year
-2 honors, 1 AP (if I push myself harder, I think my GPA and ECs would REALLY be compromised)
-starting an Equestrian Club, monthly or bi monthly club volunteering together at the nearby hippotherapy center. Fundraise for horse rescues.
-found an Future Business Leaders of America chapter (there has never been one at my school and it's over 80 years old!)
-co-found and be the VP off a book club (friend is Pres. I don't think I'll have time to be the Pres of 3 clubs). Review books and hold book drives.
-continue petsitting, riding, dancing, and volunteering at hippotherapy center and humane society.
-Will take pre cal over the summer at a local college (right now I'm going into Alg II AB.) I read online that Wharton requires Calculus .</p>

<p>Planned Senior year
-3 APs (including Spanish 5), 2 honors.
-continue above-mentioned ECs, clubs, volunteering, etc.
-..... and apply to Wharton (and also probably UVA, UNC, and some others)</p>

2

<p>Does your prep school offer more honors and APs than the ones you’re taking? If so, your junior schedule isn’t rigorous enough. Many people who apply to Penn take 4-5 APs junior year.</p>

3

<p>not really. freshmen and sophomores can’t take AP. Like I said, the regular level classes are pretty rigorous and honors is very tough. Surprisingly there are only 2 AP (3 if you take really advanced math) classes for juniors plus a few AP semester courses that I tried to get in but they give priority to seniors. Those classes filled up fast so I didn’t get it in my schedule. :frowning: :(</p>

<p>Since I can’t change my schedule, should I really work to get ONLY A’s? Should I look into taking AP classes on online virtual school during the school year or maybe during the summer? But do you think Penn actually realizes how much high school classes’ rigor differs based on the school? </p>

<p>Any advice would really be appreciated! Thanks so much!! :)</p>

4

<p>bump…</p>

5

<p>come on, 170 views and only one other person has commented??? please! I realize my course load ought to be more rigorous… but what do you think? do my ECs make up for it? would a less selective college be a better choice? please… anything.</p>

6

<p>I think not a lot of people have commented because you’re a rising JUNIOR…still got the most important and defining year to go and without your test scores, your picture is really incomplete; so there’s no way anyone can chance you at this point. Relax, take it easy.</p>

7

<p>2 honors and 1 AP Junior year? Frankly, forget about Penn. Having a good GPA while taking easy classes just proves that you didn’t challenge yourself academically. If it’s too late now, I don’t know what to say, but if possible, switch into more AP classes.</p>

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<p>alright. well i don’t know if you saw it above, but my school doesn’t offer many APs for juniors. and I am looking into getting switched into another AP. 'cause its better to have a B in an AP than an A in a regular? (I KNOW it’s BEST to have an A in an AP) but do you think UVA or william and mary would be better choices for me? </p>

<p>sorry snappy but I can’t relax! junior year is apparently the year I need to work my @ss off!! if I don’t, I can “just forget about Penn” right? oh well. I’m really trying, but if my best isn’t good enough for Penn, then I obviously need to look into other schools.</p>

<p>What would you recommend? Could I get into a school with around a 30% acceptance rate if I keep up the hard work?</p>

9

<p>Admissions at the nation’s top schools are a bit of crapshoot. The only way you will know whether or not you can get into a school is to apply. You have shown some nice initiative by starting a bunch of extracurriculars at your school. Without knowing your SAT, it is hard to predict your chances of admission. But your academic courseload, as has been mentioned, is not as strong as it might be. All you can do is work as hard as you can this year, then apply and see what happens. Pick a few reach schools (US News top 10), a few “fit” schools (US News 20-30), and a few safeties, and hope for the best.</p>

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<p>Your best bet is to independently study for some AP exams. And no offense, I really don’t think a school can be considered a “top” school if it doesn’t offer a full AP/IB program, but that’s just me.</p>

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<p>loldanielol, Scarsdale, Exeter, Francis Parker, and Andover are all example of “top” high schools that do not offer APs or an IB program. These schools don’t have APs because they would rather not be forced to teach to the tests. Just because a course is not labelled AP doesn’t mean that it is not as difficult or more difficult than an AP course, many AP courses at schools are actually very shallow courses that do not do a good job teaching kids how to think. Additionally there are schools where APs are treated more rigorously (going beyond the test) and have prerequisites that prevent students from taking them before junior year.</p>

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<p>Sorry, I had no idea about that. @OP, can you tell us what school you go to, if you want? Maybe this way we can get a better idea of your situation.</p>

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<p>Actually, in Exeter at least, you have the option to take APs and such…the courses just aren’t “marketed” as being AP classes I think and they don’t teach for the test as much.</p>

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<p>@Poeme I completely agree with you! The rigor of the classes varies from school to school, no matter what label (regular, honors, AP) is stuck on it. </p>

<p>@loldaniel… I go to The Bolles School. No stalking me. I have 2 friends with black belts (no kidding) in karate… so that goes to all of you. NO attempting to STALK me just because you know what school I go to. I’m serious.</p>

15

<p>when you see the list of APs… well I’ll just put them here</p>

<p>American history(<–11th grade- I’m trying to transfer into it)
biology,(12th)<br>
calculus AB and BC,(really advanced 11th or just 12th)<br>
statistics,(same as above)<br>
chemistry,(12th)<br>
physics,(12th)<br>
American government and politics,(semester course I tried to get in but gives priority to seniors)<br>
comparative government and politics,(same as above)<br>
computer science,(??? Idk. not interested in at ALL)<br>
English literature (12th)<br>
English language(11th, I’m taking it)
European history(12th),
French V(12th),
Latin V(12th),
Spanish V,(12th, definitely taking this next year!)
portfolio art, and art history.(?? idk. I hate doing art)</p>

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<p>Oh, I see…so which ones are you planning on taking? The concern here is that you need to maximize your courseload based on what your school offers, so it won’t look good if you’re not taking the opportunity to take the APs offered.</p>

<p>[Bolles</a> School - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolles_School]Bolles”>The Bolles School - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>And trust me, we’re not going to stalk you haha. At least I won’t, since I’m in CA. I was in FL over the summer though and I can’t say I liked the weather…too humid/rainy for me. :P</p>

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<p>I’m trying to transfer into AP America history and I definitely am taking AP Eng Lang. No way would I take AP computer science or art classes of any kind. Can’t stand either of those and plus they aren’t really academic classes. My senior year, I’ll probably take an AP calculus class.</p>

<p>did you not see the post right after the one where I said Bolles?</p>

<p>yeah its soo humid! ick!! but the beaches are awesome (and the water is warm! the sand is soft! not like Cali’s ice cold ocean and rocky beaches… Though I do love Yosemite haha) But we get rainstorms like 70% of time in afternoons in summer. :(</p>

18

<p>here are all the APs all probably take senior year:
Spanish V
English Lit
European History
Calculus</p>

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<p>honestly its really more like I’m taking 3 APs and 2 honors instead of 1 AP, 2 honors, and 2 regulars. 2nd day of school and over 3.5 hours of homework. I opened one of my honors books and in the introduction it talked about its subject could benefit multiple majors and included the words “As a college student, you…” Get my point?? I really hope that top colleges realize that truly AP leveled classes are called honors just because we don’t take the test. </p>

<p>Maybe I should take the AP exams for my honors classes? What do you think?? Any advice please!!!</p>

20

<p>bump…</p>