Hi I am a senior this fall and I am planning to apply for UPenn ED. I want to apply for Wharton, but I don’t think my application is strong enough so I might take a safer route and apply for economics major in the CAS instead. UPenn is my number one choice, but I am still thinking of Duke, U of Chicago, NYU, and Cornell
Stats: uw gpa 3.75 (93 overall average)
Sat: Hoping for a high 2200’s this October. Studying very hard. Got mid 2000’s on first try this year without studying too much
APs: Stats- 4 Physics 1- 4
RANK: School in Canada doesn’t rank, but I am pretty sure I took hardest schedule.
SAT 2s: Physics: 730 (Going to take it again in November) Math II: Taking it in November
Senior year: APs include:
-Calculus AB
-Lit
-Physics 2
-Micro and Macroeconomics
-Human Geo
-Biology
Clubs: Leadership in a lot of school clubs like MUN, environmental, etc
Extracurricular:
Youth council member (Liaison between city youth and government)
Secretary of large student-run organization
Participated in this STEM and business summer program called SHAD (formerly Shad Valley) this summer
- Played piano for 10 years, completing RCM ARCT level and won a few local competitions (although many many years ago in like grade 7)
Awards: Bunch of science fair awards and recognized for contribution to city by city council
Work Experience: Summer intern in marketing for small business
Essay: Will try very hard and make it amazing. Teacher recommendations will be nice
I think starting a charity next year will only hurt your application because it’ll send the message that you’re doing it only for college. Otherwise, scores are a little iffy but your ecs might make up for it.
Hypothetical SAT scores aren’t helpful at all. I don’t think you have any shot at Wharton, at CAS only very little chance. Ec’s are okay, but for your reference, non-high school ec’s (pre-9th grade) don’t really matter that much unless you have continued them through high school. Duke, UChicago, and Cornell all high reaches. NYU you’ll probably make with improved scores.
Your interests are a little confusing judging from your EC’s, nothing pops out. You do have some leadership, so that’s nice. Don’t put your energy into starting anything new, instead you should exert lots of effort into testing and essays.
It’s a long shot for Duke, UChicago, and Cornell. UPenn CAS ED, maybe, if you can get those scores up and write fantastic essays. It might be better to apply Cornell or Duke ED, acceptance rates are higher, although if UPenn is your first choice you’d always wonder if you could’ve gotten in.
Thank you for your responses @delineated, @jarrett211 and @foreverprongs. So do you guys see my chances increasing significantly if I can ace my SAT 1 and 2s this fall?
I still don’t really like your odds at Penn, Duke, or UChicago as much (though they do improve a little bit)) (for UChicago, the essays are most important). I think it might bump you up a bit for Cornell, and definitely bump you up for NYU.
^ please don’t call people out, that’s just mean 
^ I thought he was saying hi to one of u guys. My name is not even terry… :))