I am a rising sophomore who just moved from California to Massachusetts. I have a 3.8 uw gpa. My course load was:
-Algebra 2 Trig
-Biology
-English 1
-World History/Geography
-Leadership
-PE
-Latin 1
Note: My school only offers honors for math.
As a freshman, I was president of my class, started and was president of the Marine Biology club, and sang with world renound opera companies such as the SF Opera. I have volunteered often including teaching kids in Ghana how to read and I won the presidents award for community service. I am, in a week, doing the COSMOS program at the UC system. I also was on JV tennis. I am an eagle scout as well.
Next year schedule(New school):
-Peer Leadership
-Honors Precalculus
-Honors Chemistry
-Honors Latin 2
-Honors World History Modern Era
-Occapella (Choir)
-Computer programming
-World Literature (English)
I am doing tennis and possibly golf next year and I plan to do more community service.
I plan to apply to upenn ED. For an incoming sophomore, are my chances good?
@Arman23
Without SAT/ACT scores, this thread is unanswerable. Plus with you being only a sophomore this fall, there are too many variables between now and then. Check back in 2 years.
@Arman23
In general, though, the advice is fairly obvious. You need to not only have a very high GPA for the kinds of schools you want, but your course selection has to be composed of the most challenging classes. Then of course scoring towards the highest percentile of the SAT/ACT is generally needed. As for ECs, sounds like you have a good mix with sports, class politics and singing. Try to stick with being a leader where it comes naturally, and go deep into areas you really enjoy. You don’t need 15 ECs, but of course you do need some decent service activities. The more authentic, as opposed to resume padding, the better.
@fallenchemist
My GPA wasnt too high last year, so this year I will have to improve upon that. Thank you for the advice on ECs. Would an internship in the house of congress fit in with that? My family is close with one of the congressmen, and I was considering applying. Also, do competitive programs, such as RSI look good?
@Arman23
Freshman GPA will be weighted less in the minds of admissions if you really kick ass these next two years, Some schools even ignore freshman year, although not the ones you are talking about I don’t think. But certainly a 3.9-4.0 UW these next 2 years will significantly lessen the impact of your freshman year.
Certainly an internship in the state or federal congress is a nice resume builder, especially if it fits with your proposed major. But even if it doesn’t, anything like that where you can show that you grew as a person and a citizen from the experience is a plus. It isn’t just having a list of things on your application, it is how you take selected ones and make admissions understand it was truly significant in some way.
I assume by RSI you are referring to the MIT program, and if so yes that is a definite feather in the cap, as they say. Again, more so if it links up with your major, but still a plus even if not. Majors often change anyway, so the accomplishment itself is really the far more important issue. And even though that one stands on its own more than a summer as a Congressional intern or whatever, it is still beneficial to take any experience like that and expound on how it affected you. So for any of these things you might want to consider keeping a diary of sorts, a private blog if you will, so that come essay time you will more easily be able to draw on your thoughts at the time. Being highly organized and disciplined, starting now, is extremely useful when one is considering applying to the most selective of schools.
You’re on a great track! Keep up the hard work, continue to follow your passions, study for your standardized tests, get solid recs, and write a killer essay. Good luck !
Since you are sophomore this year, there is nothing I can say about it. I recommend you to get straight A’s for next two years, finish your standardized tests as soon as possible, and prepare for essays. Hope you make a phenomenal stats. Good luck!