Chances for Wharton?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I'm a junior at an IB school, and Penn (Wharton) is the most selective school I'm likely to apply to, so I'd appreciate some feedback...</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Location: FL
Rank: 5/~650
GPA: 4.00
HPA: 5.01 and rising</p>

<p>My courses may or may not be the hardest possible, but in many ways, that's subjective at my school. In IB, you basically choose which classes you take at Higher or Standard Levels, and what's "hard" varies greatly between students. </p>

<p>That said, I've taken several APs:
Freshman: AP World History (5)
Sophomore: AP Calculus AB (5), AP Statistics (5), AP Macroeconomics (5), AP English Lit (4), AP Human Geography (4)
Junior (exams pending): AP Calculus BC, AP English Language, AP Spanish, AP Physics B, AP U.S. History, AP Microeconomics</p>

<p>Honors (MYP) courses: English I, Spanish II and III, Bio, Chem, Physics, all the math classes leading up to Calc. Basically everything besides some required classes was an honors or AP course though. </p>

<p>IB Higher Levels: English, Mathematics, Economics, Physics
IB Standard Levels: Spanish, Further Mathematics</p>

<p>Test Scores:
PSAT: 220
SAT: 1560/2270: 770 Reading, 790 Math, 710 Writing (76/7; I can't write essays quickly.)
ACT (is that a good idea?) and SAT Subject Tests pending.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
-Founder and President of Academic Games team at my school (9-12)
-National Academic Games competitor, winner of various awards at county/state/nationals (6-12)
-Volunteer teacher of Academic Games at my sister's middle school (9-12)
(Clearly, AG is my main thing. I may include its significance in my essays.)
-Volleyball (1 year JV, 2-3 years varsity; not sure if I'll play senior year if I'm already accepted)
-Member of Mu Alpha Theta (math honor society, 10-12)
-Member of NHS and several other honor societies (not very active though)</p>

<p>Volunteering
-Academic Games (above)
-150 CAS hours (an IB thing: Creativity, Action, and Service)
-75 other volunteer hours</p>

<p>Achievements/Awards
- selected for leadership programs: NYLSC and PYIC (trip to Obama Inauguration)
- numerous awards in Academic Games and some other competitions that I don't feel like listing right now (should I on an application though?)
- National Merit Semi-Finalist (most likely)
- selected for American Legion's Boys State</p>

<p>That's about all I can think of right now, but I have a tendency to forget about things that may look good to colleges that I don't care too much about. At any rate, feedback greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Great chance I say - Your AP Scores are great and your IB Package is the most rigorous possible, assuming you hit above 40, I say your application will go to the acceptance pile :)</p>

3

<p>i agree with The Grand…and if upenn is the really the most selective college that u are applying to then I would recc. applying ED (it goes a long way)</p>

4

<p>Thanks, guys. =D</p>

<p>TheGrand, do colleges actually see what our IB scores end up as? I don’t see how that’s possible, since we don’t take exams until May and we don’t find out if we get our IB Diplomas until December or something like that.</p>

<p>CU4L91, I’ve been thinking about Early Decision. The main problem is just financial aid. I mean, I’m pretty sure we’ll find a way to pay for it if I get accepted, but it’s kind of hard to go into a binding agreement. I think I may end up doing it after I do some more research though. Is it true that you get a free ride if your family makes under $60K?</p>

<p>I also have to go visit the campus still, but I’m not too concerned about that.</p>

5

<p>Yup, colleges do request for your IB Grades and you do have to show it to them. IB Grades come out in mid July for the May Session, and if there are great discrepancies between your predicted grade and actual grade, the university reserves the right to withdraw your acceptance (that is if you are accepted in April).</p>

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<p>umm wat if u choose NOT to take the exam?</p>

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<p>Wow. I definitely didn’t know that. It shouldn’t be a problem, since I wouldn’t slack off on my IB exams after all this time, but that’s kind of intense. But what do you mean, if you’re accepted in April? When are you accepted for ED and/or when else can you be accepted?</p>

<p>CU, if you’re talking about IB exams, you can’t do that. The whole point of IB is to take those exams at the end. That, and the classes would go from 6.0 to 4.5. That’s how my school makes sure we take our exams (same with AP), since they pay for them all for us.</p>