Chances for Huntsman

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I know you guys are sick of these threads, but I hoped this could be an exception since I’m asking specifically about the Huntsman program and not Upenn itself.</p>

<p>Chinese female
School: Florida public school
GPA: 4.0 UW
Rank: 2/488</p>

<p>SATs: 770 M/740 CR/750 W end of soph year (I plan to retest in Oct)
SAT IIs: 770 Math IIc, 800 Eng Lit. I plan to take the Math IIc and the Chinese SAT II in Nov.</p>

<p>Curriculum:
International Baccalaureate - I’ve tested one SL subject thus far and gotten a 6. Senior year will be 5 IB courses, AP stats, and Anatomy and Physiology Honors</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Honors:
-Summer research program at the University of Florida for 7 wks, awards for research paper and presentation
-Summer research program at Florida State University for 6 wks
-Regional science fair and Florida state science fair. 1st at the former, 4th at the latter in my category. Also won awards there from the Air Force, the Association of Women Geoscientists, and the EFA. I plan to attach my research abstracts as app supplements.
-Model UN: 4 yrs, past Research Coordinator, past Undersecretary-General, current President. Several local awards and a state level award.
-Debate: 4 yrs, several local awards, National Forensic League Degree of Excellence
-Hospice: 4 yrs, current President. Lots of hours from volunteering, including time at a children’s bereavement camp and various fundraising endeavors
-Cancer Support Group: 2 yrs, co-initiators/organizers for our first Relay for Life team this year that raised $3000+ through bake sales, jewelry I made, etc.
-Race for the Cure 2006: Registration committee member, which includes organizing drives to get new participants and handling runner/cancer surviver registration.
-Great Explorations Children’s Museum summer camp counselor (80+ hrs)
-The Science Center summer classes teacher’s assistant (80+ hrs)
-Academic team: 3 yrs, 2nd place team at county finals. Captain for 2 yrs of National Oceans Science Bowl team
-Juniorettes (local girl’s volunteer group, part of Woman’s Club): 2 yrs, Treasurer, newsletter Editor, Public Affairs department chair. Also public affairs department chair for Juniorettes state board.
-Florida Department of Financial Services essay contest winner
-Mu Alpha Theta: past Treasurer, a few awards at lower levels of math.</p>

<p>I’m also a part of NHS, French Honor Society, Science Honor Society, Environmental club, and French club, but I’m not putting those on the app as I do less than 10 hrs of service for each, so it’s not worth it. I will be starting as a Big Sister in the fall though, so I may include that in my app.</p>

<p>I will also be sending a supplement rec from my Juniorettes advisor, which should be a glowing one.</p>

<p>Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your scores and grades look really good. I think if you were applying to SEAS I would say you are a shoe in considering all of your science related ECs. Not that you have to have any previous business experience, because plenty of kids have gotten into Wharton without it, but you are really going to have to show why you want to get into the program through your essays.</p>

3

<p>The Huntsman Program is in International Relations and Business.</p>

<p>Your list of activities is prodigious, impressive, and sounds exhausting, but doesn't point in the direction of Huntsman. you seem interested in science. if you're looking at penn, wouldn't the jerome fisher program or the vagelos program make more sense than huntsman? they're equally prestigious, and you seem to be taking a direction more suited towards the strengths of those other two programs.</p>

<p>Acceptance to the Huntsman Program is not driven by a mile-long resume, but by the demonstration in your application that you have an active mind that is internationally focused. The Huntsman essay is crucial to the success of your application, as in it you will show to the Huntsman admission board how informed you are about issues that are currently impacting the global community. Sure, great grades across the board are important, especially in math and foreign languages, but what catches the eye of the Huntsman program is the student with a certain intangible ambition, a desire and capacity to take on many disparate concepts that span the entire world, and to weave these concepts into an integrated, functioning global environment. </p>

