<p>Should I bother going ED if I can't decide between Dartmouth/Penn? Will it hurt me enough not to get acceptance into either? Basically, do I have a good shot without ED at either Dartmouth or Penn? Since I want to do Economics, and Penn has a more prestigious business program, and Dartmouth has a more prestigious Economics program, I don't know what to do. I'm trying to go visit Penn to see if it is what I want.</p>
<p>XD TWSS joke made me lol.</p>
<p>I guess it's a hard choice. But visiting Penn might help you decide~</p>
<p>tell me WHY you want to go to each specific college that you mentioned and what you are looking for in a college (aside from the name obviously). then i can give you my advice.</p>
<p>Penn- I like the urban area, and definitely want to have the prestige of Wharton business. It's a nice campus, from what I saw when I was like 8. I like that their other programs are very strong as well, even if I don't want to do economics, or if I change my mind. However, it will be difficult to change my mind if I'm in Wharton. I have a friend there at the moment, and she says she loves it.</p>
<p>Dartmouth- I'm a Boy Scout, so I'm familiar with the great outdoors. I believe I would rather live in an urban area, because I currently live in an area that is suburban, bordering on rural. I do like the historic buildings and architecture. Their econ program is one of the best in the nation. I have a few friends there at the moment, but I haven't heard back yet. I do believe that I would be less distracted in a rural school, but I'd still like to be able to get back and forth to society easily.</p>
<p>Is an urban college better or worse in your opinion?</p>
<p>its all about where you would rather live (personally i prefer urban as long as its in a nice part of the city, as penn is and as U of Chicago is not)</p>
<p>sounds like Penn is your favorite school but I have to warn you that its incredibly hard to get into wharton, but not as hard to get into the college of arts and sciences. i'd say your chances of getting into wharton (business) are 25% and of the college of arts and sciences (which has econ but not business) are 40%</p>
<p>I do think I'm partial to Penn, but I don't feel like it's for the right reasons.</p>
<p>I've lived in suburbia my entire life. I hate it. I love urban areas. Every year, I try to spend at least a month in an urban area, like Chicago, Boston, London, LA (which doesn't even really count as urban besides downtown), San Francisco.</p>
<p>I'd like to go to Berkeley, because it's not that far from SF. If Dartmouth was closer than 2 hours from Boston, it wouldn't be that difficult of a decision. Dartmouth's econ program is much stronger. I'm actually leaning more towards Dartmouth now. But UofC EA is also on my top 5 choices list.</p>
<p>I'm completely stumped.</p>
<p>You pretty much have the max chances anywhere.</p>
<p>You're very similar to me as an applicant lol! I decided on Penn for ED b/c of proximity (I'm 45 mins away), prestige, and b/c I liked what I saw when I visited. Ironically, I'd really love to go to UCB (engineering), but it's on the opposite coast and they barely accept NJ students at all <em>sigh</em>. I would recommend that you pay a visit to Penn before you make the commitment, since there are things you may like as well as things you may hate about it (I personally loved the campus). Most importantly, though, you should take some of the schools that you're pretty sure you'll get into and really start loving them (e.g. Rutgers is actually quite appealing to me in every way except that it lacks the prestige of the Ivies/top colleges, though that wouldn't stop me from going there if it came down to it). Here are your specific chances imho:</p>
<p>Dartmouth - Low Reach
Cornell - High Match
Penn - Reach (RD); Low Reach (ED)
Stanford - High Reach
Northwestern - High Match
Tufts - Match
Brown - Low Reach
Emory - Match
Cal - Low Match
UCLA/UCB/UCSD - Match
All other UCs - Low Match/Safety</p>
<p>Chance me back if you get the chance: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/564831-can-you-feel-tension.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/564831-can-you-feel-tension.html</a> Good luck!</p>
<p>You've actually convinced me to not do ED lol.</p>
<p>I'm going to just take my chances with EA and RD. I'm happy with Berkeley. In fact, I'd be ecstatic with Cal. I'd have done anything to go there several years ago. I'm still going to apply to all the same schools, and I'll still do EA at a few, just not going to make a binding decision anywhere.</p>
<p>I think you pretty much share the same thinking as myself...personally, I find this whole process repugnant and I'll be glad to see it over, for better or for worse. People should realize that one's college is just a name on a diploma and on a resume, nothing more. Your college won't alter your genes nor will it affect your mental capacity (well, it may alter your ego :P). Good luck again! :)</p>
<p>I do agree that the school itself isn't that important (at least for undergrad), but I do feel that the school definitely does help develop you into a more mature person. For example, I would rather live in a metropolitan area than a college town, because being in the isolate college environment can make things much weirder when you get back to society. I live in a college town, and I hate it. </p>
