<p>any idea on my chances if i apply early decision to wharton? to the college of arts and sciences?</p>
<p>white male
northern new jersey/nyc suburbs
very competitive high school…
last year had students get accepted to yale, princeton, brown, chicago, georgetown, hopkins, etc…
either 2nd or 3rd in class of 235</p>
<p>770 math, 750 critical reading, 780 writing.
so far i’ve just taken chem SATII… 710
will be taking mathIIC and one other SATII in october… expecting 750+.
5 on eng language AP
4 on US History AP.</p>
<p>straight A’s in most difficult classes school offers.
4.0/5.83 GPA.
will take 5 AP’s senior year.</p>
<p>specialized program “university program” in information technology.</p>
<p>extracurriculars are very good but nothing too special.
-varsity soccer 3 years, varsity tennis 2 years.
-vice president of stock market club at school
-mathematics club 4 years… highest scorer in school on AMC 10 sophomore year, runner-up on AMC 12 as a junior… qualified for AIME, highest scorer in school on AIME
-rotary interact community service club
-chemistry olympiad participant
-“boys’ state” american legion citizenship program participant… 1 week at rider university
-member of national honor society
-national merit commended/, i think… 223 psat… so probably not a semi-finalist.
-volunteer at center for food action (food shelter).
-internship at a hedge fund management/stock trading firm… 40 hours week during summer between junior/senior year.
…some other stuff, nothing too great or i’d be able to think of it.</p>
<p>you look like you have a great shot at penn early. obviously, your chances will be better at arts and sciences than at wharton, but i think you're competitive at both. if you don't want to have to worry about it as much, i'd be shocked if you applied to the school of arts and sciences early and didn't get in. wharton's a different story, not because you're not qualified, but because the applicant pool is more competitive, which just makes it more of a crapshoot, but i'm sure you knew that already. you could still get psat semifinalist maybe with 223. the only thing you can do to improve your chances is find a commonthread that runs through your extracurriculars and right about it in your essay, since you're well rounded as opposed to having one clear thing that you're extremely interested in</p>
<p>Upon further review, I think you might also make a good M&T or Huntsman ISB candidate, so you might consider giving those programs a shot as well.</p>
<p>National Merit won't help on a college app - after all, its just a reflection of your PSAT/SAT scores and other various accomplishments, the same criteria any top tier school will be looking at for themselves.</p>
<p>why do u think i'd have a better shot at huntsman or m&t as opposed to arts & sciences? thanks for your input by the way. is there something specific in my scores or e/c's? maybe i could write an essay along those lines if there is something specific you notice.</p>
<p>I tend to think of Huntsman and M&t as just additional cream for candidates with a good shot already.</p>
<p>In general, I think M&T is a very numbers-centric admissions process, more so than any other program on campus. Your numbers are good, and pretty easily beat wharton's avgs, and are in M&T/Huntsman ranges.</p>
<p>Strong math skills lend themselves well to the M&T program... of course application to either huntsman or M&T is contigent on interest :)</p>
<p>don't apply unless you have interset in IS or ENG.</p>
<p>maybe so. that tends to happen when you get in. Even so, applying to the jnt. degree programs will not HURT a candidate, since they have the option of 2nd review at either school if they are rejected by the specific program.</p>
<p>In some cases even, I think M&T and Huntsman can be considered a backdoor to wharton, in cases where they are particularly angular...</p>
<p>e.g. I hosted a prefrosh this year, and he seemed all numbers and no personality.</p>
<p>med1488, I'd say you have a decent chance (this is an understatement, but) for Wharton. It will be competitive, but I think you'd catch adcom's eye. Good luck!</p>
<p>I hosted prefrosh through M&T program office (i was actually hosted as a prefrosh, and I def. wanted to "give back" the program). I'm not sure how its handled outside of that. I recall departments can also handle it, if there is enough demand (e.g. a propsie ChemE got off the waitlist, and the UG coordinator for chemE emailed us asking for a host)</p>