Chances for Penn ED

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Just got my grades back and I figure I should do one of these.</p>

<p>GPA: Pretty bad. Around a 3.78 UW, 4.37 W. I got 5 B's sophomore year, 3 Junior Year.
Class Rank: We don't rank per say, but I know i'm in the top 10% of my class, towards the lower end.
APs/Honors (Soph/Junior): Language AP, Physics B AP, Calc AB AP, Euro AP. Precalc H, Chem H, Spanish 3 H, English 2 H.
AP Scores: Waiting on Language, Physics, and Calc, but I got a 5 on Euro AP and a 4 on the Chem AP.
SAT: 2340 Composite. 800 CR, 770 M, 770 W
SAT II's: 800 Math II, 760 Lit, 750 Chem.
AP's next year: Gov, Macro, Calc BC, Physics C, and Spanish 4</p>

<p>Extra Currics:
Speech and Debate, 4 years. Various awards, but nothing too notable - competed at State tournament, will be Varsity LD Captain Next year.
Math Teacher, 1 year - 4 hours a week, have about 100 hours total.
Volunteering at various shelters - I never counted the hours, but I've been going about an hour and a half a week for 2 years. Probably should have counted the hours, but oh well.
Did track for a year sophomore year, couldn't do it again because of speech and debate junior year.</p>

<p>Summer Stuff:
Last summer, I worked at a start up as an intern. Did communications and business, I basically made strategies up and designed it. Expecting a very good rec from the guy I worked for, since he basically showed me what he was going to say.
This summer, I'll be doing an intense program where I'm teaching middle school kids (a continuation of being a math teacher). It's about 9-10 hours a day for 8 weeks, no pay but I get a stipend. Also, going to get a very good rec from the guy I'm working for.</p>

<p>To throw in some last stuff that may make me appealing
Rec from English Teacher should be fantastic - she went to Stanford, and we're really close.
Rec from science teacher should be pretty good, he likes me a lot.
I expect my essays to be pretty good, probably 8/10 at least. My english professor is proofreading my initial drafts, and she says they're pretty great. (One thing to note - English is probably the only classes where I never dipped below a solid A)</p>

<p>I'm an Asian male, by the way.</p>

<p>I think I'm relatively strong except in GPA, which kind of cripples me. Do I have any chance for Penn CAS ED (Undecided Major).</p>

2

<p>Your GPA is definitely going to hurt you. Luckily, there was a small upwards trend, and colleges do like to see that. Your extracurrics are for the most part good, and probably good enough to get Penn to overlook your GPA, especially if you apply ED. All your scores are good as well, so there’s that. However, there’s nothing here that makes you a definite candidate for Penn, since your extracurrics just sort of balance out your GPA, but they certainly don’t qualify you for admission alone.</p>

<p>At this point, I think you can get in if you write some great essays. Try to bump that 8/10 to a 9 or 10/10 (for ALL essays), and you should have a very good shot at getting in.</p>

3

<p>Agh, that’s a bit worrying, but I expected as much. I think my hook will be the whole teaching/education, as that’s what I’ve been focusing on for the past few years. If anyone else weighs in, I’ll be happy to chance back</p>

4

<p>I think having a story and showing how your ECs relate to one another could make up for some bumps in your GPA, especially since your SAT score is quite strong.</p>

5

<p>Nice to see someone else who is equally as dedicated to debate as I am. I’m not in LD, but rather congressional. </p>

<p>Anyway, Penn ED would be a low reach/reach. It is an Ivy League, but its admissions are slightly less competitive (12% vs 7% acceptance rate at other Ivy’s). Like me, you seem to be really dedicated to debate, and I am sure that you could write excellent essays about it. That unweighted GPA will be your greatest downfall. You do have a lot of B’s, which will definitely hurt you for an Ivy League. But, I think that the excellent SAT I and II scores could make up for that, at least in part. Anyway, ED makes it a borderline between reach and low reach, with RD being a reach. </p>

<p>Chance back another debater?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1504043-new-member-looking-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1504043-new-member-looking-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;