<p>So, I encourage you to think about your reasons for wanting to apply to the Huntsman program. Is it because it sounds prestigious to you right now? That is a terrible reason. There are other equally "prestigious" places to apply early with your grades that cater in an infinitely better manner to what appears to be your passion, science research. The Huntsman program is incredibly selective, but so are Harvard and Princeton and Yale and MIT and Stanford, five places of equal standing that could offer you science resources beyond your wildest dreams. The Huntsman Program is for people looking to work at the U.N., the World Bank, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co., NGO's, places that require a special understanding of the intersecting cultures and markets that make up our shrinking world. It's the best program for what it serves, but it MOST DEFINITELY is not for a person who isn't ABSOLUTELY SURE RIGHT NOW that this is the track to which they are committed. With what you've posted, while you seem smart and accomplished, the Huntsman Program just doesn't seem like a fit for you.</p>

<p>I hope this helps you with your decision-making process, and I hope I don't sound harsh or mean about anything, because I definitely don't intend to sound that way. I'm only trying to aid you and help you to focus in on what you, YOU YOU YOU and not your external influences, are interested in.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

4

<p>What I don't really understand is if ECs are related to Science, how are you going to show that you are interested in business. You are an outstanding applicant, your sat scores and gpa/class rank attest to that, but what have you done to show your extraordinary talents in business. The thing about these programs like Huntsman, which btw accept around 40 student from a pool of 500-600, is that they want to see that you have been preparing yourself to excell in whatever the field is of that program. For instance, if you were applying to an 8 year ba/md program and all your ECs were for business/humanities etc. and they were deciding between you and a kid w/ the same academic stats but with EC's steming from the sciences, most likely they will not go with you. If you are really interested in Penn, I think you would do well in the college in terms of acceptance. Wharton would be difficult, but you'd have at least a shot. I'd have to say for Huntsman you have little chance. Congrats on some of those awards, I wish I had some of your EC's. Good luck applying</p>

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<p>You don't need business experience to get the Huntsman. The 2 huntsman scholars I know had 0 business extracurriculars. they were both strong across the board. Go for it, hanolulu.
I remember that an admissions rep from Penn posted something to this effect in another thread the other day: "We actually don't prefer people who come into Penn-Wharton with 10,000 business-related extracurriculars. Typically these are the kinds of students who think they know everything already."</p>

<p>Look up her post!</p>

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<p>Wow thats surprising, what kind of stuff did the two that you know do that they were able to get in?</p>

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<p>let's see:
both of them did debate. neither were captain of the team.
one of them was chinese, one of them was white. the white one took chinese and got an SAT2 score in the 600s. i actually know a lot more about the white guy...he actually was pretty smart and hardworking--test scores weren't perfect, he was NM commended but his SAT scores were great. he had good grades, played a sport, and had a very wealthy businessman father. don't know much else about him. he got into the program early. he is from an under-represented state.</p>

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<p>she does debate and model UN, + she's doing a language. If you're not interested in SEAS, go for huntsman and ask to be deferred to either of the sub-schools</p>

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<p>"I know you guys are sick of these threads"- If only more people knew this.</p>

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<p>I think she can pull off Huntsman if she has a valid reason to apply there. Otherwise, I really think that there are other programs that might suit you more.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the responses, everyone. I really appreciate it. To address a few things:</p>

<p>As strange as it sounds, I've been conflicted between studying business/international relations and engineering for several years now. I simply had more opportunities to pursue the sciences, which is obviously what I did. Unfortunately, it took me a very long while to realize engineering is not for me and that I wanted to pursue business and international studies. I can assure you that it has nothing to do with wanting the prestige of Huntsman. If I wanted that, I'd be applying to Harvard, where I'd probably stand a better chance. Like jimbob1225, though, the only person I know who got into Huntsman had no business/international studies-type activities except debate and she didn't even bother taking the SAT II Chinese, which was her target language. </p>

<p>I do plan to take all of your advice, however, and rethink Huntsman to make sure it is exactly what I want.</p>

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<p>That was a pretty mature post. Life is too short to spend time doing something you don't love. That being said, don't second guess yourself, especially on the account of my post. If business is what you want, go for it and good luck!</p>