<p>However, I asked a friend of mine, a current Penn student about it. Exact quote.</p>
<p>The one thing I love most about Penn is the people. I know that sounds ridiculously corny, but everyone here is so intelligent and well-rounded. I was in shock my first week- it was that big of a difference. And it's funny too, because people who you would never guess are smart, are brilliant. Even the athletes.</p>
<p>I also really love my classes. The professors are so accessible and they love to do lunch or coffee with students just to chat. Out of the 5 classes that I have, only 2 of them are large lectures and for one of them I have a small recitation with a TA. I can't really tell you much more about classes, since mine are mostly unique for Wharton, but I can definitely introduce you to some of my friends in the college if you come out here.</p>
<p>There is also so many ways to get involved. Wharton alone has what seems like an infinite number of business related clubs in which they bring in top execs and consultants. I'm not going to waste my time name dropping. But what is really cool is that you don't have to be in Wharton to join any of the clubs. So you can still go to the career fairs and meet all the most prominent people in business and no one will care that you aren't in Wharton. For instance, I have a couple of girlfriends in the college that aren't in Wharton women with me, and they still can do all of the events.</p>
<p>The social scene here is also pretty fantastic- definitely better than Dartmouth. There is all the typical frat parties here where you can get jungle juice, beer, or cheap vodka, but then there is also some bars on campus that lots of people hang out at. And Thursday night is the designated city night where everyone goes and chills at the bars in the city. People here do party pretty hard.</p>
<p>The other wonderful thing about Penn- the fact that it not only defines the stereotype for a collegiate campus feel, but also that the city is 5 min on the subway. Yesterday, my roommate and I spent the entire day in Center City walking around chestnut and walnut streets by Rittenhouse Square. It is absolutely beautiful there. And then we hopped on a bus and went down to South Philly, the Italian part of town, and explored some more. Philly really is a fun city and is not scary if you know where you are going.</p>
<p>She has convinced me to visit next month to make my final decision.</p>
<p>I think your friend doesn't know Dartmouth. Dartmouth easily is one of the most social Ivies. In no way does Penn have a more active social scene. And its friendlier than Penn. The pluses she mentions of Penn totally are applicable to Dartmouth - small attentive classes, everyone is brilliant, etc.</p>
<p>I cut out the paragraph where she talked about how it was better than Dartmouth because you're not only dealing with Dartmouth students because it had lots of profanity. You could be hanging out with Drexel kids one day, graduates the next, and then Penn on Thursdays. She means in terms of not being a "college town."</p>
<p>I'm sure they both have social scenes, that's why I'm visiting both.</p>
<p>That girl is also much hotter than the one I'm visiting at Dartmouth, so you have to take that into account :).</p>
<p>Visiting Penn this month to decide if I want to apply early decision or not. Looking forward to it. However, does anyone think that staying in dorms is vital to learning about the school? They only do that on Monday-Wednesday, so I would have to miss more school than if I did Thurs/Friday/Sat/Sunday</p>
<p>Can I get more chances for Penn ED (Wharton and CAS)?</p>
<p>If anyone is interested, I just looked up the stats of the girl who got into Wharton from my school last year. It was definitely reassuring.</p>
<p>GPA 3.9 UW/ 4.4 Weighted (The only difference between my grades and hers are that I received a B+ in Spanish.
Rank 9/750
SAT 2090
780 MathII 580 Spanish 740 USH
Girl Scout (Earned equivalent to Eagle Scout)</p>
<p>Did not specifically volunteer that much.
Varsity Volleyball Captain</p>
<p>Mock Trial (4 Years) Highest rank was treasurer.</p>
<p>1 rec was pretty bad (The one I read. Mine is much better.)</p>
<p>I didn't see her essays.</p>
<p>White, high socioeconomic status</p>
<p>Not legacy (Actually, the more I think about it, it's possible she may be... which would change things. I'll ask tomorrow.)</p>
<p>So with good essays, I'm feeling comfortable. I believe our class is slightly more competitive, as our GPAs are nearly identical, but she has 5 spots on me.</p>
<p>This was class of '08, entering Class of '12.</p>
<p>Are these stats appropriate? They look slightly low to me... but she did get in.</p>
<p>Is it possible that she got in for looks? Again, she's model quality, and if she received a male interviewer, I can't imagine it not being a factor in his impression of her.</p>
<p>I apparently have more questions lol.</p>
<p>No she did not get it for looks!?!? She had alright test scores, great rank, and good ecs</p>